Frazier Horse Camp and Hot Well Dunes Recreation Area, Arizona

 This is a continuation of my six week trip to Arizona. After leaving Picket Post:

Hot Well Dunes Recreation Area.

I was in survival mode, a winter storm warning, freezing temperatures and snow, was in the cards for a few days. My next stop was Frazier Horse Camp right alongside Roosevelt Lake. About four years ago I had driven through the area, without my horse, and had checked this place out. It's a very cute camp and I had visions of coming back to stay and ride at this warm and sunny location, perhaps take a dip in the lake. Instead, what ensued was three days of frigid cold, and one very short ride.

Frazier Horse Camp.

Frazier Horse Camp has 7 spots with steel corrals, a bathroom, and potable water from spigots that you can attach a hose to. There are dumpsters for garbage and that is also where you are required to deposit manure. Some of the corrals have a shade tree and the picnic tables are covered by a ramada. There is a separate group camp with it's own bathroom, water etc. but oddly, no corrals. It is $16.00 per night, and you cannot pay there, I had seen this information on the website, but I assumed wherever you did pay was within walking distance. Nope, I dropped my horse off, turned around and drove back 3.5 miles to Windy Hill Campground. 

You can get reservations on Recreation.gov. The forest service website states there are 11 camp spots...there are not. On Recreation.gov. it shows an 8th spot, this is also not true, that is actually the picnic area.

The following two camp pictures are from when I was there four years ago. On this current trip not a lot of photos were taken since I knew I already had better ones than what I could take in the weather I was experiencing. 

There are camp hosts and they have been hosting there so long that I recognized their Appaloosa mare from my last visit. The hosts keep the place spotlessly clean and are pretty used to having the camp to themselves. When I drove in this time, the mare named Boo was wandering around loose. As I unloaded, she came over to make our acquaintance.

Frazier Horse Camp.

Frazier Horse Camp.

Although it wasn't a warm day, it was balmy compared to the following day. That night it poured rain, and the shade tree did nothing to keep my horse dry. I'm not someone who blankets my horse at home, but I always carry a waterproof blanket with me while camping, just in case, and never need to use it. BUT I had not brought it to Arizona, consequently my horse got drenched and cold, and the warmth producing hay I gave her, got covered in mud and soaked.

It was just drizzling in the morning, so finally I decided to put on all my rain gear and ride the trail under the highway that goes to the Frazier Trailhead.

The Cottonwood Trail follows along a hill for awhile, there is a view of a trailer park, then it drops down into a canyon. I rode through a creek bed, it was dry, (there is a boulder section some folks don't like to ride over) and then I eventually reached the Arizona Trail, which is actually in the form of a road for this section. The farther I went up the road, the worse the weather got, so I finally turned around. I got back to camp just in time, the wind picked up, there was thunder, and the downpour began again. I huddled under the ramada with my horse letting her eat, but although it started out dry under the cover, soon a small stream was running through her hay. Then the snow started. Big white flakes that did not stick in the camp, but covered the nearby hills. That night was the coldest I've ever felt while camping, not that I haven't experienced colder temperatures, but the temperature stayed consistently low, even during the day, so there was no chance to warm up, ( I think the high was 39 ) and at night my LQ was like being in a fridge.

A bobcat butt.

The next day after the snow.

I spent another day and night at this camp just because I was waiting for the snow to stop in other areas. I needed to drive back over a pass and through Globe, and both were getting the brunt of the storm. The camp hosts kept repeating how it had just been in the 70's right before I arrived. 

On the third day I went on a very long walk, experiencing every kind of weather at once, mostly wind and hail. 

The next day, which was my birthday, I finally left and drove over the pass, quite a lot of snow had fallen, but it had been plowed and any icy spots were melting from the sun.

I drove through one of the most depressing Indian reservations I have ever seen, and eventually made my way to Hot Well Dunes Recreation Area which is plopped right in the middle of nowhere, literally, 25 miles in either direction from civilization, between Safford and Bowie. The road into it is paved, but a little bumpy, and it has been patched numerous times.

Hot Well Dunes, in the middle of nowhere.

As you can imagine I was very much looking forward to the hot springs in this area, but quickly my hopes were dashed, as I drove in and saw a notice that they were closed due to Covid. Sigh. I had looked on their website beforehand and it had not said anything about them being closed, but at least I could still camp and ride there.

This hot spring was originally discovered by a drilling operation that hit water underground, instead of oil. Now the water is pumped out into man made concrete hot tubs. It would have been so nice to enjoy that warmth, since even though the daytime temps were slightly warmer, the nights were still below freezing.

One of the hot tubs.

Hot Well Dunes has 14 designated camping spots in a row along a dirt road, the last three of which are closest to the hot springs. They have grills, fire pits, picnic tables and garbage cans. There are several bathrooms, and it costs a whopping $3.00 a day to recreate there and/or camp. This is mostly an OHV area, but when I was there it was very quiet. There is a camp host, and really good cell service.

I've noticed camp hosts are a big thing in Arizona, in designated camping areas, recreation areas, even picnic areas. I suppose this is a good thing since it keeps people from trashing the places, and doing things they aren't supposed to be doing.

After I arrived I went on a short ride through the dunes, and then across the road which is out of the actual recreation area. I saw the tail end of two different coatimundi's ( hard to describe, kind of like a raccoon) but they were not close enough to get a long look at them.

Views at Hot Well Dunes.

Interesting landscape at Hot Well Dunes.

We came across a random pile of alfalfa, this is a very happy pony.

The next day I covered the rest of the recreation area, which is a 2000 acre fenced square of land, surrounded by even more endless BLM, as far as the eye can see.

I saw quite a few javelina's, (wild pigs), and interrupted them while they were digging holes, searching for food.

A javelina hole.

Riding on the dunes at Hot Well.

Hot Well Dunes.

After driving back into civilization, I did laundry in Willcox, got some groceries, and would normally have gone from there into the Chiricahua Mountains and National Monument. I was planning to dry camp and do three rides. BUT they had also gotten a dump of snow, so sadly I had to skip that area altogether. I have been there once before, the park has a shuttle service that dropped me off at an upper trailhead and I hiked back down to the visitors center. These last two pictures are from when I hiked there, the same trails that people can ride, including one section called The Heart of Rocks Loop, where horses aren't allowed.

Chiricahua National Monument.

Chiricahua National Monument.

Next stop, the Dragoons Mountains, Cochise Stronghold and Council Rocks.

To be continued:

GPS COORDINATES TO FRAZIER

GPS COORDINATES TO HOT WELL DUNES