Welcome to our (very personal) reviews of the campsites we have visited. If you arrived here from a link on our travel blog, Semi-True Tales of Our Life On the Road, you can click here to read all of our campground reviews.

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Monday, January 31, 2011

SADDLE MOUNTAIN RV PARK, TONOPAH, ARIZONA

Site 67 Saddle MountainOur Opinion: Recommend.  Great spot for a cleanup after a week of desert boon docking.

Date of Stay: January 24, 2011.

Weather During Stay:  Sunshine.

Site Description:  This large (300+ sites) RV park has been revitalized since our first stay 5 years ago, when it appeared on the verge of bankruptcy.  We didn’t have time to check out all the activity rooms and common areas, but it is clear that the current ownership cares about the park.

Though there are plenty of snowbirds here, the park has many level pull through sites for overnighters or short term stays.  Sites are gravel and/or decomposing asphalt, each with a concrete patio (no picnic tables) and a couple of tall palm trees, Our site had another little obstacle, a large utility box that made pulling in a little tricky (we unhooked the Jeep to allow us to maneuver).

Our street at Saddle MountainIt appears that all sites are FHU (30/50 amps).  Voltage was on the high side, barely under the level acceptable to our EMS, but it stayed within the safe range.

Rate:  We paid $23.80, the price for Escapee RV club members (15% off the normal rate).  Passport America accepted March through December.  Weekly and monthly rates available.  2 pet limit.

Phone/radio/TV:  Usable Verizon signal here for both phones and aircard.  WiFi is available (TengoInternet), but we didn’t use it.  Our site had no obstacles for our roof-mounted satellite TV dish, and the air antenna picked up quite a few channels from Phoenix.  NPR on 91.5.

Elevation/landscape/terrain: This is a flat campground, surrounded by a high brick wall, in the very small town of Tonopah in the desert between Quartzsite and Phoenix.  Local views are of neighboring rigs and palm trees; distant views of arid mountains.  We really liked the palm trees and the wide streets.

Saddle Mountain RV ParkLighting/noise:  Our site was comfortably dark at night.  Very quiet.

Favorite Sites:  As shown in the photos, not much difference between the sites!

Hiking/Walking: We didn’t explore at all since this was just an in-and-out overnight for us.

Comments:  We needed an easily accessible RV park with FHU to clean up on our way to Phoenix after a week of desert boon docking.  We weren’t the only ones - as the afternoon wore on our row filled with other transients leaving Q.  Very friendly office staff make check in easy, and they allowed us to wash both the rig and the towed.