Thursday, April 15, 2010

Camping in Payson,AZ


This is a reprint of a quick write-up I did on my camping trip I took to Payson,AZ between 4/9/10 and 4/10/10.

This weekend I decided to take the plane camping in a little town called Payson, AZ. Earlier last week my plans to visit a friend in San Rafael, CA fell through and I was left without anywhere to travel for the weekend.
I'm currently in the beginning of planning my trip to OSH this summer so I decided to see if I could find somewhere to go camping and try out some of the gear that I had recently purchased. So, on Wednesday night I went on adventurepilot.com and found Payson had an on-airport campsite that had been recently constructed and looked very nice. According to Airnav it also had a fairly highly rated restaurant on the field and it was about the distance that I wanted to fly from home.
I decided I would head out late Friday morning and come home sometime Saturday afternoon, I had to pick up my grandmother in Hemet on Saturday so it made sense for me to just stay the one night.
The flight out from SBA was beautiful and calm and with a decent tailwind the trip was exactly 3:00 hours. This was the longest I have ever spent in the plane on one leg and it was a good experience since I found out that it really wasn't uncomfortable at all.
After arriving in Payson I was greeted by the airport manager Dave, who turned out to be an extremely nice guy. He showed me where to set-up my tent and told me there was no charge for camping, and the $3.00/night tiedown fee would be waived for the first night with a fuel purchase.
The camping facilities are very nice, grills and firepits are provided at every campsite. The campsites offer an excellent view of the runway and of the surrounding countryside, which is very beautiful. There is a heated bathroom and a hot shower available and the restaurant on the field, crosswinds, is very good, and reasonable priced.
Overall I had a very good time at Payson airport and I enjoyed the town as well, it's a small town and there isn't a ton to see but the countryside is beautiful and it's a nice place to camp. If you're looking for a nice place to get a $100 hamburger or spend the night I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Payson.










































































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