Best Dispersed Camping near Mormon Lake, AZ

Bear Canyon campground and lake located off AZ260 north east of payson. Near Woods Canyon lake(larger and more accessible), and Knoll lake(smaller than Bear Canyon)

Bear Canyon campground is easily accessible and free. No reservations. No water/electric hookups. No picnic tables. No trash service-pack it in, pack it out. It will fill up on weekends during the summer as the weather is so temperate. We came up on a weekday and stayed to the beginning of the weekend and it wasn’t too crowded.

Pros: The weather was amazing. High of 75-78 in the day and high 40’s at night. There was a constant breeze which kept it cool and fresh feeling. The lake is a short hike(0.2 miles) from the trailhead. And provides good fishing from the shore. There is plenty of free firewood’s around; just bring a saw and splitting axe. Near the Rim and other lakes (Woods Canyon and Knoll). Pit toilets were a far walk depending on where you camped but they were clean.

Cons: This entire area is very rocky! We have a pop up but I can’t imagine tent camping without an air mattress. Each campsite maybe has a fire pit and that’s it. Boats and Kayaks would be a real challenge to bring down and up as the trail is very steep, rocky, and loose.

Overall, we were disappointed that we were unable to use our kayaks but the weather make up for it and it was a great, relaxing trip.

This spot is perfect for boondocking or car camping, but we decided against popping up our camper here and just car camped instead. Not super dispersed, but the access road is accessible to most vehicles. However, some side road pulloffs are definitely better suited for 4WD vehicles. I would suggest walking the route first to make sure your particular vehicle can make it.

I loved this campsite due to its proximity to the three National Monuments near Flagstaff: Wupatki, Walnut Canyon, and Sunset Crater Volcano. We decided to stop at these monuments on a whim during our National Park tour and they did NOT disappoint! I highly recommend visiting all three, and perhaps ending with Walnut Canyon, as it was my favorite. This campground is great for visiting all three, as each monument is only 10-25 minutes away. They are all incredible and very worth the visit if you’re in northern AZ for the staple Grand Canyon.

I was very skeptical about visiting this campsite at first, because I felt the information that I could find online was minimal. After visiting, however, I would definitely recommend this campsite to anyone. It was spacious enough to spread out from other campers. It was lovely to be right in the middle of the forest. I'd recommend driving further in to be away from the noise of the highway. I saw some reviews saying the gate was closed, but it was open when we were there in July 2022. Important things to note: This campground is located in the Coconino National Forest, please follow their rules and fire restrictions. No reservations are necessary for this campground. We found service to be a little spotty, but not impossible. Dogs are allowed. The turn in was pretty subtle, so definitely keep an eye out for it and use Google Maps over Apple Maps, because Apple Maps has no idea where this site is! All in all, I would visit again!

We tried finding some dispersed camping near Payson though all of the sites we visited were full. We ended up 35 miles south of Flagstaff off FS 135. After having to leave Payson we arrived very late at night. At the base of the campsite there were a lot ofvRVs set up. This was technically the FS 135 dispersed site. However we continued in for about 3 miles to the Mahan Ranch site. We got lucky and found an empty site off FS135 and FS135B. We spent a ptetty quiet week there at the base of Hutch Mountain. The next morning we found quite a bit of trash around the site. We cleaned it up and packed everything out when we headed out. There are quite a few cows in the area so watch where you step. OHV traffic wasn't too bad, much quieter than our stay at Badger Flats in Colorado. Folks were friendly and passing on the narrow roads was easy. The entire campsite was pretty quiet, a couple of generators off in the distance. Pretty much the loudest part of the stay was tge cows, lol.

Where we setup there were maybe 5 sites along the 3 mile stretch of 135B. Plenty of RV sites closer to the highway. After our week there may have been about 50 or more larger RVs setup in the msin area near Lake Mary Rd. Sedona, Flagstaff, Cottonwood were the major cities webused for water and food. Each within an hour drive. The FS roads were fairly smooth, our Hyundai Santa Cruz had no issues. But DO watch out for small stumos near the edge of the roads and for Deer and Elk. For us cell service with ATT/Cricket was NONEXISTENT. We had to get up to about mile marker 315 on Lake Mary Rd or into Mormon Lake. Service heading into Sedona and Cottonwood along Stoneman Lake Road was unavailable until we got within a mile of I17. Of course cell services was decent in Flagstaff, Sedona and Cottonwood. Spotty coming diwn 89A from Flagstaff into Oak Creek.

I gee up in the area in the 80s, much has changed, Sedona is quite a bit larger with a ton of traffuc, prices are also very high. Lunch at McDonald's ran us $35 for two people and shopping at Bashas in Sedona put a big dent in our food Budget. Water in Flag, Sedona Nd Cottonwood was around 50 cents a gallon at automated machines. We found the General Store in Mormon Lake to be the best place to refill at 20 cents a gallon. They even have laundry and bathrooms at the Lodge. No trash servuce though, they ask you to oack it out, the dumpster was reserved for the paid sites at the lodge. Though the Lake Mary recreation area about 5 miles north had a large dumpster to use.