Prescott National Forest

We left the cacti, creosote, tamarisk, and acacia behind and headed up into the mountains near Prescott. Along the drive there were areas of farming — mostly alfalfa and grass which was stored in high stacks under tarps. Very few people living in the lowland area. As the road climbed the mountain, we started to see pine and oak. Quite a change of scenery.

We selected a campsite at White Spar Campground — a USDA run camp in the Prescott National Forest. It’s a large, primitive campground nestled under the ponderosa pines. At this time of the year, only 12 sites are open, which isn’t enough for the number of people stopping by looking for a place to stay. You can reserve these sites on recreation.gov, with walkins getting any sites not already reserved.

There are lots of trails. Very pleasant trails with little up and down as we are hiking in a basin up in these mountains. We hiked about two miles to the north of the campground and wandered through the closed part of the campground. So many of the sites are not level, something that an RVer making an online reservation would not be able to determine. All have picnic tables and fire rings.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)