Lockett Meadow Campground

This primitive campground offers a scenic view of the San Francisco Peaks and dry camping in the cool aspen trees that surround Lockett Meadow. It is a terrific campground for those who cherish a real mountain camping experience and love to hike wilderness trails. You may catch a glimpse of the natural residents, porcupine or elk, or thrill to the song of a hermit thrush that sings his best here. Even black bear have been known to stroll right through groups of picnickers without as much as a glance at their lunches. The San Francisco Peaks are the remains of an extinct volcano, which millions of years ago shattered and reshaped these great peaks, forming four of the highest individual peaks in Arizona and home to the only region of tundra in the state. Inside the now quiet caldera, a lush alpine environment has blurred evidence of that cataclysmic event. The Inner Basin Trail, which leads into the heart of the ancient volcano, begins in beautiful Lockett Meadow. Starting at this island of emerald, ringed with quaking aspen stands and majestic high peaks, it leads into the mountain's now quiet Inner Basin. The spring and summer wild flowers add a sprinkling of blue, red and yellow to the peaceful scene, while fall turns the extensive stands of aspen covering the steep slopes of the caldera to solid gold. Winter avalanche tracks streak down the talus slopes, exposing remnants of old lava flows that bear witness to the mountain's turbulent heritage.