Point of Rocks – So cozy you’ll feel right at home and stay longer than expected!

Richard Charpentier Arizona, Granite Dells, Notes from Rich, Prescott Leave a Comment

March 10th of 2007 I set off from Anza Borrego to Sedona.  I’d spent a few weeks near Borrego Springs taking in the desert with a few Airstream friends.  Bill, Larry, Rich, Eleanor, and Emma.  I’d stayed for two weeks, and it was time for the next move in the Airstream.

Sedona was selected as a must see spot on my way up to Cortez Colorado.  During my travels while I was pretty sick I found that I felt pretty darned good in a few places.  Cortez was one of those places.

Setting off in the morning I plugged my destination into the GPS and it provided me a route to Sedona.  The GPS was set on “Truck” mode, so the route should have been good for somebody towing a trailer.  Unfortunately my little Garmin sent me along Route 89 to the south of Prescott.  Crazy curves and signs the whole way saying nothing over 40 feet.  Well, it was a 25 foot Airstream plus the Titan.  Guess I was under.

The ride was a little bit much, and by the time the curves ended I had white knuckles.  The whole ride along 89’s curves I kept asking myself, “Why do people keep calling my cell phone now????”  Needless to say I didn’t answer.

As I started collecting myself from the ride up 89 I pulled right through downtown Prescott.  The nerves from the ride subsided, and I found myself really digging what I saw.  It was the one time you could have seen my Airstream pulling through downtown Prescott.

I continued on my way to Sedona thinking, “I’ll have to pop back to Prescott sometime.”

Getting to Sedona I found the park I was planning on staying in full.  The ride in was ultra touristy and reminded me of the traffic going into North Conway NH on any given weekend.  Not my favorite feature for beautiful places, so I didn’t mind finding another spot to stay.  I ended up at Distant Drums RV park in Camp Verde.  Not too far from Sedona, so I could go exploring.

March 10th – 12th I stayed at Distant Drums.  Right on Route 17, TV hookups, swimming pool, the works. An RV resort you could say.  And for me I wasn’t digging it.  Time for a change of scenery.  Calls were made to friends in Colorado, and I found that it was still to cold in Cortez.  Figured I should hang out in AZ for a few more weeks and wait.  So I broke out the Macbook Pro and hunted up RV parks in Prescott.  After all, I did think it was a neat looking town.

Pulling in for a day, and staying so much longer

The first campground I found on the net was Point of Rocks.  The images on the website looked interesting, so I decided I’d give the place a try.  In my usual travel style I only booked for one night.  If the place was crummy I’d get out the next day, and if it was nice I’d extend my stay.

Unlike my initial ride into Prescott, the ride from Camp Verde back wasn’t stressful at all.  No crazy curves, no harrowing drop offs.  All was good.

The Garmin guided me well this time around, and soon I was traveling down from the local Wal-Mart.  As I descended a huge hill I looked off to my right and saw the Granite Dells for the first time ever.  I noted that the GPS said that’s where I was going.  Good job internet search!  My kind of place to be sure!

From my first look at the Dells it was only a few minutes before I pulled into Point of Rocks.  I checked in at the front desk with Pat and she directed me to the “Upper Loop.”  I pulled the Airstream up a dirt road in between amazing granite formations, and soon I was settled into site # 83.  That would be my first of many sites in Point of Rocks.

After getting the Airstream setup and un-hitched I decided to wander off into the rock formations.  The handheld GPS was attached to my CamelBak and I wandered off along a well worn path.  Soon though it was time to go off the trail.  Big rocks?  Yeah, gotta scramble up them to see what I could see.  The first formation I headed for (now known to me as Thor’s Marbles and Thor’s Wall) was a good pick.  It set me right above Watson Lake.  A stunning 360 view, and a big lake plopped into the middle of all the wonder!

As many readers know, while I traveled the country looking for a new place to call home and to deal with severe allergies, I tried to blog every day on my travels.  And when I sat down above Thor’s Wall that day I seriously thought to myself, “I get to blog that I found a new place to call home tonight!”  Of course, I held off on making that statement day 1.  But within days I knew what I had found.

Just like Prescott, there’s something about Point of Rocks

Point of Rocks is one of those rare gems for the right type of RVer.  It’s a very simple and basic park, and that’s part of its charm.  If you’re the type of RVer who likes to pull into a site, hook up, pop the satellite dish up, and then pull all of your shades and lock yourself away (as many RVers do), you’re going to miss out on a lot.  Hiking, cycling, kayaking, sailing, fishing…….they’re all available around you.  While the park isn’t right on the lake it’s a short walk or bike ride.  There are trails everywhere, and if you’re into exploring and going off the beaten path you’re in for a treat.

Point of Rocks doesn’t offer cable.  There’s no swimming pool either.  And the roads in the park are still dirt, not paved.  For me, all of this was a positive.  When you have an amazing setting why mess it up?

The park is family owned.  Several of the full time residents are employees at the park office.  And the owners do a great job of keeping the park “family friendly.”  Loud parties don’t happen here, things don’t get out of control on holiday weekends, and neighbors are incredibly respectful.  Getting a full time spot at Point of Rocks isn’t easy either.  It took me months on a waiting list to finally get a full time spot.  In the meantime I was a weekly RVer, and often found myself moving from site to site due to reservations booked months in advance for a specific site.

When I finally wrangled a full time spot I was thrilled.  Prescott really did feel like Everybody’s Hometown to me, and Point of Rocks became home.  5 years ago today I found that new place I was looking for nestled in between Granite walls!

March 13th, 2007.  That’s when I stopped into Point of Rocks to stay for a little while.  And I ended up staying longer than I ever expected.  To my friends at Point of Rocks, thank you for providing such a wonderful place to call home.  And to any traveler passing through and staying for a while, careful, you might get pulled in longer too!

Leave a Reply