White Spar Campground

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When we had a need to visit Prescott, Arizona for a doctor’s appointment, we weren’t really sure what to expect of the place. We had heard horror stories about trying to get there from Wilhoit, since that section of US Hwy 89 is supposed to be rather treacherous any time of year. So, thanks to some online recommendations, we decided to skip that section and travel a different route via Skull Valley. Freaky name, but not a bad area. Nothing really to see, unfortunately, but the road is easier to navigate.

Thanks to that detour, the hardest part of the journey was traveling a one-lane road up the mountain near Congress, Arizona. Thankfully, there was no snow at the time we went (late February), and the speed limits were very conservative, which made things a lot easier going up (and especially coming down). Just make sure you’re brakes are in good working order before coming back down – that section is steep!

We had discovered a campground in the area online before making the trip – White Spar Campground, located just outside of town on the edge of the Prescott National Forest. Not knowing how long we were going to be there, we initially booked for 2 nights.

Once arriving at the campground, it was a bit of a mixed bag. The campground host was not there (and a bit of a walk from our campsite), so we spent a bit of time trying to figure out how to check in (apparently, just being at your site with your reservation email handy is all you need). Wi-fi was not great (our T-Mobile hotspot was slow, and our AT&T phones weren’t much better).

This was the first site we had stayed at in a forest, and we were pleasantly surprised. While there were lots of trees around, the solar panels on our roof were still able to soak up some sunlight during the day, since the trees are cleared out a bit around the campsites. The amenities at the actual campsite were decent too, with a stone picnic table and a fire pit. Unfortunately, previous tenants had decided to use the fire pit to collect their empty bottles, so we didn’t take advantage of that.

The bathrooms were another story. There is one dual vault toilet building per section of the campground, and the ones near us were in disrepair. Somebody had made a mess in one of the sections, so one vault toilet was completely unusable for most of our stay (which we did extend to 4 nights eventually). When we first arrived, the other vault toilet stunk to high heaven, smelling like dead things. Thankfully, with a healthy amount of air freshener, that toilet became manageable. Unfortunately, the door locks (both the handle lock and the chain lock) were broken, so one of us had to stand sentry for the other.

It seems the busy times at White Spar Campground are the weekends, as even in late February, all of the reserved site were booked for Friday and Saturday nights). And we did see signs of the campground getting ready for the influx, as toilet paper was replaced (and the bad toilet cleaned up) on Thursday afternoon. So it may be a little harder to snap up a night on the weekend, but you will probably have a better bathroom experience (especially since the locks actually work on the other bathroom door).

All in all, our stay at White Spar Campground had both ups and downs. The trash dumpster nearby was super useful (but no hookups available for RV’ers) and if we had been here during peak season, water is available outside the bathrooms. It was a bit chilly most of our stay than what we had been used to in Quartzsite, but that was to be expected because of the elevation.

Would we stay here again? Yeah, we would. The trees give you a lot more privacy than you expect and there are more amenities than we originally expected. Thanks to our Access Pass, it was only $5 a night for us to stay (with a $8 reservation fee) rather than the typical $10. For what we got (even with the problems), that’s actually pretty cheap.

On a side note, we found it a bit odd that to get from Iron Springs Rd (the road from Skull Valley) to Hwy 89 is not direct – you have to drive through a neighborhood or two. Apparently the two connect further on, but you would expect them to meet within downtown Prescott – and they don’t.