Houston Mesa Campground — Hotel in Payson

We booked this campground on a last minute chance to escape the Phoenix heat for the weekend. The campground was easy to find, seeing as how it was just off of the main road/highway that passes through town. The check-in staff at the entry gate Fri. night were able to check us in relatively easily with our reservation paperwork in hand, albeit after a long exchange due to their hard-of-hearing and poor eyesight. We were in the Elk Loop, site #24. Many of the sites in this loop would have been great for folks in campers or RVs, but few of the sites' layouts were made with tent campers in mind, even the sites that were labeled as being for tent/non-electric. Site 24 in particular was very poorly laid out. We were supposed to be able to place 2 tents at this site. The only space somewhat close to the site that was suitable for a tent was halfway between site 23 and site 24. There were 2 large, flat open spaces directly behind site 23 (enough for at least 3 tents to be set up within them) that allowed for about 50 feet between them and the suitable space for site 24. There were 2 open spaces closer to site 24, but both were directly in the path of a wash (not a very deep wash, but not something that you'd be able to sleep comfortably in, especially with any rain water flowing down through it) and one was far too close to the picnic table/fire ring (seeing as how this is bear country). Our first night was an absolute atrocity. There were lots of RVs in this loop and many had loud generators, some running from 10am to 10pm. We set our tent up in the space between the two sites at about 10pm Fri. night (seeing as how there wasn't anybody in site 23 yet, and it was not reserved). We were awakened at about 3am by a noisy group of late-arriving campers who either were unaware of the 10pm to 10am quiet hours, or they just did not care. There were many other available campsites within the loop, but they chose the site closest to another, already occupied, site. Throughout the remainder of the night, we were awoken by sirens from emergency vehicles, loud trucks, revving engines, and motorcycles passing by on the highway. Site 24 was one of the sites farthest away from the thin line of trees separating the campground from the road. The next day, we ate breakfast and left camp to do a few day hikes in the area. I've camped pretty much my entire life and up until this trip, I had never had an issue with leaving fire wood and my 5 gallon water jug at a campsite during the day and having it still be there when I returned. Upon our return from our hikes on Saturday, we found that all of our firewood and water jug were gone. Since this is a managed campground I thought that perhaps the camp host had mistakenly not seen our tent and/or neglected to see that our reservation (which was clearly posted on the site number post) was for the entire weekend and had picked them up in their camp sweep. However, upon talking to the host for the Elk Loop, I was told not only had they not picked them up (they hadn't even done their sweep yet, nor did they ever that day - we knew because the folks that had been at site 23 had absolutely trashed it), but that it was our own fault for leaving them out. If anyone had walked up to the site to grab the firewood and water jug, they would have been able to clearly see our tent was still there and that there was a reservation for that site for the entire weekend (posted on the site number post), in addition to the fact that there was no name or reservation on site 23. The campground was filling up Sat., so prior to making dinner, we moved our tent into the wash closest to the picnic table. Our tent did get very wet, not flooded, but pretty close to it, with the rain that fell that evening and came down the wash. The noise pollution and lack of respect for other campers and their things in this campground was absolutely astounding. If you are looking for a cheap, poor night's rest and a place to clean up (flush toilets/running faucet sinks/shower house) that is close to town, then this is the...

I had the unfortunate experience of staying at Houston Mesa campgrounds during this Memorial Day weekend of 2018. I went with Events and Adventures as a big group of about 40 people. We were supposed to have been given a group camp site since our Event Manager booked it many months ago. When we started to arrive, we were informed to proceed to a different camp site, the Horse Camp Area. This part wasn't that big of a deal as I didn’t know that the park screwed up our reservation and tried to make up for it. When we were all getting settled in, Valerie Gonzalez stopped by our main camp around 8:30 pm with lots of attitude. She started yelling at us about our camp fire (which by the way was propane powered and we were informed that we were allowed to have it) and stating to put out that fire and it’s a $5,000 fine. She was going to continue but some one stopped her and said it’s propane. She then became very silent for a moment. Then she started back up again in her aggressive and deeming tone that we were too loud. We explained to her that it’s not quite time yet as that doesn’t take place till 10:00 pm. She lowered her tone finally and said that we needed to be respectful of our neighbors. We lowered our volume a little just to comply. This dampened the mood across the entire campsite and our people as this was weird and we all tried to figure out what just happened. We tried to continue the fun and then Valerie came around again at 10:00 pm to make sure we were observing quite time and then informed one of our members that the police were called. No music was playing and only half of us were still awake talking and sharing stories at 10:00pm. We were no louder than the nearby horses making noises as well as some of the RV’s generators. At this point, half of our remaining group was so upset of what was happening that they went to bed. The police showed up about 11:00 pm or so and they talked to our event hosts and informed them that they couldn’t hear us and that we were in the right. Some of us still stayed up a little longer before going to bed and making no noise. The next day ¾ of our group went to Jerome to see the local scenery. Our event hosts came with us and were sent a text that Valerie came around again saying that we are still too loud (with almost no one in camp and no music going) and informed those members that we were not allowed to play any music. This was shocking to say the least as this has never happened to anyone of us in all the years we have gone camping at any establishment. Our event hosts demanded a meeting with Valeri and her supervisors as this harassment is unacceptable. The meeting took place and our event hosts demanded that Valerie never come by our campsite again. Good news is that she never did and the harassment stopped but it ruined 2 days of our 4-day, 3-night camping trip. To make matters worse, some of our members were so appalled by the treatment that they left on the 2nd day and almost our entire group left on the 3rd as they didn’t want to deal with the harassment any longer. This type of behavior is unacceptable and our group is most likely never to return to these camp grounds again. I will be personally putting this review on every media outlet I am able to so other campers will be warned of the harassment and unprofessionalism displayed by the camp host at Houston Mesa...

We camped at Houston Mesa twice in recent weeks, once in August and then again over Labor Day weekend. We live two hours away in the East Valley of PHX and wanted to get away to the mountains, and Houston Mesa ended up being the perfect solution. The camp hosts are extremely friendly, and keep the campsites, campgrounds and bathrooms spotless. Despite the fact that the weather was unseasonably warm for both trips, the campground was full or nearly so both weekends we were there. The campground is conveniently located just outside of Payson, so trips into town for supplies, gas, or a dinner out are easily managed.||||There are four campground loops that comprise Houston Mesa. A tent-only loop, two loops that are RV/tent loops, and an equestrian-only loop across the Hwy from the other three loops. Sites are spaced out nicely to allow for a semblance of privacy. Sites do vary in size, so check the size of the site you desire to verify that it will be large enough for your needs. The campground is wedged in between two two-lane highways, so there is road noise present. During the day, with the exception of the really loud truck or motorcycle, you don't notice the sound much. At night, until traffic calms down on those roads, you will hear noise, so light sleepers take note. Over Labor Day weekend, we found that the traffic calmed down by midnight at the latest, and a lovely quiet descended over the area that allowed us to sleep, undisturbed, with our camper windows open. A dump station on site ($10 fee, by credit card), made the task of emptying the tanks easy and convenient before heading home.||||Due to the Covid virus, the showers were closed, but the bathrooms were open and spotless. We were camping in an RV and were self-contained, so showers were not a problem for us. Due to the unseasonably warm temps, those with RVs, us included, had to run our generators during the day, but generator noise did not carry much beyond individual campsites.||||Fellow campers were well behaved and friendly on both of our visits, so both weekends were relaxing and enjoyable. Tonto Natural Bride State Park is a 20-minute drive away and is worth the visit. There is an abundance of hiking trails in the area as well, and one can always head back into Payson to hit Hwy 260 East, to head to the Mogollon Rim area if desired. Houston Mesa turned out to be a fantastic getaway for us on both of our visits, and we will be back again. Special thanks to our campground host, Joep, for his outstanding...