roper lake state park

This is one of our favorites. Camping, swimming and a hot tub. Very nice place to relax and enjoy your family. Area is always kept clean for the most part, small dog park area, fishing, cabins and lots of nice scenery. A plus if you like outdoors

When I lived in Safford in 2002, there wasn't much to do. We went here all the time to swim and hang out with family. The lake was shallow enough to be safe, yet, deep enough to swim. We enjoyed hanging out in the in-ground hot tub. I remember having to scoop out tons of little frogs in the winter time.

We stayed here for two weeks in a travel trailer. Camping sites in both loops that offer electric and water hookups (Cottonwood and Gila) area spacious and kept clean. There is also a loop that offers camping with no hookups and includes a few cabins that looked nice. Nice walking trails around the large campground. Roper Lake is small and although they stock the lake there were no fish being caught during our visit. We also checked out the neighboring Dankworth Pond for fishing opportunities but found the same disappointment. Beautiful mountain scenery (Mount Graham had snow on the top during our visit) and if you are a birder, this is a great place to visit. Restrooms and showers are spotless. The natural spring hot tub is also a fun visit while at the park.

We were very disappointed in this "attraction". More like a local scam to fleece you out of $7.00. Lake is an overstatement - more like a pond with a few ducks on it. Much more annoying and more dangerous were the radical speed/stop bumps that seemed designed to do major damage at any speed over 5 Miles per hour. Previous damage was in evidence by scrapes and gouges in each of the "stop bumps". Someone in charge is very much opposed to cars - we recommend that you make him/her happy and not visit.

We took our four year old granddaughter and stayed in one of the cabins. Clean and rustic, the cabin has electricity. Inside are a full size very firm bed and two bunk beds, a table and chairs, and a cabinet. Each unit has A/C and heat for year round use. Toilets and showers are a short walk away. Outside there is a sink and counter with running water, a fire pit, charcoal grill and picnic table. There is a swing on the front porch. You will need all of your camping gear except the tent. We liked the trails, the lake, and especially the natural spring fed hot tub.

Roper Lake State Park is a beautiful little state park around a small lake. People come here to camp, fish (in small fishing boats or from the shore), take in the beauty of Mt. Graham, OR watch the birds. This is one of the best birding areas in the U.S. and it isn't just me saying so. The National Audubon Society agrees. Roper Lake is situated just across the mountain range from the San Pedro River Basin which is the number one spot in the nation for variety of birds, so you can only imagine the variety of birds Roper Lake gets. There are all types of water fowl, as well as hummingbirds, doves, Gamble Quail, and many more. If you like birds, this is the place to be.

I have lived in the Gila Valley for nearly 30 years and have never seen the Dankworth Ponds unit of Roper Lake State Park as beautiful as it is right now. I spent Saturday morning there on September 27 and could have easily stayed the entire day. Flowers cover the pond's edges and wetlands are lush with vegetation. Dragonflies and damselflies are everywhere! The usual "flotilla" of American Coots were congregated in the middle of the pond. Many other birds could be seen and heard.Volunteers completed restoration of Dankworth Village, a series of replica structures interpreting the Native American history of the area. This was a National Public Lands Day project hosted by the Bureau of Land Management and Arizona State Parks. If you have time for the walk, head up on the hill to the Village - you'll get some exercise and learn a little when you're there, plus there's a great vista of the pond with Mt. Graham in the background.

We didnt like that all the campgrounds were just surrounded by dirt. They could at least put some rock or some kind of groundcover around the areas. Was not real appealing. Was very warm there at the end of August and the lake was down quite a bit so if you were fishing you had to trudge through some heavy duty mud to get out to just cast the fishing poles. All in all though, the rangers and employees were all very friendly but not sure we would use this as our getaway camping spot that much. It was ok if not for alot of days.

We loved it we are from Arizona so we didn't mind the desert scenery most out of state people dont like. The grounds are clean the restrooms and shower are very clean but old. It seems every time I went over there they had just been cleaned. We took our 30 foot travel trailer the fee was only $25 with water hookups and electricity its a little warm up there but we were able to run the AC all day. Which made it more comfortable. The lake was nice the beach area was shallow to about 30 feet out so the kids with less worry.

A friend and I stopped by here on the way into Safford and we weren't disappointed. The was a great little beach for an Arizona lake, as well as a little hot spring tub, and some nice hiking trails. We saw a ton of different bird species, and the trails offered some really great places to take pictures of Mt. Graham and the surrounding desert.

We hadn't been to the lake in a long time and heard they upgraded their camp sites with electric and water so decided to return. Hookup sites cost $25 per night. We didn't stay,however, because there literally was no place to park the boat and step out. Due to the drought, there is thick,thick mud all over the perimeter and water so shallow the boat got stuck. We asked if we could put it over by the far side of the swim beach and were told "no" so packed up and left. Until there is more rain, not worth going if you have a boat and want to do any fishing.

Roper Lake is small, even by Patagonia Lake standards (see my review of Patagonia if you so want to). The area close to Safford is scrubby, flat, and very HOT in the summer--there's sparse shade to be found, so this might be a place to visit in spring or fall. The drive from Tucson takes you through a really neat landscape of teetering boulders, so stop and take pics of them.Roper Lake is very clean and quiet. One thing I noticed is that none of the cabins suffered from mindless grafitti carvings. The grounds were super clean, and a nice walking path included quaint little bridges around the west side of the lake. The showers are nice, despite having push button water flow with a 5 second burst at a time.Unless you can reserve the three cabins directly on shore (they're literally booked for a YEAR in advance), the rest of the camp sites (RV, tent, cabin, etc.) are pretty close quarters--so you better be ready to talk to neighbors. Regardless, the cabins have the right mix of ammenities and rustic charm (bring linens, pillows and such, depending on the season). Camping at Roper is pretty laid back, quiet, and comfortable. There's a boat launch area (only small boats allowed) and the east part of the lake is cleared of reeds enough to fish from shore--but that doesn't mean it's fantastic fishing (although AZSP does stock the lake with a variety of fish--chech the stocking schedule for better chances). Roper's feature attraction is its artisan hot springs tub (98 degrees or so). A single, simple, concrete hottub resides between the RV/cabins loop and the regular RV sites. Weirdly enough, the water flowing through the hotsprings makes you float as if it were high in salt--but it isn't.Word to the Wise though--Roper becomes a "party lake" on the weekends, especially in the day use area and the beach area. You may have a hard time getting any hotsprings visits to yourself during the weekends--we actually saw the hottub filled with no less than 10 people at one point--so visiting during the weekdays might be better.Another really unique bonus is that Safford is just minutes away from Roper Lake, and the town boasts the largest Walmart in Arizona. So if you're smart, pack minimal provisions because you can pick up what you need in town for reasonable prices. Safford itself is a step back in time about 20 years or so, and there are plenty of "Mom-n-Pop" places to grab a homestyle meal, as well as some fast food places.All in all, Roper Lake is a decent place to visit for a variety of reasons. The cabins are worth the extra expense, if not for the heating/cooling units that offset Arizona's more extreme seasons. Be prepared to RELAX.

We drove first to the Dankworth Pond unit of Roper Lake State Park. It costs $7 to get in, we took a look and decided it wasn't worth it so we drove on to the main part of Roper Lake S.P. It looked bigger and more interesting so we paid our money and went in. Pretty disappointing. Not especially pretty or scenic, maybe the fishing was good, but if your just going for a visit to see it, save your money. If you're ever in Santee CA, check out Santee Lakes. It's a similar park only WAY NICER and only costs $3!

Found this park on the internet as it allows 24/7 reserving of sites and cabins. We have camped in many federal and state parks and this is one if the best but for little to no tree shade. We stayed two nights in a delightful cabin, one of eight. At about 2800 ft it's a nice option to northern and central Arizona. This cabin, Roadrunner, had two rooms, one double bed, three bunk beds, a ceiling fan, inside lights, porch light, huge covered porch with swing , outside kitchen with sink, running water, grill built into the counter, fire ring with $7 wood bundles and A WINDOW UNIT HEAT AND AC UNIT! It rained hard the night we were there and it was like we were in a motel but next to a lake. Clean attractive shower facility, lake if you like to fish, cabins exceptionally clean - we watched the personnel as they cleaned the one next to us. Natural springs hot tub which we will try next time. Seemingly large park with many tent, RV and day use options. We are returning next month. The park is about 5 miles from Casa Mañana in Safford. Also check out Discovery Park nearby for educational options for Saturday evening.

Not much to not like about this place. Think beautiful sunrises over a pond, flocks of yellow-headed blackbirds, colorful roadrunners in your camp, interesting wintering waterfowl. You can soak in the hot pool and take a walk, bike ride, or paddle in the lake. There are nice campsites and it is fairly quiet.