Pleasant Valley, Young area camping??????

[azjeepcjman]

I was wondering if anyone knows of good places to go camping in the Pleasant Valley area, in particular around Young. I was hoping for somewhere with flowing water. On the Forest Circus maps, Cherry Creek just southeast of Young caught my eye. Does anyone know anything about Box Spring or that area? Also, on the way into Young on SR288, which branches off of SR188 between Globe/Miami and Roosevelt Lake I remember camping years ago near a stream that actually had a decent sized waterfall with a really great pool of water at it's base but I don't remember where exactly it was. Sound familiar to anyone? It may have actually been off of Cherry Creek Road (forest road 203), but this stretch of Cherry Creek is not anywhere near the Cherry Creek I was looking at around Young. I'm wasn't looking at the area north of Young, that seeming to be more populated with more of the people that consider camping taking your passenger car on the graded dirt roads and parking along the side and pitching a tent 100 feet from the main road. Any ideas or suggestions?????????

Thanks

[Bruce Robson]

The waterfall you are talking about is at Workman's Creek in the Sierra Anchas. Its about half way between Globe and Young. There used to be a sign there for a boy scout camp and it is the road to Aztec Peak Ranger Lookout.
A secluded nice place to camp is just northwest of Young on Chamberlain Trail (FR200) a few miles before Haigler Creek and past a big ranch. You will see a road on the south side marked FR618 you can go back in there for a long ways and you will find water. If you are coming from the Valley you can go up to Payson then east on 260 just past Christoper Creek you will see the Colcord Road turn off take that until it splits toward Colcord, don't go to Colcord take the road to the right which is Chamberlain Trail. Chamberlain trail is a nice way into Young you'll find areas to camp and you will find FR618 a few miles past Haigler Creek.

[Dragonfly]

Does that area have a fire ban on now? I'm looking for somewhere to go possibly next week where I can have a campfire and where it isn't too cold at night....any ideas?

[Bruce Robson]

There are some fire restrictions in the Tonto National Forest however I do not believe there are any yet around Payson or Pleasant Valley. There most likely will be more restrictions closer to Memorial Day. You can call the Tonto National Forest office 602-225-5200 and ask them about specific areas.

[azjeepcjman]

Thanks for all of the info. Having said that, I may have to postpone the camping for a week or two. I dorve the
cherokee to work Sunday night, came out after work, and the ABS totally failed. While parked???? I trouble-shot it Monday and determined that the pump and/or pressure regulator failed. Dropped it at the dealer Monday night, and now they confirm that it needs a pump and accumulator. They won't know until tomorrow if they have one locally or not. Some of it is warrantied, but about $350 of it comes out of my pocket. Waiting to see if we camp this weekend or not.............

[azjeepcjman]

OK, we went to the falls on Saturday. What beautiful country! After the falls, we thought we would try a 'back road' into Young. After about a mile off road I blew out a rear tire. Put on the spare and decided to turn around instead of risking the 20 or so miles without a spare. Got turned around and about 100 feet later........... bang! There goes the spare. :( Now we're a mile away from the more civilized dirt road, and about 16 miles from Young. :eek:

Well I never really liked this rim anyways so................... Yep, drove 16 miles to Young on the rim. Sure makes a smooth road bumpy. One truck stopped on the way in but they didn't have room for the wife, 2 kids , and me and it was an 8 lug Ford, so we just kept limping. That was the only thing we saw the whole way in. Long story short... drove around town on rim till we found a sand and gravel company shop door open and borrowed their tire machine to fix the blown out tire that had a 1" rip in it. That actually got us back to Mesa.

We decided to stay the night in Young so as not to have to try the repair on the highway in the dark. Got to stay in a 50s era cabin.

All in all not a bad trip, just a little longer than we planned. :cool: