Dairy Springs Campground

We stayed here Sept. 24-28, 2023. We had friends stay next to us and had the best time. The weather was perfect, the sites were large, and there were a lot of nice hiking trails around.

Wayne, our host, was amazing! He’s normally the host at Double Springs but he was filling in at Dairy Springs and we were so lucky he was! He was friendly, helpful, and such a hard worker! He never stopped and boy you could tell! The campground was so clean and so well taken care of.

Wayne, thank you so much for your hospitality! We loved meeting you!

Nancy, Gary, Marylu, Gary & Chris.

The campsite has water but you are not allowed to fill up your freshwater tank on your RV. We had to go to the Pinegrove Campground about 5 miles north of there off of Lake Mary Rd. Pinegrove Campground has a RV Dump ($6) and Freshwater ($5) fill. When we drove up from Stoneman Lake road we passed by what looked like a RV Dump station in the Mormon Lake Town, so that is another option if you are coming from that direction.
We came from Phoenix on I-17 on Stoneman Lake Rd, the road started out paved and then went to gravel after about 5 miles and remained that way for about 11 miles till we connected with Lake Mary Rd. We were towing a 26ft Airstream and the gravel road was ok but still isn't the greatest when pulling a trailer. We ended up driving to Flagstaff and then came back down I-17 rather than going back on Stoneman Lake road.
There is little to no water in Mormon Lake but Lake Mary has water which is about 8 miles north there. We hiked the Mount Mormon trail from the campsite and it is a nice uphill hike. It also connects to the Arizona Trail close to the campsite. We biked the Arizona Trail up to the Horseshoe Lake trailhead and it was a very pretty trail, I would say beginner to intermediate mountain biking trail
I will agree with some other reviews the vaulted toilets were much smellier than others I have been in. They were clean but when you pulled up the lid it was pretty overwhelming. Some campsites are closer to each other than others. We were pretty close to our neighbors but in general the campsite was nice and perfect for the 26ft airstream. Verizon service was for the most part non-existent in the camp site. If you go up the trials behind the campsite or go out to the road there was good coverage.
We will probably stay at Pinegrove Campground or some other camp ground next time we are in that area. There also seemed like a lo of great and free camping areas just off the roads in the area. We saw one trailer by the Horseshoe Lake Trailhead for the Arizona Trail and that had a beautiful view of large meadow.

I would never return because of the horrific, persistent, acrid odor of the vault toilets. I fully understand vault toilets are always going to have a reek to them, it's the nature of the beast. But this was far and away the strongest stench of urine and feces I've ever encountered. It makes one wonder if the building housing the toilets has ever once seen a single spritz of bleach. Not to mention how anytime the wind changed you'd get wafts of the bathroom aroma flowing through your campsite. If I'm paying money to stay at an official campsite, I expect to be able to use the toilets without fear of passing out or vomiting. I truly could not enter the bathrooms without something covering my face to help diffuse the smell. It really is a shame because the actual camp sites are decent, if a bit close together. Something to note, they will charge $8 per night per additional vehicle, which is stated online. However, what is NOT stated online is that they will not accept cards as payment of that fee, and they will not have a way to charge the card you made reservations with. They will expect you to pay with cash or check and if you can't they will force you to drive out to the ATM in Mormon Lake to get cash. Rigid, nosy, unfriendly, camp hosts are the cherry on top of the stinky toilet sundae.

We camped with group home. Clients loved it and there was a abandoned house nearby. We were warned that there are bears nearby. They have lines to tell us not to go beyond in case animals comes. My client caught squirrel out there. Mormon lake and lake mary is nearby, you would have to drive there. It has many places you can hike to explore. Nice campsite and fun. I would return there someday. Host are great and you can buy woods from him if desire. Good for all ages.

We had a lovely weekend at Dairy Springs in our A-frame camper. The site wasn't the most level, but we were able manage it by stretching the capabilities of the post/levelers. Our site, 12, was across a small creek bed (dry at the time) from the one group camping site, which was happened to be full of boy scouts. Not the quietest camping experience we've ever had, but not unexpected from a popular camping destination. All of the reservable sites appeared reserved online (we got the last one), but the non-reservable sites were practically empty (at least pre-Memorial day.) Each site had deep fire pits and picnic tables, but no BBQ stubs on site. We had a little trouble cooking over the campfire in our dutch oven and had to build the fire pretty high, we'll be buying a dutch oven table so we don't have to cook directly on the ground or in the fire pit (too much ash in the bottom from previous fires had choked out the coals) next time. The site is semi-primitive, with faucets, trash, and pit-toilet outhouses located every few sites. There are no showers in the campsite, but the Mormon Lake RV Park/Lodge a few miles down the road had public pay showers and laundry if you needed them. The forest was beautiful, with a nice drive up along Mary Lake, and we enjoyed great star viewing at night. During the day, we went down to the village, had lunch, pet the horses, and then explored some of the backroads in the area. It did get very cold at night, dropping quickly after sunset, so be prepared. T-Mobile cell phone service was not available at our site, although our Verizon Jetpack did show one bar, we didn't have service activated on it so we can't confirm if it was "real" service or not. We got a few hits of Over The Air TV from our little antenna but couldn't get the signal long enough to actually watch anything. Overall, we had a nice visit and will very likely return again.