We stayed at Heartland RV Park for a week. We stayed in our 34 foot trailer in a “large RV site.” The sites are sort of close together, but we’ve stayed in parks where you’re much closer. You get a nice grass strip with a fire ring. Most sites have one small tree. This park is extremely well-maintained. The grounds, sites and bathroom/shower/laundry facilities were immaculate. We stayed on a row where there was additional parking which was very nice. There is a nice children’s playground area which is fenced in. There is a store on-site with ice, propane, beer, wine, snacks…a little of everything. There is breakfast and dinner available on-site, and they will deliver it right to you! We had both breakfast and dinner while we were there. They serve Hunts Brothers pizza and wings for dinner which was nothing too special but it wasn’t bad. Breakfast was way better than dinner. There are 20 or so cable TV channels available. All of the park staff we encountered were very friendly.

As far as the cons of this park, and the main reason I rated it down a star: the noise. This park is situated right on a four-lane highway. We were almost as far from the highway as was possible and the highway noise is unreal. I can’t imagine being in the cabins or the row of sites next to the highway. There is no barrier, no trees, no fence, nothing, between you and the highway. Consider this when booking.

In addition to noise from the highway, there was the constant noise of work in the park. They were constructing some sort of building in the northeast corner while we were there, so there was construction noise. They were also constantly (I am not exaggerating here) mowing, weed whacking, or grading the road while we were there. We were awoken at 0800 one morning to the road grader in action. They also employed the use of an enormous water truck to water the grass in the sites. So I guess what I’m saying is this is not the park to visit if you’re looking for quiet. You will not find it here.

We did have two instances where the shower had no hot water. We were right next to a wifi repeater but had consistent connection issues so we couldn’t use the park wifi.

That being said, we would absolutely return to this park. Excellent hospitality and amenities, and centrally located to a lot of great sights.

PROS: Beautifully maintained On-site store with hot food delivered to your door Clean Children’s play area Centrally located to many attractions

CONS: Noisy No hot shower water on two occasions Unreliable wifi connection Sites close together

Stayed one night car camping at Pumphouse Wash. It was incredibly serene. Marked/numbered sites have fire pits. No bathroom facilities are available. More traffic in and out than I expected, but it was still a great, free stay.

Stayed two nights here car camping during the last weekend in April. Too windy for a fire, but cute little fire pits were made from rocks in each of the “sites.” Zero privacy. Lots of people, which I was not expecting. Lots of vehicle traffic too. All kinds of different rigs; car campers, tents, RVs, motor homes. Willow Springs Trail is VERY bumpy and I was surprised at the testicular fortitude of some of the people driving their nice trailers down it. Cell service was spotty. They did have two surprisingly clean porta-potties on the road which appear to be serviced weekly. Super close to Arches and Moab, and a free little base camp.

Please leave it better than you found it ✌🏻

Booked a last minute RV spot at Great Sand Dunes Oasis.

The bad:

The park is not much to look at. The gravel roads and store parking area are in dire need of maintenance; buckle up. There are 20 RV spots all stacked in right on top of each other. The wind was awful and there is nothing to block it. There’s really nothing between the sites but a little strip with a picnic table and small fire ring, and a small tree.

The good:

The bathrooms and showers were incredibly clean. The person I dealt with on the phone was very accommodating and set us up for after-hours check-in. There was a small playground area near the RV sites. Above the RV sites were cabins and a lodge. They rent Sand sleds to use at the park, $20 each + wax for the day. There is a beautiful view of the dunes from the park.

The restaurant had not opened yet so I have no opinion of that. The store had just opened and was not fully stocked.

RV sites were pull-through but it’s pretty tight on your passenger side pulling in.

All said, I would return to this park again. It is a good place to use as a home base while you explore Great Sand Dunes National Park. Trust me: you will need to shower the sand off.

We stayed at Crazy Horse RV Park for about 2.5 months, November to January. The park is definitely in need of some updating. The grounds in general are extremely clean and well-maintained. Park staff was very friendly and accommodating, particularly Claire in the office, and Mark and Russ in grounds maintenance. The pool is nice and clean, and it is heated. There are nice chairs and tables in the pool area. There are doggie bag stations throughout the park with garbage cans attached to dispose of dog waste.

As for the sites, they are a tight squeeze with not much space. You are absolutely stacked in. It would be difficult in most sites to even park a second vehicle. Park staff does come and help you pull in during business hours. There did appear to be picnic tables, but only at some sites. You are not allowed to have fires. There are both back-in and pull-through sites, along with some covered spaces.

The laundry facility has 8-10 each of washers and dryers, $2-$2.25 per wash, and $2 per dry. They do sell quarters in the office. There are three shower stalls in both the men’s and women's facilities, along with toilets. Both the laundry and the bathroom buildings were very clean.

The park does have a nice recreational hall with a pool table, and they do some activities, including coffee and donuts twice weekly, a game day, bingo, and pizza and taco nights. There is a pop and snack vending machine inside as well. Aside from the pool, there isn’t anything in the park for children to do.

One major complaint we had was that people drive way too fast through the park. We were backed up to an access road with a posted speed limit of 7.5 MPH, which people regularly drove 25 down despite several speed bumps. Another issue is Craycroft Road, which the park is on, is extremely busy and very noisy. We nicknamed it the Craycroft drag strip. The neighborhood across the road is very run down, there are dogs barking over there nonstop, and there’s lots of litter everywhere. We also heard gunshots on more than one occasion.

We did have several water outages while we were there, a couple due to sewer issues, and one due to upgrading water hardware, but did not experience issues with electricity. Electricity was about $60 per month for us, in a 34 foot trailer, in the winter months where we were not running AC.

Dollar General, Circle K, Pilot, and a taco truck are all within walking distance. There is also a large community park within walking distance. The park is easily accessed off of I-10. The Pima Air and Space museum is within a couple of miles, and East Saguaro National Park is about 20 minutes away.

We would return to this park in the future. Overall, we had a very positive experience there.

Bass Lake is a rustic campground situated on, you guessed it, Bass Lake. It has 22 sites, nearly all of which have buffers in between them. Six of the sites are right on the lake and have their own private lake access. This campground is a first-come, first-served, self-pay operation. There is a boat launch, beach, a hand pump for water, and four vault toilets. Many of the sites are large, and we had no problem getting our 34’ trailer in and out.

This campground unfortunately receives minimal attention from the DNR. The vault toilets were awful, and the only care they seemed to receive is a toilet paper restock. There are large, dead trees scattered throughout the whole campground, so be cautious of this when choosing a site. There are no dumpsters at this campground. Trash must be hauled to the DNR Field Office in Gwinn, which is 15-20 minutes/10 miles or so away. The boat launch stays very busy almost around the clock at times; consider this if you stay near it. The whole road from the highway in to this campground is littered with potholes and sharp curves.

The lake sites are excellent and Bass Lake is great for swimming, boating, water sports and fishing. There are open grassy areas to set up games, and lots of parking for visitors. Most of the sites are shady and decently-sized. I would have rated this campground higher if the toilets and grounds in general were better maintained.

Pike Lake State Forest Campground is closed and has been for 10+ years. The entrance to the campsites is blocked off with large boulders. The boat launch is still accessible and is maintained by the DNR. A Recreation Passport is required to use the boat launch.

Perkins Park is a county-owned park situated on beautiful Lake Independence. The lake and beach are gorgeous. There is a boat launch near the beach and there’s ample room to park to watercraft there. The beach is easily walkable from any campsite, and there are nice walking trails around the park.

Visitors to the park must pay $2 per vehicle per day to enter the park, and this is payable at the entrance.

There is no store on site, but Cram’s General Store is right across 550 from the park. They do sell and deliver firewood at the park entrance.

The sites on the north side of the park were all fairly small. We travel with a 34’ trailer and managed to squeeze in to site number 5. If you have a large trailer, you’d be much happier on the south side.

There is a great mix of site types in this park. A lot of the sites are very small, on hills, or in tricky places, so be sure to carefully read site descriptions when reserving. They crammed too many sites in on the north side of the park. Sites number 1 and 24 flank the bathroom building (which I mention in the next paragraph) and people will be walking through your site to get to it.

There is a small bathroom building on the north end of the park which left a lot to be desired. The doors and walls were covered in mayflies and there were a lot of insects inside of the bathroom building. The toilets didn’t work very well and it wasn’t the cleanest. The large bathroom/shower building in the center of the park was the nicest. The beach bathroom/shower building was outdated but otherwise okay. One thing not well-advertised was that showers cost 25¢ per 6 minutes, so make sure to bring change; we did not note a change machine anywhere.

We managed to squeeze in to site 5, which was very narrow. We travel with a 34’ trailer. The site backs up to woods and a walking trail. There were tons of tree roots and a large tree in the site.

Pros: Beautiful lake and swimming

Full hookup sites

Great mix of site types

Walkable to amenities

Playground at the beach

Cons: Cell service is poor to so-so

Some of the sites are narrow, unleveled, or just plain small

Coin operated showers

Most sites have little to no privacy

Fill station is in a very weird place and you have to make a tight U-turn to use it.

We stayed at Bewabic State Park in a 34’ trailer. We stayed in site 61 which is a narrow site at the bottom of a small hill and on a corner, which made backing in tricky. The site was very nice and had buffers all around, with only a neighbor to one side. We chose 61 because on the map it appeared close to the bathrooms and park. It is close, but only if you walk through a fairly grown in path. The only park we saw consisted of a swing set and a slide. Loops A and B have some hills and tight corners, making them more convenient for tents or smaller trailers. Loop C would be best for larger units. The park has many C-shaped pull-through sites.

It is a fair distance to the beach from the campsites, and most people seemed to drive there, as the road is decently hilly. The beach was very small, with a large grassy hill behind it. The hill was unfortunately COVERED in goose poop, which was disgusting. You cannot have dogs on this beach, but the Canada gooses sure are allowed. The bottom of the lake was kind of slimy in places. We did not get cell service at our campsite. You could get sparse service at the bathrooms at the start of loops A and B, or at the entry.

We stayed at Van Riper State Park three times during June and July. The park is always clean and well-maintained. The bathrooms and showers and generally always nicely maintained as well, and there are plenty of both. The bathrooms do tend to run out of soap and toilet paper at busy times. Dogs are not allowed on the beach but also cannot be left unattended in your site. The rules are heavily enforced in this park. Park staff will ask you to move vehicles if you have more than two, and you will be asked to turn music completely off upon quiet hours. This is not the place to go if you want to party.

Sites 15 and 17, as well as several other sites along that side of that loop, now have a wooden fence at the back of them, so they are not as large as they appear in the photos online.

We have stayed in sites 14, 90 and 93. We travel with a 34’ trailer.

Site 14 is narrow but manageable. It is well-shaded by large pine trees on the site. Site is entirely dirt. There are trees to hang hammocks or clotheslines in.

Site 90 is on a corner by the propane tanks. It is a large site. It does have some roots and low spots. It is partial grass. It has nice shade and is adjacent to the bathrooms. There are trees to hang hammocks or clotheslines.

Site 93 is a large site that backs up to a small grass/tree buffer. It is across the road from the bathrooms. It has nice shade. There is a place to hang a clothesline but not hammocks.

Pros: Clean, well-maintained park

Quiet

Lots of playground equipment

Bike/scooter pump track

Excellent beach area

Lots of green space

Hiking trails

Wood and ice available for purchase at the entrance

Laundry is available; one washer and two dryers

Very kid and pet friendly

Cons: Park website has out of date information, specifically that there is no longer a store on the beach, nor are there kayaks/SUPs to rent

The Water Warrior Island is no longer in the lake

There are very few sites with buffers between

It is sort of far to the beach and laundry from the modern campsites

No non-reservable sites available