Ponderosa Campground and Group Sites

Ponderosa pine trees surround and tower over open-space campgrounds, providing cool shade and gorgeous vistas. Most visitors enjoy taking advantage of the area's hiking trails and lakes, traveling to Payson for the day or simply relaxing at the campsite to the sound of fluttering leaves. The operating season is April-October.

Natural Features: The ponderosa pine trees make this a memorable campground. Larger ponderosas release a vanilla scent into the air and have a relatively open understory, making the area perfect for camping. Mixed into the understory are junipers, oaks and manzanita shrubs. The campground sits on the border of the Mogollon Rim, pronounced by locals as ""muggy-own,"" a 200-mile-long cliff in northern Arizona that ranges between 5,000 and 7,000 feet in elevation. The unique landscape was created by extreme erosion and faulting that has sculpted spectacular canyons and buttes. The rim serves as the geographical dividing line between the cool high country above and the hot, dry desert below.