Dead Horse Ranch State Park

Nice park, but the "accessible features" it brags about are a joke! Yes there are ramps, but using them in a wheelchair leaves A LOT to be desired. The biggest joke was the ADA campsites. Elevated platforms made of composite slats... no way to stake down the tent? And the ramp to the tent is blocked off? You have to get past the showers to use the toilet? One campground host was drunk and another couldn't keep a dog on a leash. The gate attendant was constantly outside the office smoking. Made the best of it, but definitely will not be back or recommend to anyone who rolls... shame!!

Stayed in a cabin last weekend. The booking, check-in, cancellation ( I booked 2 & cancelled 1) and deposit refund were a smooth easy online process. The camp host Bill was gracious and engaging when we bothered him at close to 9 at night. The cabin was clean and comfortable. The area next to our cabin with a fire ring felt secluded even though every cabin was full. The bathroom/ showers look brand new and were kept clean and stocked. We could not have asked for a better experience! So thank you to all of you who work so hard to keep this area pristine!

This park is amazing, it has a lot of thing to do with family, really nice hiking trails. Also there’s a playground for kids but the zip line area in the playground hasn’t been fix. Great place to go and forget about everything else

We stayed in our camper at quail loop #23 for a week. Everything was nice. The trails were close for walking and MTB. Most of the lots were nicely sized. There were 3 camp hosts in our loop. Shower house was clean. I even did a trail ride from horse adventures. We would walk the river trail to the lagoons. Town is also close.

This is a nice state park with many amenities. It’s a hikers paradise. There’s 3 lagoons you can go fishing in. There are horse trails, camping. A playground for the kids. Not too far from town.

Loved our stay here! Honestly so cute and worth it especially if your use to the tucson heat. It was like 100+ at home and when we were here it was 70-80s during the day!

For three people to enter in a vehicle they charged us $20 , it seems it’s $10 only if you’re by yourself. Not much shade here. The trails here are quite easy. facilities were extremely clean.

for this area, its great to have.... However, took my child for our first one night camping, thought we would start easy with roads, toilet, shower. rented site a month ago. the ranger was all over it when we put up a tarp for shade (not supposed to hang a tarp), she was polite. fine. But, when we had a run in with our camping neighbors and their dog at 11 pm, there was no reaching anyone for assistance resolving things. So its putting people in close-set campsites and providing no mediation or assistance after dark (when more incidents, drinking etc..seem to happen).

Caught some awesome trout in the lagoon beginning of January always good fishing that time of year.

We went in for a morning hike. Took the Verde River greenway trail. Saw bald eagles (even one snatching a fish from the lagoon), kingfisher, wood peckers, flickers, coots, mallards and lots of little brown birds. Nice 2 mile walk. Easy parking.

This campground is located in the town of Cottonwood, Arizona. The sites are clean and well-maintained, and they are well-spaced out for privacy. There is a lagoon located at the end of the campground where you can fish with a fishing license, but swimming is not allowed. This campground is ideal for people who own dogs, as there are trails for walking and biking. I just wish they had more restrooms around the campground. There are no full hookups, just electric and water. The dump station is close to the Ranger Station.

Great campground. Lots of trails, both around the lagoons, along the river, and up the mountains. The town of Cottonwood is very close by for restocking needs. We reserved four of the cabins at the end of the cabin cul-de-sac and really enjoyed our time. Dead Horse Ranch is driving distance to Sedona, Jerome, and Camp Verde. I'd read some negative comments before arriving about the park host, but aside from check in, we had zero interaction with any campground employees. The campground was not crowded at all. The cabins each have a double bed, a bunk bed (two twins), a table with four chairs, wall unit heating/AC, a ceiling fan and light, indoor electrical outlet, porch light, outdoor picnic table, standing grill, and fire pit. There is a mat outside the door and a broom/dustpan. I can't speak for the AC, but the heater is loud but effective! Minus one star because the mattresses are HORRIBLE. I read a few reviews that said they were hard, but we've stayed in cabins in multiple other state parks that were fine and I figured honestly, how bad could it be? You guys, I'm not even sure you could call these things mattresses. I spent the first night trying to decide if I would be more comfortable straight on the hard floor since at least I wouldn't have springs digging into my body. The second night I laid out multiple layers of towels and it was a bit better but for real, these are BAD. There is ZERO padding. It is just vinyl wrapped around springs. I recommend bringing thick camping mats or blow up mattresses to put on top of the bed. The park really needs to replace these. The shower is also pretty rough. There is no temperature control and it's an automatic shut off so you have to keep hitting the button every 30 seconds. When it's 30 degrees outside, a luke warm shower still feels freezing. I took one the first day and then decided to just forgo showering the rest of our trip. An additional note: there is both a grill and a firepit, but there is not a grate on the firepit for cooking. I am used to Texas campgrounds where half the firepit is a grate, and we did not come prepared with charcoal for the grill. I prefer to cook over the fire, so this was a downside for us. Overall, a fun trip. BYOmattress and you'll love your time in the cabins!

What a great park! Trails for people and horses, same with camping. Lagoons, river access, trees, flowers and all right in Cottonwood. You can even see Tuzigoot from there. It's really quite amazing.

We camped here over the summer. Dead Horse Ranch covers 423 acres and is located next to Cottonwood across from the Verde River. There are over a 100 RV sites and campsites within the park. There are also a few log camping cabins that you can reserve for those that want more of a private setting. We did some tent camping and enjoyed having a nice clean bathroom to use that included showers. There are some trees, but there isn't a ton of shade because this area is out in the desert. Tip - don't be a dummy like my friend and leave your trash out overnight. We had a skunk enter our campsite and try to steal out trash bag. Thankfully it ran off before it sprayed our site. For activities, there are a number of walking and biking trails inside Dead Horse Ranch State Park. The Jail Trail River Walk is one of my favorites. There are lots of pretty colorful birds you can see along the way. I also enjoyed some of the shorter nature trails. For boating, you can kayak or canoe in the nearby Verde River. Non-motorized watercraft are only allowed in the lower lagoons. Arizona Game and Fish Department stocks the rivers and lagoons with rainbow trout and channel catfish if you like to fish. Tuzigoot National Monument is just a short drive away if you want to check out some old ruins. Dead Horse Ranch State Park is a great place to stay if you want to get away and be out in nature. There are so many nearby options for activities. It can also be used as a home base if you want to make the drive up to Sedona or Jerome and back.

My wife, two teenage sons (17 yrs., 15 yrs), and I came here on a weekday afternoon in early April 2023 for a peaceful break for a couple hours. The raging waters of Oak Creek Canyon from the snowmelt were too perilous for my older son to attempt fishing, so he came to check out the lagoons. Lots of pluses in this state park near Cottonwood, AZ. First, it's a peaceful setting along the Verde River and the park has a few lagoons where the sounds of birds are lovely (in spring). Our family enjoyed being in an uncrowded park after a morning jeep tour in Sedona (which can get quite congested with spring break visitors like us). Second, this park is only a 10 minute drive from Tuzigoot National Monument. Third, you can take hikes (short or long) around the park based on your preference and time availability. I just liked the low-key atmosphere which lends itself to relaxing and walking. Finally, the park is dog-friendly. Well worth a stop here if you have an hour or two to chill out.

The tent camping is on concrete! We had to leave and go somewhere else. The cancellation policy of 24 hours. So when we checked in we could not get a refund. We were refunded only 4 of our 6 days because they said we had to cancel 24 hrs in advance. We explained that we gave the reservation center all of our tent information and they reserved us a concrete slab that we could not use. We are not canceling we are unable to use the facility. It was useless because everyone blamed the problem on everyone else.

A great central location to visit Sedona, Jerome and the wine country surrounding it.

Loved this place... well placed bathroom/showers.. No shade, but this is a desert. Bike/walking trails at all levels.. next to a great little town, but remote as well.

The dinner theater has changed hands and is not the same venue as when we were staying at the park. Not any western genre music. So check it out currently if you plan to go before committing. We have not been to the SP this year but I believe it is still great. Planned on getting there this year but did some other things and just did not make it. The park itself was really great and well worth the visit.

I recently took my kids camping for a couple nights and we had a blast here. The reservation process was smooth and easy. The location is fantastic; minutes outside of Cottonwood, which affords a Home Depot, a Walmart, and lots of other options. We fished in the lagoons and did not catch much, but we had fun anyway. The playground is small with 5-6 options, what' a bonus! The rest rooms were clean, and the entire park was free of trash. From our camp site we had panoramic views of mountains and watched the lights of Jerome twinkle on the mountainside. Other campers were very respectful and quiet. We will be back!!

$7 for entrance fees per vehicle for day usage in this pretty state huge park. It's in cottonwood town which is on the way while returning from jerome. We did a quick stop here. Water lagoons is beautiful with fishing opportunity. People all around enjoying family time. A great picnic spot. They have horse ranch too for the horse ride. Camping ground with many great spots. Comparative very less rush , atleast when we visited. We stayed for around 1 hour since we had to return to phoenix before eve but you can easily spend hours here if you plan a picnic with family.

Nice AZ state park near Cottonwood AZ and Jerome AZ. It is only $7 per vehicle for the entrance fee. there are plenty of trails to walk, including along the river, or there are some paths around the lakes. You can easily spend the day here if you want to hike all the trails. There are also places to bike ride as well. There are plenty of restrooms at various spots. We didn't get to stay too long as an afternoon monsoon storm rolled in with dust, rain, and lightning and thunder. It was also about 105 so a little steamy.

There is a lot of variety in this well maintained park, fishing, hiking, biking, birdwatching at the river to name a few, plus some cool looking rustic cabins that can be rented. We walked along the three lagoons, the Verde River trail and part of the Lime Kiln hike and actually started from Old Town, entering the park on foot via the Jail tail and 10th street. In late November there was still a hint of fall color along the River. Late October and early November would likely be spectacular.

Beautiful campground with spacious sites and wonderful views. Wish we could have stayed longer to explore the many trails. Great base camp to explore Cottonwood and Jerome.

Such a wonderful place we found. Did not expect this in AZ. Nice hike through the lagoons on a beautiful day

A great place to getaway! The camp offers many outdoor activities; such as hiking, biking, fishing, and camping. We set up a tent on a campsite. We chose space #21, which is great because there are trees in between campsites and no neighbors in the back. I would recommend bringing an RV hose with a filter to have access to the water. The campsite offers electrical and water hookups. Don't forget the extension cord! We used the campsite as a base to explore different towns. It's near Jerome, Sedona, and Flagstaff. I would suggest reserving a spot in advance, the camp spaces get sold out fast.

Fun fact- you will not find Dead Horses here. What you WILL find are a lot of trails with varying difficulty and length, all easily found on the AllTrails app, great camp sites and the most adorable mini cabins (available for renting!). You truly will feel like being in the middle of nowhere... but that's like most/all of Arizona. A friend and I met up here in July with hopes the trails might provide some heat relief from the horrific 110/120s down in the Valley. And of course not. We picked the challenging one that had the least amount of shade coverage and wind gusts- Lower Raptor, Thumper, Lime Kiln Loop. When planning, we saw that it was lengthy and fairly flat, but the lack of trees was a surprise. We made it about a mile in before deciding to turn around and find another one. Lower Raptor has very nice views though of the surrounding valley and all the way to Jerome. A much simpler option for us (with PLENTY of shade) is the Dead Horse Ranch via Forest Loop. It takes you along the River and there's not much of any challenge. So in peak summer you can expect *some* heat relief but not a lot. Safe bet is to drive further north for that. With the $8 daily parking rate play it safe and bring cash in case they don't take card. There is plenty of parking for non-campers/day users like myself. The bathroom I used once I arrived were super clean to my standards.

Great day for a wedding. Decided to have a small outdoor ceremony since the park was open and spoke to Brian who was most helpful in providing details to renting a Ramada for the day. He provided details and even helped me pick out the best one #5. It was larger than the others so that created great social distancing and it also came with electricity, water a pretty large grill and the restroom facilities were kept very clean. It was pretty windy he cotton blossoms were everywhere. If you have allergies make sure to take your meds but you don't want to miss out an opportunity to use this park for any occasion.

Love this place, too bad its too popular or would go more. Nice walking trails, flowing river and even three ponds. Good for camping and just enjoying nature.

I've been here twice now and loved it every time! My wife and I have camped in our van on qual loop rd with full hookups. Camp ground is super quiet and clean. Ranger is super nice and informative. If you need fire wood they got it for $8. Plenty of hiking, mountain biking, and fishing!

We camped here this past weekend in our pop up camper, we stayed in Quail loop site #4 and it was great! We will definitely be going back!

We rented Cabin 8 for 3 nights and had a blast. Dead Horse Ranch is beautiful. Nights were freezing in late February/early March. We had to purchase another couple blankets at Walmart. We hiked the lower/upper Raptor on the second day and the Raptor/Thumper/Lime Kiln the third day. The first day we walked all the Parks interior trails and pieces together six miles. The bathrooms are extremely clean with lots of hot water.

Love this place. We camp here a lot!! Good bathrooms, decent fishing. RV spots are nice. Love it when we can camp here!

We rented a cabin for the first time here. Really nice park rangers and staff, cabin with handicap accessibility close to the restroom and shower. Pretty lagoons, fishing and swimming nearby. Saw deer, rabbit, squirrels, lizards, and skunks plethora of other water fowl. My only complaint was the mattress situation. Even my not disabled husband couldn't sleep on it and ended up going out into town to buy a foam topper for $110 significantly increasing the cost of our stay. It's very reasonable by the way. But pack in more bedding. Lots of beautiful scenery. Kids had a blast.

I've only camped at a few state parks but chose this one since a friend was camp hosting here during our visit. We booked online and ended up extending our stay due to come cancellations. You can stay up to 14 days in the park. The RV spaces come with water and power up to 50 amp. There is no sewer at the sites but they have a dump station near the entrance. The sites are not crowded together too closely so you have a bit of privacy. Although there is a lot of site turnover, the park was relatively quiet. The staff and hosts are friendly and helpful. Even though our RV is self-contained, I used the showers during our stay to save on our grey water tank capacity. There are lots of hiking trails around the park and we took advantage of them most every day. I would definitely return again when in the area.

This park is seriously a gem! A picturesque views from every angle. Came here with the boys Scout to pick Mistletoes for the day with the lowest expectations. The amenities are great. Clean restrooms and clean park overall with many things to do from hiking to biking, fishing, stroll around the lake. Next time we will come back to camp.

It's a beautiful camp ground..state park so they do a good job maintaining the place . Nearby a lot of national monuments .and super close to cute downtown cottonwood and Jerome

Camped here in September 2020 and it was a wonderful experience. This was my very first experience booking a tent site, so I felt ignorant and a bit vulnerable. However, this place came highly recommended from someone in Sedona and the website assured me that it had everything I needed. Mainly, my female friend and I wanted a safe place to stay the night after driving to the Sedona area from Los Angeles. It was easy to reserve a pull-through spot and find all the information we needed from their website. We stayed in the Blackhawk Loop. We arrived after sundown and easily found our way into to our reserved space. It was the perfect space for my sedan and our tent. We enjoyed eating at the picnic table and found the restrooms to be very clean. It was a little noisy at night from loud-talking neighbors, but that was a small downside. Our only regret is not staying long enough during daylight to enjoy the area, especially after reading the rave reviews about the sights.

Camp out last night in the overflow area at Dead Horse Ranch Arizona State Park in Cottonwood Arizona and woke up to a weed eater around 8:00 AM! Was hoping to sleep in at least until 9:00 AM! Was going to give them a 5 star rating, giving a 4 star for the morning noise! It a great park anyway! Awesome showers and great are for taking sunsets!

The 3,300 foot elevation accounts for the mild temperatures that are ideal for camping, mountain biking in the Coconino National Forest, hiking along the Verde River, canoeing and fishing. Dead Horse is in a prime location in Cottownwood. Lots of hiking and biking trails run through the quiet and scenic campground where our rig is parked. I rode the 29'er up Lower Raptor, up Rust Bucket (Jeep road becomes cool single track to climb), down Upper Raptor, down Thumper & Lime Kiln is a blast and scenic--this figure 8 loop was 15 miles with an elevation gain of 1,000 feet. Bones trail is a good single track for MTB fans too (rode it)! Another day I jammed and powered the 29'er MTB up a quasi-loose and hard packed single path following the ridge line. A very narrow trail so bring your "A" game or slip and slide down the craggy slopes on the Bones trail. It's a 6 mile climb--saw one runner and one hiker on the ride. Nice break form the Sedona crowds. This day I "U" turned and cruised back down Bones using all my advanced skills--a thrill ride. The trail is slippery but there are some technical rock gardens to power over too. My 13 miler ride gained 882 feet elevation. About the campground: Good clean and heated restrooms with showers, 30-50V service and water hook ups. Days are warm and nights chilly so sit by the campfire and sip a brew or two. And if you look up you'll see so many stars, we saw 3 shooting stars camping here for a week. Hook me up in Dead Horse anytime cuz this place is very much alive--a great destination and not so bustling as Sedona--but go there too, only 20 miles away!

Park fee of $7 per car (1-4person per car). This park is huge and has a campground as well. The park is open until 6pm. There is a small pond where you're allowed to fish and many picnic benches around. We brung our own food for a picnic and enjoyed a nice day. They also have horseback riding available and pony rides for kids for $10pp. The horseback riding ranges from an hour trail ride to 2 hours. They also have a ride and show option for an hour ride and a dinner and show at the barn.

Hubby and I decided to do a day trip and we found ourselves here! Wow, its so pretty and majestic! We stopped everyone and took in the scenery and took as many photos as we could to capture the beauty and awe of this beautiful piece of paradise! Best time to visit is in the spring, when everything is green and alive with the sounds and smells of nature buzzing around. Enjoy!

We're full-timing it right now and we usually boondock, but our furnace and hot water heater stopped working and I whimped out after a week of no heat in below freezing temps at night. We found ourselves looking for a place to stay with electricity for a couple of weeks so that we could use our little space heater until we could get our rig in for repair. Dead Horse State Park was a light in our little storm (very little storm in the scheme of things, right?). It was so clean, including the bathrooms. The camp hosts were friendly, helpful and kept the grounds and facilities immaculate. The showers were hot and the loop we were in (Quail Loop--I think it's the prettiest) was quiet most of the time--on weekends when families arrived the noise level swelled a bit, but the jovial celebration of the little ones enjoying being outside 24/7 was politely dimmed by 8:30/9 pm, and it was much appreciated--Well done and thank you, parents!! As mentioned above Dead Horse has nice facilities: electric and water hookups in most (but not all sites), clean bathrooms with hot showers, a dishwashing station with hot water outside the bathrooms, RV dumps, a loop that has little sleeping cabins, which is nice if you have family or friends who want to visit for a night or two, lots of great trails for walking and hiking, 3 ponds for fishing and it's all right in the town of Cottonwood, although you feel as if you're out in the hills. There are a lot of great restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques, and hikes in Cottonwood and the surrounding area--Sedona, Camp Verde, Cornville, and Clarkdale are within a 30-minute drive if you want to go exploring. Some of our favorite finds: Cottonwood-- Adriana's Mexican!!!! (check out my review for details) Fire Creek Coffee--used to be Jerona Cafe--we were confused :/ Red Rooster Cafe Crema Craft Kitchen Violette's Bakery--the croissants and espresso are their best fare. Sedona-- Creekside Coffee and Bakery Sedona Beer Company The Chocolate Tree (if you like the veggie kind of thing)

Pretty camp grounds on a lot of property. The campground is very clean. We just drove in to check it out for future use. It's $7.00 for day use which is worth the entry fee. They also rent cute cabins if you don't want to rent or RV camp.

My husband and I just drove through the park while we were in the area for wine tasting. Beautiful park.

We stayed for 2 nights in the red hawk loop. The campsites are nice with electric and water available. The bathrooms are clean and have heated water. We went fishing and hiking during the day. My only complaint about the camp sites are that they are infested with ants and roaches. I do have complaints about the campsite host. I never was able to get his name but he was extremely rude. When I asked about firewood he was very abrupt in telling me that they weren't selling it because of it being a no fire day. He had a bad attitude about it and I wasn't even trying to argue with him. Then later in that day he came over to us at our campsite while we were cooking and he shoved a pamphlet in my friends face with one of the rules circled. He started yelling about him having gotten 3 noise complaints from us for loud music. Our music had only been playing for 20 minutes at that point and we had checked to make sure it could only be heard at our own camp site. He just came in yelling out of no where and didn't leave until out music was shut completely off. At this time it was about 5pm and the supposed"quiet hours" are from 10pm-8pm. I just couldn't get over how rude he was and didn't even give us a moment to process what he was yelling at us for. The rest of the evening our group had no fire and no music despite several other campsites in the loop that had both campfires and music playing. Overall it's a good place to spend a weekend but I don't know if we'll be back unless we don't plan on doing anything else in our camp group besides sleeping and staring at each other.

This beautiful State Park along the Verde River in Cottonwood has all the amenities for a fun camping experience. Great place to take a guided Horseback Ride (on a live one ). Fishing / Hiking / Picnicking / View of the old copper mining town Jerome. Close enough to Phoenix for a weekend retreat. Access from I-17.

Drove down from Williams to check it out to see if it would be a nice place to meet up for a Fall Family Campout and Ranger would not give us even 5 minutes without paying for Day use! So disappointed.

The campground hosts are a real pain to deal with. They drive by the campgrounds every 15 minutes and harass the campers. They also hate dogs here. I would recommend going to a different campground.

It was a fantastic evening. Had loads of fun and the food was extremely delicious. The entertainment was good too.

This was my first time camping and it might be my last. My friends and I were harassed by the campground "hosts" the ENTIRE weekend! We never felt like we could relax. And isn't that the reason you go camping? To get away from it all and be able to relax? It was absolutely ridiculous. We left our campsite clean. No garbage that we could see anywhere. And we cleaned up after our dogs. They said that we left it a mess and that there was dog poop everywhere. Which is a flat out lie. I would not recommend this campsite site if you want to relax and enjoy your vacation. But if you do, I would definitely recommend being there for the final walk-through.

Beautiful, clean, well maintained park with a very helpful and friendly staff. Stayed in Red-Tail Hawk Loop- all the sites are a nice distance apart with lots of trees and privacy. There are a ton of hiking trails with plenty of access to the Rio Verde River- our dogs had a blast! The bathrooms and showers were clean, well maintained and heated which was nice on the cold mornings. Quiet hours between 10pm-8pm and no outdoor radios allowed so it was extremely peaceful. Next time we come we are planning on staying longer and with our tow vehicle so we can use this as our base camp and go explore Cottonwood, Jerome and Sedona. Highly recommend.

Nice place to picnic and camping place if it weren't for the times they decide to mow the areas where you have a picnic area. The person operating the ride on mower should have common sense when you see people having lunch and we get dusted out. It was a FRIDAY afternoon he could have done this early morning.

This place is gorgeous. Very cool for star gazing and bird watching. Large rv spots, clean facilities. Dump station on-site. Staff is awesome, as is park host!

I always thought this Park was open for fishing 24/7, in fact I use to put at least the $7 minimum in the envelope and place it in the place for fees when nobody was at the front gate early in the AM. Now I had never stayed passed 6 not staying in a cabin, but I dont remember anyone being kicked out of the park at night either. But kicking out fisherman at 6 PM is way to early. Heck writers have even written about getting there early and staying late at the park to fish. What the heck happened? That really frustrates me. I am a tax paying resident and I am paying for use of the facility. That doesn't seem right!

Our first time here with friends and we loved it. Highly recommend the Quail loop, beautifully shady, great host family and easy place to entertain kids with outdoor games. Awesome bathrooms, clean and smell it! We will be back again and looking forward to it.

Decided to take wifey out for a picnic! So we got up early, packed a picnic basket! Yes! she bought a picnic basket about three years ago, never used it until now!! And we got on the road and see where it was going to lead us to! Had no idea where we were going to go. One thing I love about Arizona, once you get on the highway you will always find something interesting! Some how we ended up in Cottonwood? Asked some locals if there were a nice park around? They suggested Dead Horse Ranch!! I was sold when they said the name of the park!!! What else can you ask for? Picnic tables everywhere, right next to their lagoons! Trees, in their fall colors! We had a great time! Had our lunch, walked around, just sat their and enjoyed the scene. We will come back here, want to take my mother here to!!