There were plenty of spots when I pulled in at 11 pm. Not too far off the road, designated sites, but I don't remember toilets being available. I was only there 1 night and could gave missed them entirely? Will go back again.
This place is great for folks who are looking for a trailer or easy drive in, but not for tenters in my opinion. It’s not a bad spot in a pinch, but if you’re looking to get away from folks, you’ll be disappointed by the amount of campsites right next to each other with very little foliage in between. Lastly, the trash.. there is a lot of it, and it is quite sad. Clearly this is a spot for a lot of lazy campers who don’t know how to pack it out.
Perfect location. The Oak Creek canyon below here and Flagstaff just above! Lots of spots and a nice canyon area below most of the campsites. It seems more like a campground with marked spots but as of yet we have not had anyone near us. There are no facilities and the use of the hillsides for “toilets” is obvious due to the litter of white everywhere you look. The pump house wash currently has water in spots which is nice. Peaceful but sure wish people would pick up after themselves better.
Closed, due to snow I guess? Looked like a nice spot.
Attempted to camp on 3/10 but road to campsites was closed.
Just a nice dispersed camping spot, easy access off the main road, and not too far out of Sedona. Loved this spot!
Wayyy to many sites with trash and toilet paper everywhere. You can’t walk away from your site without seeing lots of trees surrounded by toilet paper. Freekin disgusting.
Camping here with a couple friends and ended up sleeping in our cars. Lol But nice place with nice people.
This campground is only a half mile off the highway, but the road is in terrible shape. It has lots of sharp rocks and is very rough. There are lots of campsites and about seven were taken when we arrived. We could not find anything close to level to park our 5th wheel. After about an hour, we finally got it to where it was basically level. It is good to hear the wind through the pine trees, but we probably won’t come back to this campground.
The spots are spacious and forest is nice but the amount of trash is unreal! We left as it was more like a toilet with paper and trash absolutely all over and trash even hammered into the trees. Such a shame and disregard for the space and others. Add constant gunshots and this campground is a huge no-no. Pics from on of the “cleaner sites” .
This is a nice spot for a free camping trip. There is no bathrooms, there is no place to get water, and as others have said it does get dirty. That being said most people pick up after themselves so most of the sites are clean and the area is quite beautiful. We used this place after we could not get a camping spot in oak creek canyon, and we did notice that it was quite a bit colder than down in the canyon at night. Designated sites were sporadically spaced out so some were close together but there was generally a decent amount of space for each site. It was a busy weekend and there was still plenty of open sites on Saturdaynight, and it looked like most people packed up and left in the morning, so I imagine there's always sites available.
The only real negative was that the sites where people left trash looked destroyed, animals got into the trash bags and made a mess. There was a big party camping just down the way from us who blasted music until 1 AM, and it didn't bother us--the space is wade enough that the music wasn't too loud--but if you like your nature to be more peaceful then you might run into that problem. There was also some people practicing shooting nearby so we could hear the occasional pop-pop-pop in the distance but the area was for the most part peaceful, just families enjoying nature.
If you're looking for a quick and FREE option last minute where you dont have to check in and there aren't too many rules and you don't mind the noise other people make, this is a great spot. Just please pack out your trash.
Due to the ease of access from Sedona and Flagstaff this campground sees a lot of action. I went on Labor Day weekend and the place was very busy with loud guests who would blast music till very late. The campground itself was nice with plenty of room at the sites. Everything was clean when we got there and there was a pre-built rock fire pit for us to use if there wasn't a fire ban. On a different weekend, this would be more enjoyable.
Great location however this place is a designated dispersed campground. If you don’t mind people being on top of you while camping than this place is alright other than the trash. It needs a serious clean up. We did clean up our campsites but there was so much around us that we couldn’t get to it all. It is very popular especially over the weekends which anyone could expect. We had come early and really enjoyed it on Thursday and Friday morning. It got very busy as the weekend approached as we predicted. We just literally had people camp right in our campsite. Won’t be back but that’s only because when we go camping we love to get away from people and like to be in nature with some distance.
This one is pretty popular for those who know. Our Boy Scout Troop stays here several times a year. For a group as big as ours, one of the leaders goes up early to claim one of the larger sites(first come first served). It is easy to get to in just about any vehicle. The Forest Road is well maintained from the 89A side. Google may try to take you all the way through from I17 on FR237...suggest going past to exit 337 and coming back down 89A. The campsites are all on that end of the FR anyway. (Pics are from 2 different trips)
Campground Review:
Couple things to say about this campground... it's dispersed but in numbered lots and unless you have a high clearance 4x4 you must enter from West (89A). The road continues through to I-17 but crosses a few washes that would be rough for anything shorter than a stock 4runner. (Mine has a 3 inch lift). No big rocks to climb; just big tire swallowing ruts.
Product Review:
First time owning or using a neck gaiter. I'm on the bigger side so is not likely I'll wear it when I'm not actually using it. When I was using it for dust control it was great. Out on the trails I get passed by side-by-sides all the time. My 4runner can go almost anywhere but on the slower side. So I'm frequently sucking side-by-side dust. I'm not upset enough by it to roll up my windows. (Can't miss out on the smell of the mountains.) The neck gaiter helped me cut down on the dust I inhaled while still enjoying the crisp air.
Perfect campsite for last minute camping trips. I always stop here before heading to flagstaff for snowboarding. Great campsite to see. Make sure you take out your trash and don’t leave it on the ground. Other then that a beautiful campsite with tons of the trees.
Easy access and not too populated. Pack out trash and waste.
Short drive to rim lakes and weather is usually picture perfect here.
If you are looking to get out of town and not be bothered by many other campers, this is the place for you.
Each site has lots of room! The trees are beautiful and the scent of pine is lovely. There are no facilities, so be prepared for that! No toilets, showers, water, electricity, etc.
The place is really beautiful though and I can't wait to come back.
Campground Review
Pumphouse Wash is a dispersed area with over 80 individual sites in 4 different loops. The campground was primarily pine trees with rock fire rings. The roads on the way in were dirt but well maintained and could have been easily accessed with a car. There is no facilities, trash, or water so be sure you come prepared. The sites are a bit closer together than I prefer but when we were there on a Friday night in April only every 3rd or 4th site was occupied so it wasn’t too bad. You could tell that quite a few of the sites hadn’t been used in quite some time so I’m assuming it is rarely full to capacity. We did walk through our loop and found that most sites had trash (bottle caps, pop tabs, straw wrappers, etc) left throughout camp. We picked up roughly an extra half a trash bag worth of debris.
We stayed in site 203 in the second loop. It took a few times to find a place level enough to setup our pop-up trailer but with the help of a few pieces of 2x4 we were able to make it work. If you have a longer setup (like a 5th wheel or RV) you can make it work in about half of the spaces. The fire rings were made of very random rocks. Some sites had very large pits and others were very small but 2 or 3 rocks wide. Just be prepared to doctor your fire ring if you are planning to have a fire. The tree coverage was nice. There was shade throughout most of the day but it was relatively open. There was little piles of toilet paper behind almost every tree so don’t be surprised when you see white patches outside of camp.
This campground is within half an hour of Sedona which is full of hiking, vortexes, and other red rock adventures! (be sure to get a Red Rock Country map if you venture into Sedona so that you know when you need a Red Rock Pass or other fee) While we stayed here we ventured into Griffith Springs (just a few miles North of the campground) which has a free day use area and a little over a mile long loop trail. There was a picnic table and single vault toilet (which was trashed).
Product Review
As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time – on this trip I tested the Renogy E.FLEX10 Portable Solar Panel with USB Port. I do want to make mention that they have updated the design just slightly since I received these but I was told by support the functional specifics are the same but the new panel dimensions are a bit smaller than the ones I have.
This panel has quickly become one of my favorite camping accessories. The panel itself is not much larger than a piece of letter paper when open and then it folds in half and is not much wider than a piece of cardboard except the USB port. The panels are rigid except for the hinges that are actually fairly stiff but slightly flexible (like a reinforced fabric). The panels charge just as well as a charging block plugged into a wall unit when in full sunlight. When the panel is in indirect sunlight it will still charge just not as quickly. I had a bit of fun testing this with my cell phone and seeing the “estimated time until fully charged” change within a few seconds as I would change the amount of sunlight the panel was exposed to.
Each panel comes with 4 removable suction cups so that you can mount it inside a window on your car (or outside the window when you are parked) as well as 2 carabiners so that you can hang it from a tent or on a backpack while hiking. There are small cutouts on each corner of the panel that you can place the suction cups or caribiners through. I’ve been using the panels primarily around camp. I’ll hook one up to my cell phone and the other up to a battery pack (that can then charge the small electronics when there is no sunlight). I’ve also used it in the dashboard of the car when travelling to the campsite. If you do this, I suggest you get a non-slip type grip pad so you don’t have it sliding across the dash when driving around corners.
Overall, I’m really happy with the E.FLEX10. It is so lightweight and very compact. Since receiving it I’ve had it in my overnight bag, my hiking bag, and an emergency bag in my Jeep and it still looks brand new while being a super useful tool around camp. I’d strongly suggest you get one (or two) of these if you want a little added security for an emergency pack or if you plan to be in the woods for a few days and would rather not risk killing your car battery charging your portable electronics.
