ANGEL VALLEY RD, Cottonwood, AZ

ANGEL VALLEY RD.

RUN BY:   National Forest Service

LOCATION:  Cornville, AZ   (34.812151  -111.894090)

UTILITIES:  None

COST:  None

DISCOUNTS:  N/A

OUR RATING (1-5):  Category III.  Rating 4+

NOTES: Angel Valley is 0.8 mi up a dirt road off of AZ-89A.  It is sometimes called 89B.  The camping area sits at top of a rise with magnificent views in every direction. There were three trailers, 1 van dweller, a class-C, class-A and 4 tent campers at one point during our stay.  The site is 9.5 miles north of Cottonwood and 11 miles south of Sedona.  We fell in love with Cottonwood.  Between the two, there is everything you could want.  Lots of places to visit – Montezuma’s Castle, Montezuma’s Well, Arcosante, Jerome, VbarV Ranch Petroglyphs, Oak Creek Canyon and Tuzigoot, just to make a few.  PLEASE, if you use dispersed camping, leave the area as clean, if not cleaner, than you found it. The future availability of such marvelous places is dependent upon clean thoughtful campers. 

Environment:   Dessert at around 4,000 ft plus elevation.  Jasper and Pinyon Pine. 

Amenities:  None

Dump:  No

Public Water:  No   (nearest water at Angel Valley meditation community about 1.5 miles away.)

Toilets:  No   (pit toilets at a trailhead about 0.8 mile away)

Showers:  No

Laundry:  No   (nearest laundry in Cottonwood)

Phone Service:   Verizon  4G 2-3 bars

Nearest Propane:  Camp Verde, AZ

Location:  Just off AZ-89A about half way between Cottonwood and Sedona. 34.812151  -111.894090

Proximity to shopping:  9.5 miles to Cottonwood.  11 miles to Sedona.  We preferred Cottonwood.

Camping Population:  Quite varied. We had a number of residential campers * who were good neighbors. The rest were full-timers. 

Sites:   N/A.  No site designation but there were, as mentioned above, 10 of us in there at one point. We could not have handled any more RVs but there could have been more tents. 

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RATING KEY:    category - score 

Categories:  I - established campgrounds where one might spend a vacation or several days

                    II -  boondocking, dry camping where there are no designated sites and no amenities but

                               one might choose to stay for more than a night.

                    III - over-night areas 

You must remember that we are scoring 1 thru 5 according to things which are important to us: the environment, cost, amenities, location, safety, camping population, site, phone service 

* There are people who are not full-timers and van-dwellers by choice. We try hard not to be demeaning or assume that they are bad people but sadly, as you find in the poorer parts of a city, there seems to be more crime. Many call these people van-dwellers. That isn’t really accurate even though they do often live in vans. We know quite a few van-dwellers who have good incomes, are full-timers by choice and prefer a van to other types of vehicles. To try to show some respect for people who have a difficult lot in life, I’m calling them ‘residential campers’.  It is only when you get a high proportion of residential campers in an area that you find an increase in petty theft, etc.