Wing Mountain near Flagstaff, Arizona

by Will
(Arizona)

Wing Mountain is a great place to camp northwest of Flagstaff. The mountain is an extinct volcano that blew its top much like San Francisco Mountain, but on a smaller scale. There are many treeless cinder pits here, including one that is open to off highway vehicles. There is also a single track dirt bike trail and several primitive forest roads to explore.

RV Campsite GPS Coordinates: N 35 16.290’ W 111 45.726’

Elevation: 7515 feet

Campsite Directions: From Flagstaff take Hwy 180 northwest about 8 miles and turn left (west) onto Forest Road 222. The road will be the first one on your left after passing a meadow with houses. Head west on FR 222 for about 1 mile then turn right (north) on FR 9230R. Take this road about 1/10th of a mile and you’ll see a drive on your left – take this to the campsite. There is also a campsite suitable for big rigs right where FR 9230R branches off from FR 222. There are more campsites off FR 222 and its side roads.

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Wing Mountain Video Slideshow

Wing Mountain RV Camping Journal

July 22nd, 2011

This campsite is just east of Wing Mountain. It's been a great campsite, except for two things: (1) Gun noise from the popular target practice (cinder pit) area next to Wing Mountain (2) Too much shade makes charging with a solar panel difficult. The ponderosa pines are tall here and it’s not as open as other parts of the forest.

The good points are: (1) It’s close to Flagstaff. (2) There isn’t much traffic

on Forest Road 9230R and FR 222 is out of view from the campsite. (3) There is much to see and do nearby. It’s close to San Francisco Mountain and its many trails. Lava River Cave is just northwest of here. There are also many forest service roads to mountain bike, including the loop around Wing Mountain. There are also neat meadows and cinder pits to see. It’s an excellent area for dirt bikes as there are many single track motorcycle trails. There are many, many primitive forest service roads here to explore.

Cell Signal: Verizon cell phone service has been great with a strong signal. Verizon mobile broadband internet has been fast – not fastest, but faster with the external antenna placed on my RV roof.

Weather: Monsoon season arrived right on schedule and soon after I arrived here. I had just a few days of heavy rain, which only lasted for short periods. I’ve had thunderstorms and cloudy weather, but not so much rain; the storms came about every afternoon and brought some rain, mostly just light rain or sprinkles. Highs have been in the 70s and lows in the 40s and 50s. It’s quite calm here most of the time, which is a nice change from the typical windy weather. The cloud cover and the dense forest is probably why it’s been mostly calm.

Cows: Another advantage here is that there are no cows. There is a meadow beyond a fence to the south (on the other side of FR 222) where cows have grazed. I didn't see any while I was here though.

Insects: I haven’t had any problem with insects here.

Campsite Rating: 7 out of 10. Overall, it’s a real nice campsite. The biggest drawback is the shade from the trees which makes charging with solar difficult.