A Shangrila with a Meadow

A few years ago, we were headed south, toward Flagstaff, Arizona, I believe we were on Highway 180, and just north of Highway 40, when we saw a sign for a campground and stopped there a couple of nights. It was up a dirt road, about a couple of miles in, in the 7,000 ft. elevation, and led to a beautiful meadow with a marsh in the middle. There were only some eight or ten campsites, without any hook ups. It think it was on state or federal land. I can't remember the name of the place or how to find it again. Has anyone ever stopped at a place that sounds like this place? It was a real Shangrila. The kind of place one hopes to find once in a lifetime.  I believe it was in was just north of Hwy. 40 and west of 180. Can someone tell me how to find this place again?  Thx.

I think I may have figured it out.  It is called Lockett Meadows.  It is off fire road 552 in the Coconino National Forest.

I will be starting my vacation May 27th, headed for Pharump, Nevada. After Williams, Az., I plan on heading to Lockett Meadows, but would like some advance scouting.  Has anyone stopped there very recently? How was the road after you leave the paved highway? Could I make it up there on my 31 foot class C?

Hi CGMartin,

Not exactly what you asked for, but here it is: http://goo.gl/M8uFkI
    "This road is not recommended for RVs/trailers due to the very steep, narrow (single lane), and rough road."
    "Current Conditions: Lockett Meadow Road is winding and extremely narrow, and visitors are urged to use caution while in the area."
    "Operated By: Concessionaire - Contact Flagstaff Ranger District - 928-526-0866"

i.e, it does not look promising, but it could be just liability avoidance verbiage. I would call the above phone and enquire.

If you do visit, please post an update here... this looks like the kind of place we'd love to camp at.

Cheers,
--
  Vall & Mo.

Well, I finally got a chance to try the climb up to Lockett Meadow this past weekend. For starters, the road is hard packed with small gravel, which certainly seems to help. Yes, it is steep and winding, but my class c with a v10 had no trouble climbing that grade. I just took it very easy.  You have to anyway, because it is treacherous driving.  The majority of the road is only wide enough for a single car. Luckily, I only encountered a single car on the way up, and it was able to  move aside to let me by. I would definitely not recommend this drive for any class A motorhome.  The meadow is not like I remembered. They planted a bunch of pine trees in the middle of the meadow, so it no longer resembles the wide open meadow it once was.  It is still a beautiful place.  Would I do this again?  No!  I knew I could do it, but it was not smart.  One thing though, it was a good test for my motorhome. It handled this climb, as well as the drive from Oatman, Arizona to I-40, and the drive thru Jerome, Arizona. If it could handle those three drives, it can handle just about anything.

Hi, CGMartin!

Thanks for the update!

We are wondering whether it would be "smart" for us to try that campground in our planned 3/4-ton diesel truck + 30ft fifthWheel, when the time comes for us to get into Fulltiming RV sometime next year... what model is your motorhome? Seems like the kind of place we would like to spend a few days, or many...

Cheers,
--
  Vall & Mo.

Lockett Meadows is still a beautiful place, but as I was driving up, I was having second thoughts about my decision to do so. Once on the road, I was committed, there simply is no place to turn around. I have a 31 ft. class C, and I was just lucky I encountered a single car that was on the way down, that was able to squeeze by, but it was tight. I would not recommend the drive in a fifth wheel. One other thing that turned me off, was that sometime during the night, a bunch of rowdy and drunk people in a nearby camp site decided to visit our motorhome. I have Tinnitus and lost my hearing in the left ear and was sound asleep and my wife did not tell me until the next morning, because she was afraid of how I would have reacted. They pulled off the cover for the windshield, and were shining their flashlights over the cab and were yelling and screaming. Since I always carry my Sig 9 mm handgun, had I known about it, I would have blown my lid.  This sort of incident can happen anywhere, but my wife was terrified of my reaction and we left early the next morning.  My wife had cautioned me about driving to such an isolated location, but I was stubborn and told here we would not have any problems. That ruined it for me and we will never go back up there.  Our next stop after that was Dead Horse State Campground in Cottonwood, Arizona. My wife felt better being near civilization and having rangers nearby.

Hi CGMartin,

cgmartin said:

Lockett Meadows is still a beautiful place, but as I was driving up, I was having second thoughts about my decision to do so. Once on the road, I was committed, there simply is no place to turn around. I have a 31 ft. class C, and I was just lucky I encountered a single car that was on the way down, that was able to squeeze by, but it was tight. I would not recommend the drive in a fifth wheel.

Click to expand...

Just because of a possible incoming car? Perhaps one of us can ride there first on our motorcycle and ask that drivers please wait while the trailer is going up...

cgmartin said:

One other thing that turned me off, was that sometime during the night, a bunch of rowdy and drunk people in a nearby camp site decided to visit our motorhome. I have Tinnitus and lost my hearing in the left ear and was sound asleep and my wife did not tell me until the next morning, because she was afraid of how I would have reacted. They pulled off the cover for the windshield, and were shining their flashlights over the cab and were yelling and screaming. Since I always carry my Sig 9 mm handgun, had I known about it, I would have blown my lid.  This sort of incident can happen anywhere, but my wife was terrified of my reaction and we left early the next morning.  My wife had cautioned me about driving to such an isolated location, but I was stubborn and told here we would not have any problems. That ruined it for me and we will never go back up there.

Click to expand...

Ouch! :-( Sorry to hear about it, I can somewhat relate: last time we stayed at Afton Canyon Campground, we had issues with an unruly band of ATMers also... which also abused the fact that no ranger was around. But it didn't came anywhere near this... :-/

cgmartin said:

Our next stop after that was Dead Horse State Campground in Cottonwood, Arizona. My wife felt better being near civilization and having rangers nearby.

Click to expand...

Again, I can relate: Mo feels just like that when I ask her to camp out-of-the-way... :-/

Cheers,
--
  Vall.

I will pass on other good camp sites my family and I have been to over the years.  The Northern, Arizona area is one of our favorite places to go. We also stayed two days at the Williams, Arizona, at the Grand Canyon Railroad camp ground. That is one of our favorites. It is an excellent facility and has all amenities, especially wifi and cable, which my kids, and I too, cannot do without. Getting back to Lockett Meadows, having a rider ahead would certainly help because in about 80% of the road, there is no way for anyone to pull over. You also have to be self contained, because there is nothing available up there. Due to the fire season, all fires of any type, even in fire rings, were strictly prohibited. which put a damper on our activities.  There is just one area where the pine trees are too close to the road, and I was afraid they would scratch the side of the motorhome, but I had no damage. As I said before, the road surface is actually not bad because it is hard packed small gravel and does not have any ruts, but it does have some tight turns and at times, there are some scary drop offs with no trees to slow you down should you go over the side.  If you do decide to go up there, space #1 is the best of all. It is secluded on all sides and there are no other camp sites nearby. It is nice and flat and also has gravel. We should have moved there but I was too lazy to pack up from site #9, which was the only one large enough to accomodate our motorhome.  The name is Carlos.