Happy Jack Lodge & RV Park

Booked site on phone and when we got here found out there was a large wedding taking place in tent and pavilion. If we had known we wouldn’t have come because of noise and Covid. No mask wearing here. Also LOUD barking dogs. For hours and hours. Perhaps the owners are at the wedding. Tried calling office but no answer. It’s torture!

Happy Jack is a beautiful location in the mountains of Arizona. This resort is one of the few campgrounds in the area. It offers a lot of amenities and a variety of types of camping experiences from cabins, to full hookups, to dry camping. However, due to its popularity, it is very difficult to get good camping spots. The RV sites in the trees are all taken by seasonal campers that have made the reservations many months in advance and usually keep those spots for years. Plus, there is a long waiting list. For short term guests, there are sites "on the hill" which are mostly full-hookup spots with no tree cover. Most of the sites are fairly level, but they face north and south which means that you are getting full sun all day with no shade on your patio area. Be sure to bring an extra shade canopy. There is decent spacing between the sites and the hookups are good. Water pressure is perfect. We were told that our site was 30amp, but when we got there, it was actually 50amp which was a nice surprise. If you are open to dry camping, the area for dry camping is in the trees and looks beautiful. If we stay there again, we will opt for the dry camping area since it's secluded and nestled in the forest. There is a restaurant on-site which serves good food and has a decent bar. Prices are reasonable. Our only disappointment with this resort was that the staff does not seem very friendly or helpful. Our impression was that this place sells out most of the time so they don't really care if you like it or not since the demand is high. As an example, there was no one to escort to the site, and they seemed bothered that we needed directions. No one seemed to have any information about ATV rentals, horseback riding, or any other local activities. It is very obvious that they cater more to the regulars.

Disappointed we didn’t get into the lower tree covered area that we requested. Also to learn that all of the the lower area will be reserved for full timers next year. Only reason it’s at a star rating of 4 vs 5. We would come back more often if we could get a spot in the trees. Lodge was clean and food was AMAZING. We don’t have SxS so not much for us to do except go exploring via car. We drove into Strawberry and went to Tonto Natural Bridge one day. The next day we wanted to find the rim but it was raining day and we don’t have a 4wheel drive vehicle, so we turned back on the Forrest road. Still a great place - loved the temps and the Lodge but would have liked the rig parked in the trees.

I have stayed here twice. My first stay was as my inaugural run from Phoenix in my new coach. I used this visit to check everything out and make sure everything was working properly and in order.

The location is easy to get to. I called ahead and also checked online to make sure there was availability. The check in process was easy and the front desk was very nice and helpful. They offered to have me look at all sites that were open before assigning one. I thought this was nice as I was unsure how much maneuverability I needed to navigate through the park.

I found all to be very user friendly and easy. The hook-ups are very easy and park is clean and people friendly. The store has all the basics and the restaurant menu has most of what you would like.

My second stay here was during elk hunting season. Again, was nice and easy. I did get my propane filled on this trip as it was expected to snow. Easy process.

We chose this park as a first shakedown trip for our new travel trailer. Our site was relatively level, had a well maintained picnic table and fire ring, and all hookups functioned as expected. We stayed in site #29, which was nice because it was along the tree line and not in the middle of the park.

The main lodge has a store for items such as water, ice, firewood, snacks, etc. The staff was friendly and attentive. There is a steakhouse and bar as well, but we did not venture in there. The park itself was relatively full when we were there in May, and seemed to consist of many seasonal guests. There was lots of UTV activity in the park, so it wasn't really quiet until later on in the evening.

Overall, the park is clean and well maintained. The view of the stars at night was wonderful. The only drawback to this park is connectivity. We work remotely, but were unable to while we were there. The lodge has WiFi, but it does not extend very far into the park. Verizon does have LTE coverage, but it is a single tower and was saturated while we were there. It was very painful to simply browse websites, so streaming video was out of the question. No way could I do my day-to-day work from our campsite.

We would definitely chose this park again for a vacation when connectivity isn't a concern.