A great little get away

When I used to think of Arizona I only thought of dry desert and hot summers, but located in the White Mountains of Arizona on the Fort Apache Reservation is a quaint camp ground surrounded by pine and aspen trees. Whether you are a tent camper, RV camper, or prefer the luxury of a cabin, this is a great place for a family get away.

As Jay and I recently experienced for a one night trip, Hawley Lake is a great place to get out of the summer heat epically if you are living in the southern part of Arizona. We went from a searing 116* to a nice mild 80*. We chose to camp lake side which happened to be quite the adventure. Along with the many wild animals located there, we also encountered some domesticated cows grazing in the nearby meadow. We would occasionally find them wondering into the camp area eating out of the provided fire pits for different minerals.

Even though Hawley lake offers many different outdoor activities such as sailing, boat or lake side fishing, crawdad catching, or going on a small hike, we decided a bit of hammock napping was in order. We tried fishing, but had no such luck, however, many people around us were catching fish. I think it was the bait we were using, Jay said I was just bad luck. Butt head.

Now if you are the cabin type, which I hope I can convince Jay of someday, they have an ample amount of cabins available year round bordering Hawley Lake and Earl Park Lake (a much smaller lake adjacent to Hawley Lake) .

All cabins include some basics like linens for the beds and bathrooms, dishes, pots and pans, silverware, coffee maker and toilet paper. Oh that reminds me, unless you camp with an RV or something similar that provides a facility to go to the bathroom, look forward to the wonderful outhouses. None of the cabins have microwaves either, so if you have little ones that you would want to heat up a quick meal for, plan on bringing a small microwave or plan to heat it up on the stove.