No water hookup at Arizona state park

[trailernovice]

Notice for those unaware...

We stayed at Picacho Peak (Arizona) State Park about a week and a half ago (one night, during our summer road trip)...we get into the site, get the electricity hooked up....then I look around, scratching my head--I don't see a water hookup...turns out there isn't one...apparently a 'desert' thing

Not sure if only at this state park but at other state parks in the desert...also not sure if this would be only in Arizona or elsewhere...also not sure if private parks have the same issue

I'd seen sites in state parks that had water but no electricity (generally used for tent camping)...never before had I come across one with electricity but no water

Just a heads-up for folks traveling through the desert that it may be best/necessary to tank some water rather than to count on its being available through a hookup

[maddog348]

THANKS ~ sgip2000 ~ doesn't fit in my class A OR my TruckCamper. JM2¢

[sgip2000]

maddog348 wrote:
Thanks, sgip2000 ~~ but ~~ not everyone has a truck bed. ~~ JM2¢

You don't need a truck bed. I've had it in the back of my Jeep too.

[profdant139]

Oh, I see. The sign says "potable" water. I thought it was "portable." 😉

[bukhrn]

Been to MANY CG's around the country with electric only, our favorite NF cg In Va. has electric only, as long as they have potable water at the dump station, I'm good.
BTW, Cattail Cove State Park in AZ has electric & water.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

I have one of those. I’ve used it a few times but never in the truck bed, always on the roof. Having a 4 door pickup helps and only having to go a few hundred feet.

We’ve since refined our dry camping practices. We do look for the fresh water fill before settling up. That way we always have a full FW tank and empty gray/ black tanks. When the FW tank is empty, it is time to dump. At a CG where the dump is close enough to use our sewer tote, we use it and the collapsible FW tank to replenish. If we have to move it he rig to dump, we also refill FW.

[pnichols]

Carrying a water bladder properly is just about a no-go with a motorhome.

Boy .... that water bladder sure would put a lot of weight on the roof of a pickup (maybe dent it?) .... as shown in the photo in the earlier link. Carrying it in the bed of a pickup is the proper place for it!

For extra drinking/cooking water on our RV trips, we pack along 48-72 of the small 16 oz. plastic bottles right under one of our dinette seats - easy to get to (each dinette seat has a flip door on the end) and no hassle to replenish in small towns. (I only HOPE that someone, somewhere is melting those plastic bottles down to put to some other good use after we discard them properly!)

[maddog348]

Thanks, sgip2000 ~~ but ~~ not everyone has a truck bed. ~~ JM2¢

[sgip2000]

While expensive, put one of these in the truck bed and fill. Use a transfer pump to move to trailer tank.

45 gallon water tank

[mockturtle]

In the desert SW, electricity is necessary for A/C most of the year. Potable water is harder to deliver. Fill your water tank before getting there.

[NRALIFR]

I never hook the campgrounds water directly to my camper. Never. I always use the fresh water tank and pump, and it’s always full when we travel.

It’s nice having water at the campsite to fill the tank, but I can deal with whatever freshwater routine each campground has, including no water at all. I have a white hose for the standard threaded water faucet, a water thief for the ones that have no threads, a couple of water jugs for the primitive camps that only have a hand pump, and a bucket if all that’s available is a creek. We carry drinking water separately, so I’m not too concerned about how sanitized the creek water may or may not be. I carry bleach for those occasions.

I did run into a new routine just recently at two Cook County Forest Reserve campgrounds in Illinois. Beautiful parks that they have obviously spent millions on improving recently, lots of electric only campsites, but there are no freely accessible water hydrants anywhere in the two parks we stayed at. To get water, you drive to the office and ask them to drag their hose out so you can fill your tank. They do it gladly, but why they’re doing it that way I’m not sure.

:):)

[Trekkar]

Michigan state parks are primarily electric only, but information about each site is available on the reservation website.

[owenssailor]

There are Provincial Parks in Ontario that do not have water at the site. It is not a desert issue here.

[DrewE]

pnichols wrote:

What concerns me more at Picacho is in the 2nd paragraph from the bottom in the white background area from the link above - "Generator use is not permitted." Does this mean within quiet hours ... or does this mean no generator use at all?

I suspect no generator usage at all, given that all the sites have electric hookups.

[pnichols]

Picacho Peak State Park does have potable water available at the dump station - just not at each site: https://azstateparks.com/picacho/camping-and-rvs/camping

This is quite common at some campgrounds .... oftimes they have a dump station where you empty your tanks and can fill your water tank (you should make sure the water at the dump site is POTABLE, however).

What concerns me more at Picacho is in the 2nd paragraph from the bottom in the white background area from the link above - "Generator use is not permitted." Does this mean within quiet hours ... or does this mean no generator use at all?