Sunrise Campground Greer AZ

[NicheVintage]

Anyone one every stayed at Sunrise campground in Greer Az ? Is it nice? Any other suggestions for places to stay? Boon docking sites? Any suggestions would be great. We are planning on heading up there tomorrow.

Thanks,

NicheVintage

[TBRich]

Haven't been to Sunrise, so not going to be much help...Sunrise is on the White River Apache Reservation and you need a permit. There are quite a few campgrounds in the area in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest ( Apache and Sitgreaves National Forests - Campgrounds )...around Greer and Big Lake... As a matter of fact, we are heading up to the Alpine area tomorrow and are going to stay at Luna Lake Campground east of Alpine a few days, then head over to the Big Lake area next week...we're exploring the area...we haven't been there yet either... Maybe we'll run into you!

[Ahab]

All kinds of boondocking possiblilties off reservation. On 261 south towards Big Lake is Sheep Dip, has some nice flat areas. East Fork of the Black River has numerous spots. Our favorite is the highest dry camp in Arizona, 191 south just past Hannagan Meadow, CK Cienaga. Also Lyman Lake State Park is open, has hook-ups and pad shelters. Highly recommended.

[mello mike]

We haven't been up to Sunrise Campground but we've camped at Big Lake Campground. Very nice area and there's lots of areas past Big Lake where you can boondock.

[flyfshr]

Over the week after Memorial Day, a couple of us stayed at Wynn Campground. Very nice boondocking with extremely clean pit toilets and each site has a sturdy wooden picnic table and fire ring. We had the place to ourselves so we had our pick of spots. We chose site no. 10 for it bordered a small meadow with the availability to see into the next meadow. We were visited by elk and deer during the mornings. There is water available at the host's site along with firewood. Each site was raked clean along with the area around the toilets. Great hosts. Pictures can be see on my blog. Highly recommend. BTW - the road up to Wynn is very washboardy so go slow and stay on the north side of the road. This is where my fridge door came off.

Wynn Campground is practically right across the road from Lee Valley Reservoir where we fished for Artic Graying and native Apache Trout. We also hiked around the lake for a bit of scenery and exercise.

Enjoy your travels and post some pictures.

Brad
FF

[jwvastine]

Rolfe C Hoyer is nice, we stayed there last year. Stay farther back in the cg if you can as the road does get lots of travel so there is some noise. There are 3 small lakes just across the FS road that we canoed around and did a little fishing. The loop we were in had just be completed or redone and had brand new restrooms. No H/Us.


Big Lake will be our next destination for No AZ. A shiny new cg had just opened when we drove through last year. Lots of opportunity for canoeing, fishing and biking. It does get heavy use, so if you want to be away from people you may want to boondock somewhere. There are all sorts of FS roads driving from Greer to Big Lake

We also camped at Diamond Rock (FS) near Alpine several years ago, and have always wanted to go back, just haven't made it.

Judy

[jwvastine]

Brad, thanks for the tip on Wynn! I'm going to check that out.

Judy

[Ahab]

C'mon folks, try to use Lyman Lake State Park. I've heard that if they don't get more action they will shut it down again. It's close to Petrified Nat'l Forest and interesting points in NM.

[jwvastine]

Sorry Ahab, when it's 107 down here, I want to go where it's below 90 and see some green at least some of the time.

Judy

[Ahab]

Originally Posted by jwvastine

Sorry Ahab, when it's 107 down here, I want to go where it's below 90 and see some green at least some of the time.

Judy

Some folks don't find 90 bad, specially when it's for a short time in the afternoon and the nightime temps go down to the 40's.

[jwvastine]

Ahab, we do intend to get there someday. We've always heard it's a nice place to camp.
Being from the frigid north of Oracle, you don't need as much relief from the heat as we lowlanders.!

Judy

[Gator113]

Originally Posted by Ahab

Some folks don't find 90 bad, specially when it's for a short time in the afternoon and the nightime temps go down to the 40's.

We will be traveling on my wife's vacation during the last two weeks of August and the first 2 weeks of September. We have not settled on a trip plan as yet.

I know that most, if not all, of Arizona is too hot for me at that time of year, but I would still like to go.... frankly, I want to spend some of our tourist dollars in you state... THIS YEAR ;>) ... while trying to enjoy some of it's beauty.

Where are the coolest (temp) places to camp in your state?

Cheers,

Dan

[Ahab]

Sorry Judy, your right, Oracle is at 4600' and where we live it's about 200' higher. Today it hit 90° on my porch. Night time will hit 64º for a low. Lyman Lake typically will be in the upper 40's. This big temp variance creates spectacular short term lightning storms.

Gator, i think you will be suprised at that time. The higher you go the cooler you will be. Starting in Show Low and heading east in the White Mountains you will find quite pleasant temps. I strongley suggest you pick up an Arizona Atlas & Gazetteer as it has a great array of campgrounds listed and shown on the maps. Boondocking is availble on all of the State and Federal lands but you need a permit for Indian lands. If you want to be chilled at that time, go to the north rim of the Grand Canyon and work your way back down south. Check out current temps at where your headed with your IPhone or IPad.

[mello mike]

Originally Posted by Gator113244

We will be traveling on my wife's vacation during the last two weeks of August and the first 2 weeks of September. We have not settled on a trip plan as yet.

I know that most, if not all, of Arizona is too hot for me at that time of year, but I would still like to go.... frankly, I want to spend some of our tourist dollars in you state... THIS YEAR ;>) ... while trying to enjoy some of it's beauty.

Where are the coolest (temp) places to camp in your state?

Cheers,

Dan

This time of year the coolest places to camp are on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, in the Flagstaff area, and on the Mogollon Rim and White Mountains.

[NicheVintage]

Sunrise was nothing more than a dirt lot on the side of the road with electrical hook-up, so we passed and ended up at Horseshoe Lake on the White Mtn. Apache Reservation. You need a permit from the tribe for $8 per day and they did come around and check ours! $500 fine if you don't have.

We found several spots on loop 8 with pump water on site. We landed this great spot in the aspen trees with a partial view of the lake!




Our pups loved Horseshoe Lake!



We then headed to Woods Canyon Lake on the way back down to phx and stayed here in spot 81 in Aspen Campground.

[mello mike]

Looks great, Shawn and Tiffany. How were the temps? Can't wait to get up on the Rim on the 4th of July weekend.

[jwvastine]

Ahhhhhh, looks so...cool. I, too, was going to ask about temps. 107 here yesterday.

[NicheVintage]

The Rim seemed a little warmer into the high 80's than the White Mtns but it was very nice at both. The nights were very cool probably into the low 50's. Nice enough that we could have the windows open and sleep under the covers. The daytime in the AS were a little warm unless you had every window open and the fans going. It was cooler outside on the tables than interior of the AS.

[TBRich]

Temps:

We just got home today from a 9-day trip that included 3 nights at Luna Lake just west of Alpine (7960 feet)... nice campground, dry camping, with water available, a little dusty and a bit far from the lake, but nice anyway ... lots of fishermen/women...quiet...mid 80s during the day, mid 40s at night...

From there we went to Big Lake (9100 feet) and stayed in Rainbow Campground for 3 nights...mid-70s in the days and low 40s at night...great dry camping campground, paved roads and pads, dense woods of aspen and several types of pine, and a big fishing destination. After we left we heard they had some lightning strikes...

Then three nights at Rolfe C. Hoyer Campground near Greer (8300 feet), dry camping, campground refurbished in 2009 (no functioning dump station yet, but nicely done)...high 70s during the days, mid 40s at night...very nice time... it rained early monsoons 2 days in the early afternoon then cleared up...nice. (Glad you commented on Sunrise, NicheVintage...doesn't sound good at all...)

We passed by Horseshoe Lake but we needed to get home...next time...it looks nice from the pics above!

[jwvastine]

Originally Posted by TBRich

Temps:

We just got home today from a 9-day trip that included 3 nights at Luna Lake just west of Alpine (7960 feet)... nice campground, dry camping, with water available, a little dusty and a bit far from the lake, but nice anyway ... lots of fishermen/women...quiet...mid 80s during the day, mid 40s at night...

From there we went to Big Lake (9100 feet) and stayed in Rainbow Campground for 3 nights...mid-70s in the days and low 40s at night...great dry camping campground, paved roads and pads, dense woods of aspen and several types of pine, and a big fishing destination. After we left we heard they had some lightning strikes...

Then three nights at Rolfe C. Hoyer Campground near Greer (8300 feet), dry camping, campground refurbished in 2009 (no functioning dump station yet, but nicely done)...high 70s during the days, mid 40s at night...very nice time... it rained early monsoons 2 days in the early afternoon then cleared up...nice. (Glad you commented on Sunrise, NicheVintage...doesn't sound good at all...)

We passed by Horseshoe Lake but we needed to get home...next time...it looks nice from the pics above!

Thanks for the more detailed info, especially Big Lake. We will probably get up there sometime this summer. I wish I had a month to spend a week at Big Lake, a week at Hoyer, a week at Winn and a week around Alpine.