Apache Creek Campground

Pulled in to an empty campground on a Monday last day of February and was delighted to see all the big beautiful Ponderosa trees. Reminded me of home. I would agree with what previous reviewers have said with the following additions/changes.

We had 2 bars Verizon. Only a few of the sites have ramadas. But shade is more plentiful than sun here. We survive on Solar and we picked the best site to support our batteries. There are 11 sites here and we saw some folks come through for single nights but this campground stayed pretty empty. The one pit toilet was only satisfactory but my wife begs to differ. We picked up a lot of small trash around our campground. Cathy would call this campground "tired/worn" We never took the bikes out because we are getting a little tired of what goatheads do to our tire pressure. But we were out on a hiking trail almost every day. We never went in the store close by but could see there is no fuel/gas there. Both are available in nearby Reserve, and nearby Apache RV Park has all the usual services plus propane.

There was no host here and no garbage collection. We could hear the nearby hwy 12 occasionally but it was never bothersome. The sites were big and flat and spaced well apart. You could even pull in with the tank Werelobo mentions. It could get pretty messy when wet, but vehicle traction would be OK. Our main dislike was the wind but which was much mitigated by being in the forest.

I venture to say this campground is packed during fall hunting season. Lots of bones spread around the campground. Lots of antlers mounted on nearby houses. We saw some elk on our hikes but never heard them. They are pretty quiet in the spring.

We went both directions on the CDT about 15 miles east of here. We did the Frisco Divide trail about 8 miles west of here. There is a short trail to an old homestead just beyond the Apache RV park. There is a short trail to some petroglyphs just a quarter mile from the campground and the road past the campground goes up into national forest with a lot of side roads to bike and open country to wander across. We left the campground most every day for much of the day and always came back to it with our site unmolested.

Where the CDT crosses Hwy 12, there is a little bit of dispersed camping on both sides of the road. We also saw some along the dirt road to the Frisco Divide trailhead but only along the first part of the road. Not once you start crossing creeks though.

This was one of our favorite sites travelling the southwest for several months, mostly because of the surrounding country side, but also the convenient camping.

This campsite is beautiful. One of my dogs is prone to barking at people that get too close to us so having such a large, open space to camp in that was still private was an amazing experience.

I went camping in my SUV along with a friend that had a tent but I could easily see large rvs pulling into these spots. The access was amazing. We pulled into the campsite extremely early/late around 2am on a Saturday. There was plenty of sites open. The campers there were a mix of camper trailers, tents, and one other group was camping a vehicle besides us.

The amenities were basic but nice. No hookups for electricty or water. There was a single vault toilet in the middle of the campsite. It was extremely clean and was well stocked with toilet paper. A small but well stocked general store sits accross the street to the entrance of the forest. It was solid 5 minute drive from our site. All sites had metal fire pits and picnic tables. A few had gazebos as well.

I'm pretty sure you could get anything smaller than an Abrams tank into the sites at Apache Creek, and won't even need to back up. The sites are nicely spread out, with plenty of trees in between them. Amenities are pretty typical Forest Service, although there is a nice metal shelter at each site. The picnic tables have seen better days, though. Some trash, but not terrible.

I was intending on staying here for 1 night, the grounds themselves seemed fine, there was a ton of rain so lots of big puddles which was not great for tent camping. All though still seemed doable.

The reason I did not stay here is because when I was in town at a shop one of the locals started mentioning the drug problem that was running rampant through the towns youth and for some reason it made me very uncomfortable.

I am sorry this has nothing to do with the site its self.

Open as of June 21, 2020. Vault toilet. Several spots open through the weekend. Quite a bit of day use by picnic families. Zero cell signal with Verizon...have to drive about 2 miles toward Reserve. Apache RV Park, 1.5 miles toward Reserve, has propane, laundry (coin), dump station ($10), and showers ($10), all open to public. Small convenience store at Apache Creek 500 meters from campground. Easy hike to petroglyphs.

Grounds looked wet, few mud puddles from all the rain in July. kept things cooled for a great night sleep.

Song birds everywhere, evening saw some big deers close by.

Vault restroom was clean compared to others.

Small grocery store at the entrance, walking distance from campsite, never did visit.

Few tents and RVers.

Sound of a gunshot close by.

Forestry Services working in the camping area, left before they got crank up.

No Cellphone from my provider.

Just stayed three nights last week. It was a long drive from Tucson, made even longer by the horrible roads (mainly the mule pass area) but it was worth it once we arrived. The site is easily accessible for larger rigs which seems a bit rare these days. The campground was empty except for one other small toy hauler who left the next day. Nights were filled with stars and silence.

The creek does not exactly "flow" very well and I believe some of the stinky smells we encountered at times was due to the stagnant water. There was also a serious amount of dead cows all around the area so I assume the area has quite a few coyotes or wolves. There were plenty of trails to explore on the Can-Am and we hit up a little cage in Reserve one morning for breakfast. Fuel prices in Reserve are beyond insane so worst case, fill up just outside of Glenwood where diesel was 50 cents cheaper.

All in all, everyone enjoyed this site and we will likely go back in September.

It could be I caught this place at the wrong time, there was a large group of RVs in one location which was far enough away except they didn't leash the four dogs they brought with them and left their generator running all night long which wasn't loud except when it's in a canyon where after a few hours it starts to become bothersome. That wasn't the only issue with this place, someone butchered a horse or elk and discarded it's carcass in the camping area, I know people have to eat and out there that may be normal but it was right in the camping area. All of this set the tone for this place, in general people being disrespectful of everyone and everything else around them in this location.