ABOUT SUNNY FLAT CAMPGROUND: This campground was a National Forest Service campground located in the Cave Creek Recreation Area section of the Coronado National Forest in Arizona. There are several large parts of the Coronado National Forest – this particular one housed the Chiricahua Mountain range and the Chiricahua National Monument. This was our first visit to any sections of the Coronado National Forest.
The Chiricahua Mountain range runs approximately north/south. Some of the mountains reach over 10,000 feet in elevation. Most are in the 6,000 to 7,000-foot range. The National Forest is close to the western New Mexico border, and not very far from the Mexico international border. The Cave Creek Recreation Area was located on the eastern side of the Mountains near the tiny, blink-or-you’ll-miss-it town of Portal.
There were four National Forest Service campgrounds in the Cave Creek Recreation Area: Idlewilde, Stewart, Sunny Flat, and John Hands Campground. None of the campgrounds had dump station facilities. Idlewilde and John Hands were closed for the winter (open April thru October), and were not accessible for trailers and RVs – only tents.
Stewart Campground had maybe 6 camping sites. Only sites #1, #2, and #4 were big enough for the RV & Honda, and BARELY. There was no fresh water available, but you could get it at Sunny Flat Campground.
Sunny Flat Campground was a little bigger – there were 13 or 14 campsites. There was a rest room facility and fresh water was available. The campsites that could accommodate us were #3, #5, #7, #9, and #13. We chose #9. It was heavily tree’d, private, the only one that had plenty of room for both vehicles (the others were a stretch but doable), a tent pad which got a little sun in the afternoon, and close to Cave Creek. A wonderful campsite except there were so many trees that we rarely got enough sunlight to warm the RV. We would stay there again, keeping the lack of sun in mind, or possibly go for #13 with more sunlight but less privacy.
In this area of the National Forest there were many birding sites. We were told that this area is extremely popular with birders in the spring. People bike the roads and there are hiking trails all over the place. Other things to NOTE: many of the roads are dirt roads, some quite rough and rocky, and there are flash flood warnings posted all over the place. They will evacuate you in advance of a rain storm. It also can snow. The mud from the rain and snow make the dirt roads impassable at times. Also, the paved road is narrow and the trees hang low. We scraped one of the solar panels on the way into the camping area.
A campsite runs $20 per night. You get 50% off with a Federal Senior Pass or Golden Age Pass. None of these four campgrounds accept reservations. It is first-come, first-served and after you find your campsite, you pay at the iron ranger by putting your money in the envelope there, filling out your information, and depositing the envelope.
At the time of this blog post, we had no internet signal. I do not have any further information like addresses, websites, and phone numbers. Probably google “Coronado National Forest” and see what they say. A description of where the area is that we camped is above in this post.
- 2022 – 01/11-01/14