McHOOD PARK, Winslow, AZ

McHOOD PARK

RUN BY:   City of Winslow, AZ

LOCATION:  Winslow, AZ 

UTILITIES:  None

COST:  None

DISCOUNTS:  N/A

OUR RATING (1-5):  Category II.  Rating – 4.

NOTES:  Extremely nice for free.  The toilets were closed but the building looked relatively new and in good repair.  The area was neat and clean.  There were trash cans at each site and a dumpster.  There was a camp host. Although we never met him, I did see him outside once.  There is a small lake and a nice view.

Environment:   High desert.

Amenities:  None

Dump:  No

Public Water:  Probably when bathrooms are open

Toilets:  Yes  (closed in Nov)

Showers:  No

Laundry:  No  (nearest laundry in Winslow) 

Phone Service:  Verizon  4G-3bars

Nearest Propane:  Winslow

Location:  From east or west, exit I-40 at Winslow, AZ and follow 40BL to intersection with AZ-87. Turn south on AZ-87 and go 1.3 miles. Turn left (east) on AZ-99 and go 4.3 miles. The park entrance should be on your left.   Campground coordinates are  34.972157  -110.643410

Proximity to shopping:  Winslow – 5.6 miles away

Camping Population:   Unknown during busier times.  Other than ourselves there were only two others – a couple traveling west and a young woman who is a full-timer.

Sites:   Paved. Level. About half are pull-throughs.

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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.