Dairy Springs Campground — Hotel in Flagstaff

Me and my parents stayed at dairy springs for memorial weekend, on Friday (5/23/25) Darren Banks the camp ground host comes up the campsite and stands at the end of the campsite staring at my mom it made her feel uneasy, he never said a word until my dog (who is part pit bull and just happens to look like a pittie) started to bark at him. Darren Banks decided at that point to tell my mom he was concerned for her safety and that the dog is only barking cause it doesn’t feel safe. My dog is a very anxious and protective dog and the whole weekend only barked at him any time he was by the camp site. He came back later that night asking us to leave because the dog was “scaring the guest” (my dad went around before this and asked the guests if she was bothering them and they all said no she was just being a dog) so at this point we asked to speak to the park rangers and Darren Banks and his boss told us they will not be calling them but we have been warned about her barking. On Saturday (5/25/25) Darren Banks would drive past the camp site very slowly and would take about 10 minutes to clean each bathroom just to try and get my dog to react more than barking. We did end up talking to the park rangers that night and asked if a dog barking is against the rules they said no they only require the dogs to be on a leash at all times.mt dog was never off leash at any point all weekend. Darren Banks would drive past us about 20+ times a day and kept telling us to calm our dog while he just stood at the end of the campsite looking at us. We did inform him that we talked to the park rangers and they said there is nothing wrong with our dog barking and he then told us “it doesn’t matter what the park rangers say it matters what I say” which is not true since Dairy springs is a national forest the park rangers run the campground. He would keep driving past us all weekend it slowed down on Sunday after the park rangers talked to him but he did end up cleaning a campsite that’s across from us and was never used (my guess to try and irritate my dog). I just wantbto say we will not be coming back as long as he is the campground host he doesn’t like certain breeds and it shows, since we were informed that he had no issue with another dog who was off leash and tried to attack him and there was other dogs barking all weekend he only had an issue with mine. We were also informed he had told someone that they would be kicked out if they ran their generator that they needed to use a medical device over night and he told them it didn’t matter what it was needed for if he heard it at midnight they would get kicked out. There was other people with generators and they were never told anything. He picks people he wants to be rude to and gets offended when you don’t back down. He also never introduced himself to us we had to ask for his name and then he gave an attitude and said ” oh now you want to be social.” If you decide to stay at dairy springs just be cautious about the campground host and if you have a dog that gets a bad reputation be careful he will most likely have it out for you. Needless to say I am very disappointed about this since I have been coming here since I was a kid and never had issues with dogs...

I go camping roughly 2-3 times a year, in mostly AZ and Utah, and this is the first campground I've ever been to that charges for a 2nd car. Where we parked in this photo is part of the pull through for this campsite #4. Both cars were completely off the road, with room to spare. So if you get there with two cars, you will have to pay by only cash or check...$8 PER NIGHT for the extra one. I dunno about you, but I don't normally carry cash to go camping for the weekend, and I've never used checks regularly. That's issue one.

The second big issue was that for 7/10 - 7/12 of 2020, the entire area was under fire restrictions, and had caution tape tied around the fire pits in all the sites. Starting a fire was prohibited within the campground completely, as it was super hot and dry. This means it is very dangerous to disregard the rules and do so anyway. I'm 100% ok with that, because this time we didn't have to worry about getting fire wood and all that. No big deal to me. There was a group of loud partying teenagers, however, that had a fire blazing in the fire pit for their site, which we could see right from ours.....which was RIGHT next to the camp hosts' campsite. They were nowhere to be found after 8pm, and did not enforce the rules one bit.

That same night (our first night, after driving over 3 hours to get there), someone showed up with a pop-up camper trailer well after 11pm to the campsite right next to ours, and woke me up with their banging and yelling and unloading of stuff and lights shining into my tent about 10 feet from me. This campsite has quiet hours from 10pm-6am, yet for over an hour, these people made excessive noise and kept me up until after midnight. I would love if check in was cut off by the quiet time for the campground, but clearly they have no such rule, and the camp hosts did nothing to make the people next to me be more mindful. They showed up very late, had trouble getting their old pop-up set up, and made a very disruptive amount of noise until after 12am.

The other part of note about this campground is that it has vault toilets and no running water or sink. So each time you used the restroom, all you had was a big jug of sanitizer outside the door.

Beware of this campground, if you like flushing toilets, washing your hands, or quiet, relaxing...

So, coming in from Apache Junction, I pulled into this campground around 7:20a. Was really wanting to stay at Double Springs Campground. Which I later found to have closed the first of Sept. I drove around and found a First come first served spot. Drove back to camp host to get firewood and pay for 4 nights for my spot. He met me back at my spot and informed me that he was charging me for the night before I arrived as it was not 2pm and "for all he knew I spent the night" really in a car filled to the brim with camp equipment, he knew I had just pulled in. The bundles of wood where so small I had to buy 6 ( 40.00) just to have a fire to warm me in the morning. My meals cooked on a Coleman coffee too. I don't know what kind of wood it was but the very first morning of fire I had and continued to have bad allergy attacks. I've camped at all the campgrounds around this area, charged for a night I didn't spend and wood I never seen at any of the other campgrounds, did I mention that the place was almost empty? Coming in from Apache Junction, and getting there before a 2pm check in has never been a issue at other campgrounds around the area, but here. The topper was when I asked if Mormon Lake was close enough to walk to, as he was driving off he said to me " did you see the grass field across the street when you got here?" I said yes, I was looking for the lake. " He laughed even harder and said that's the lake, been dry for years!" Worse ever service, ripped me off not only for a whole day, ripped me off on firewood and laughed at me when I asked about fishing near by! Do yourself a favor, go to Lake View Campground! Took 4 days to burn 2 piles of wood, ( 7.00 each just like you get in town) and save yourself a miserable time at Daisy Springs Campground and their nasty wood and powder...