Southwest Camping Destinations: RV and Car Camping Destinations in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah (Camping Destinations series)

Generally this is a good reference filled with a lot of useful information, or potentially useful if it could be trusted. I can recommend buying this book but you should use it with caution and not completely rely on it as there are many factual errors, typos, etc. and things have changed at some of the locations described since it was published in 2008.One example of the many errors can be found on page 221 where the authors include a section titled East Texas. The problem is the area they describe is in fact far West Texas. They then go on to discuss how El Paso is the population Center of "east" Texas...I think that honor may belong to Houston, about 750 miles east of El Paso. It makes one wonder if the authors actually visited Texas or consulted a map. Okay, so maybe that is just a minor typo (actually three, you can find East Texas listed in the index as well) and having lived in or near El Paso for over 50 years I might be a little sensitive. However, I did find other instances with cardinal direction confusion. Move on to page 74 and the map of Camp Verde, AZ. The map indicates that traveling south on I-17 you will take you to Flagstaff. The same map also indicates that heading north on I-17 will take you to Flagstaff. Trust me, I now live in Flagstaff, head north on I-17 if you want to go to Flagstaff from Camp Verde, south will take you to Phoenix. I've been up and down I-17 countless times and not once did I get to Flagstaff by heading south from Camp Verde. These are just a couple representative samples of the kinds of errors you can expect in this book.You should also be careful about the description of the facilities listed for each campground. For example the description of Lost Dutchman State Park near Phoenix (page 150) indicates there are no sites with electricity or water hookups. A quick check of the state park web site indicates there are 35 sites with both water and electricity. That is an example of how some things may have changed since the book was published. One would not want to skip a visit to the Lost Dutchman just because you thought you couldn't run the A/C on your RV or that you might not have water, both could be very important to campers in the Phoenix area.I generally like the book and I found the format to be very user friendly once figured out. The Campground Index in the back is especially helpful. Several reviewers have commented on the books organization. It does take a little training to understand but once you do it does make sense and becomes easy to use. Basically the campgrounds are are roughly divided by state, Arizona and New Mexico predominantly with a small chapter on Southeast Utah. There is also a chapter on Mexico. Areas in California adjacent to Arizona can be found in the chapter on Arizona. A small area of southwest Colorado and the far west Texas region is covered in the chapter on New Mexico. Once you decide on the state you need to reference a map at the front of the chapter to determine the area you are interested in. Each area is given a separate section and named by major city, town or geographic feature and then listed in alphabetic order. A reference map for each area is provided with all the campgrounds in the area. The campground descriptions follow that in alphabetic order.This would be a great book if they would just give it a good edit and refresh the information. I summary be careful about relying on the maps and I would verify campground information by checking the web.

This is a good book to give you information on campgrounds in the Southwest. I bought it knowing that the price information is likely outdated for campground fees, etc., but hey, if you just need to know where some car camping sites are that are both on and off the beaten path, then I recommend this book.

This is another in the really well written series of western campgrounds by Mike and Teri Church. Previously, I had read their Alaska and Northwest books and as good as they were this may very well be their best and most comprehensive campground guide."Southwest Camping Destinations" guide provides just about everything one needs to form an opinion of whether a particular campground fits their needs. Unlike Trailer Life and Woodalls, this book has a narrative write-up that gives the reader a really good feel for each facility. The depth of coverage is comprehensive given its inclusion of boondocking, BLM, National Forest locations in addition to county, state, National and private parks.The Church's books are the best value campground guides on the market today.

This guide does include lots of details about the camping sites and it is useful for camping with our travel trailer. However, the book was published 10 years ago and does not have any recent camping facilities. We especially wanted some information on camping sites for Spring Training in Goodyear, AZ but it isn't even listed because the town of Goodyear didn't exist 10 years ago. Very disappointing. I haven't found any book that is updated to include camping facilities.

This guide is essentially pretty good but don't like how it is organized.Have only used the section for arizona camping so the others might be better.Have to go back to the start of chapter 4 for an area to find a campground but compared to west coast camping by moon and authored by Tom sientr a their method,the churches' is to my mind second rate.But to their credit the guide gives a starting point for information.

Just looking through it, it looks like it will be very helpful when we head south. It has commercial and government campgrounds listed which is nice , as we like to boon dock camp. We will see how accurate the descriptions are and review it further.

This looks like it will be a great resource. Has several locations we already know about, and includes places we have seen listed as we drive familiar highways. Looks like it will be easy to plan several stops for longer trips, or find a couple new adventures for some day-trips and/or extended weekends. Keeps us close to home (Phoenix) while giving us other areas to explore that won't take too long to get to.

This book has it all. It tells you if your big rig can fit in the RV Park. Valuable information for anyone who drives or pulls an RV. How many times have you pulled into a space only to find out your rig will not fit. These people have actually been to these parks and know what they are talking about. Great book!

excellent book exactly what I was looking for.

Hier ist dringend eine neue Auflage erforderlich. 10 Jahre sind für einen Reiseführer / Campingguide eine lange Zeit.Ich hatte mir bei einem mehr als 400 Seiten umfassenden Buch mit dem Titel "RV an Car Camping Destinations in Arizona, New Mexico, (sic) And Utah" etwas mehr als 40 Seiten über Utah erhofft. Es wird auch nur der Süden von Utah abgedeckt. Der Norden fehlt komplett.Daher kann man den Buchtitel zumindes als ungenau bezeichnen.Mein Hauptkritikpunkt sind die Karten, wenn man das überhaupt als "Karte" bezeichnen kann.So besteht die "Übersichtskarte" von "Utah's Southeast sagenhaften 13 Sternchen mit eingerahmter Bezeichnung (z. B. Zion National Park) sowie die Seitenangabe. Der Rest ist weiß, blanko.Das ist nicht nur als lieblos zu bezeichnen sondern wirk auch ausgesprochen unprofessionell. Auch die "detaillierteren" Karten sind in keinster Weise das, was ich von einer karte in einem "Reiseführer" erwarte. Es fehlt der Maßstab und die Lage der Ort und der Campingplätze sind nicht unbedingt als präzise zu bezeichnen. Da ich nicht den ganzen Reiseführer mitschleppen wollte habe ich kurzerhand die 40 Seiten herausgetrennt und eingescannt. Wenn es nur solche Bücher gäbe würde ich wohl komplett auf digitale Medien umsteigen.

Only briefly leafed through this, but it looks very easy to use with practical information on campsite facilities, and suggested itineries with distances and travelling times included.

A great companion for an RV trip. I was expecting more information about the places that I visited, but it has more information about the camp sites.

Wir waren für zwei Wochen mit dem Wohnmobil im Südwesten der USA unterwegs. Für alle Anlaufpunkte lieferte das Buch übersichtlich und mit Karte gute Campingplätze mit Angabe der jeweiligen Ausstattung (z.B. Strom am Platz, Dumpstation, Reservierung möglich, etc.). Uns hat das Buch sehr geholfen. Allerdings gibt das Buch verständlicherweise nicht immer den aktuellen Stand wider. Einen angegebenen Platz im Monument Valley gibt es z.B. nicht mehr. Dieser wurde allerdings neu zweihundert Meter weiter eingerichtet. Für einen sehr guten Überblick ist das Buch zu empfehlen.