This was a really nice place to relax at. While my husband fished on the shore, I did some paddle boarding. There were lots of people fishing in boats and also in kayaks! The lake water was really calm despite all the activities taking place. There were a few different locations that had lake access. We went to the one opposite the campground, and the parking lot was a little small and packed at 1030a on Saturday. There was a bathroom at this location, near the boat launch ramp. A nice place to visit, I would definitely come back! read more

Big Lakes Recreational Area - Campgrounds Near Me

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100%, hands down, my most favorite place to camp and fish in AZ since I was a kid. This is my Happy Place that takes all the stress in life away! Every year I take myself to Big Lake for a few days to camp and fish by myself to decompress. I sleep in my Jeep, rent a boat and fish from 6am to 6pm. Honestly, I could care less if I even catch fish (although that has never been a problem, the fishing is great if you know the right spots :) ). The staff in the marina store are always knowledgeable, friendly and super helpful. You can mix it up a bit and hit the West Fork of the Little Colorado River and East Fork of the Black River while there, both have breathtaking hikes along them. On a scale of 1 to 10, if I die tomorrow I'd want to visit Big Lake one more time as my last wish. read more

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The campground hosts are amazing! Very helpful, great problem solvers. The roads, however, really suck. The hosts playfully call them "inverted speed bumps," read more

Big Lakes Recreational Area - Sunset over Mount Baldy. - Campgrounds Near Me

This is where I spent many camping/fishing trips throughout my childhood and I still love to come back as an adult. Absolutely beautiful lake. But I always seem to get rained on. LOL read more

Big Lakes Recreational Area - Campgrounds Near Me

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I love big lake and the forests surrounding the area. I have been coming here since I was tiny young thing and have a super soft spot in my heart for this place. The lake itself is very big! I have fished from both the land and a boat and done well from both. I'm recent years, they have had major alge blooms which makes the fighting from shore difficult and the fish just aren't biting like they used to but that doesn't deter me from visiting. The store is family owned and has been in their family for generations which I thing is awesome! The items are more expensive than the store but it will save you a 30+ minute drive back to the nearest town of you need something. And like I said, family owned so you're supporting a local business. I'd rather spend my money with a family than a big corporation any day. Anyhow, come to big lake. Enjoy nature. Create memories. You won't regret it. read more

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Beautiful place. Huge lake and has many spots to see it. We went to the area next to the boat ramp. The water was damn cold. It is offseason when we went here hence there was no one at all to the end where we went. There was a little offroad way that we took while returning from the sunrise resort and loved the journey as well. Lake is beautiful and pine trees all around make it so serene. Overall it is a beautiful place to visit and is highly recommended when you are in the Pinetop-Greer area. read more

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Nice lake in the White Mountains. They are a bit generous with the name Big but it is big for this area. They say that it is 450 surface (depending on the year) acres of water. It's at 9,000 ft (2,700 m) so it's a cold water lake. I've read that it has an average of 16 ft. Fish in Big Lake includes Rainbow, Brown, Brook and Cuttbroat trout. The Arizona Fish and Game Department stocks, they say, an average of 480,000 fingerling (three inch) and 50,000 subcatchable (six inch) trout. Mostly, rainbow trout. Like most lakes up here, boat motors are restricted to electric or 10 HP or less gas motors. Boats are also available for rent at the small convenience store that sells limited food, gas, fishing supplies and fishing licenses as well as the boat rentals. They say the best fishing is from a boat. Being the only place with few boats, rental prices are very high. They have many camping sites. Mostly no service, some with electric and water and only a handful with full services. These sites fill up crazy fast. It's hard to get more than a day here or there. It is a great place to get away from it all and enjoy the wilderness. read more

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Spent a week camping here as it's only an hour from home. Beautiful area with lots of elk. Great for boating and fishing. Sites are nice with Clean bathrooms and warm, free showers. I agree with the confusion about their prices. Seemed to depend on who was working the gate at the time. We had prepaid for two sites online. When we got there, we had an extra car and tent and they wanted to charge an extra $300 for 5 days. Another lady came up and said they did it wrong and the price dropped to less than $80 extra. Also, they don't take credit cards at the site as there is no phone service. read more

Met my brother-in-law at the Rainbow campground and stayed only a few nights do to time constraints. It was a clean nice campground no hookups on this one. The camp next door had some full hookups available but it's all dirt where rainbow is paved and a lot less dust. My 4 year old and wife loved it! We enjoyed the scenery and fishing. We will be back when we can stay a little longer. read more

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My date and I escaped the Phoenix heat in search of a few hiking options. A friend told me about Big Lake and I did a little research. This link is to the Big Lake visitor center but they cover the entire area. There are a few other lakes that you can fish at and tons of campground options. I only visited Big Lake though. I also hiked a local trail - This area rocks! read more

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We stayed at Apache Trout Campground. Half sites have hook ups and others did not. They had flush toilets and hot showers free with a camp site. Look at www.recreation.gov to reserve a site. Camp host really friendly and knowledgeable of the area too. read more

Big Lakes Recreational Area - Aspen #8 non hook up site $26. - Campgrounds Near Me

Every year we stay @ Campgrounds Cutthroat & Brookchar around May/June months but this year the Camp Host John was by far the most charismatic and welcoming of past camp host! He was informative, helpful and was an absolute joy to talk to. We even offered to have him for lunch one day and we brought him dinner one night as well. He was awesome to just share stories with. Made The Sevilla Annual Fishing/Camping trip extra special this year! Thanks for another amazing time!!!!! read more

Love this campground and the area it's in...has full service's, each site has water and it's own campsite and up to 50 amp power. Very nice. Unfortunately, our trip is ruined every year by the nazi janitor with the grey beard on a golf cart who comes by at least twice a day to yell at customers for nitpicky rules and unnecessary regulations. He takes his job way too seriously and is very unpleasant. We go there to escape and relax, not to be constantly yelled at. Otherwise we would enjoy the spot immensely. read more

While the campsite is beautiful and the facilities are nice, the Forest Service and the people administering the campground and Recreation.gov are all saying different things about site usage and number of vehicles and tents. The result? Utter confusion. If two vehicles arrive, and share a site but only put up one tent, it costs $52.00--because this is 'one sleeping unit.' But if two vehicles arrive with two tents carried in seperate vehicles, ONE site would cost $104 per night because it's suddenly 'two sleeping units.' Are you with me? But if one vehicle arrives with eight people and and they each put up a tent (totalling 8 tents), the price drops back down to $52.00 because this would be considered 'one sleeping unit' because they all came in the same vehicle. This voodoo calculation contradicts the signs posted at the campground that says that "Two vehicles" equals 'one camp unit' (evidently a 'sleeping unit' and a 'camp unit' are different things. We reserved a 'mini group site' that could have up to 16 people. But we had to pay extra because the five people who came to the site drove in three cars and all slept in different tents. The system makes no sense based on the advertising and the signs posted in the campground. read more