This is a great trail, it's about 60 minutes from Phoenix, the elevation change at the top makes…read morethis place about 20 - 30 degrees cooler than the valley, there are about two first come first served camp spots at the top. Once you park, there's a short 20 minute hike up to some radio towers with a wonderful view of the surrounding mountains and valleys. I've never camped here myself, but I usually see someone who drove in and is tent camping or camping out of a conversion van of some type. My most recent visit corresponded to a thunder storm in the valley, which meant it was a bit rainy on the hike up the trail. It's a relatively easy hike with some consistent elevation increase on the way up, you can do this hike in a pair of sneakers and a bottle of water. As far as the drive in, nothing too treacherous here, the road is passable by anything with four wheels and a driver with a bit of gumption. Four wheel drive and a high clearance vehicle is NOT required for this drive, but it certainly does make it easier to navigate. I definitely take air out of the tires for any dirt road and this is no exception; although, if you don't carry an air compressor in your vehicle, I'd suggest you don't let air out as there really isn't anywhere close by to put air back in. You can spend 5 minutes looking at the view or a couple hours. You can bring a picnic basket, your water bottle and a granola bar, or nothing at all - whatever you feel like on this excursion. It's a fairly easy destination and if you've been outside and walked more than a mile in one go within the past 6 months, this hike will be a piece of cake for you!

Quick escape from Phoenix! Temps drop about 20 degrees and nice gravel road will take you to the…read moretop (around 7000'). Epic camping and fires are allowed. Make sure you clean up your trash!

Location: Trail begins off the intersection of W Pioneer Road & N Gavilan Peak Parkway heading…read moretowards Anthem. Parking: Free dirt trail off of N Gavilan Peak Parkway and W Pioneer Rd intersection Trail difficulty: Easy consisting of well-maintained dirt. A doable and quick hike for family and furry friends. Length: 0.7 of a mile Ambiance: Lightly trafficked with highway and airplane noise in the background.

Decided on a Sunday drive to Payson. After lunch we drove to Monument Peak Loop Trailhead for an…read moreeasy hike as it was 82 degrees. The parking lot is very small. We shared it was four other vehicles. The trail signage is perfect. The hike is partially shaded but more sun then shade. It is an easy 3.4 miles. If you take the loop counter clockwise, the beauty is in the last mile. We truly enjoyed this hike and recommend it for something easy and close to the city

I looked for this trail on Yelp and only this listing came up. It hadn't been reviewed even though…read moreit was already created by someone. Not sure why, but either way it's a great trail! The area I started at is located at the end of a street at the cul de sac of a pretty nice Payson neighborhood. I found it through google maps so it's not a secret and not hard to find. There isn't much parking due to signs that say "no parking" on the street so that might be the limiting factor to starting this hike from the Phoenix St entrance. Once on the trail, there are a few options and I just kept waking towards the north boulders path and I would like to go back and keep going but it was getting too hot. It was like 3-4pm when we were out and hottest part of the day. Hot for Payson anyway, still better than the valley temps. I'll be back for sure to explore more.

We booked a 2-seater UTV for our group trip but another UTV in our group had a dead battery so Paul…read moreat Stay and Play quickly switched us into a 4-seater and we had a great day. He provided a map and suggestions on where to go, and he even helped diagnose what was wrong with our dead-battery atv and offered to let us use a power pack. The rental UTV was reliable and it all added up to a fun day. Highly recommended.

A++ service. I've rented wave runners before and the service hasn't always been "good". But from…read morethe moment I arrived at AZ Stay and Play I knew I'd be back! Paul was kind and patient while he thoroughly walked me through everything I needed to know. I booked a last minute rental and called the night before. He was able to give me clear instructions on how to book the rental and the website was so easy to use. Direct and to the point! I will absolutely be renting from here again!

Let me recommend TUCKTEC to you folks. It's a foldable,lightweight kayak that does well on Rim…read moreLakes. I'm a happy kayaker that can manage getting this great kayak in and out of the back seat of my Jeep! #tucktec

The town of Payson is a beautiful small town, about an hour and a half drive from the Phoenix area…read more We enjoyed the hiking, food scene and culture. This is definitely a "tourist trap" type area, and I wouldn't say there's much more than 2-3 days worth of things to do. Any longer, you may get bored. It's significantly cooler than the Valley so that's a plus!!

Cute little town outside of the Phoenix area. It is in the Tonto National Forest at about 4,900 ft…read more elevation. It has summer temperatures in the 80-90's making it a great get away from the heat of the valley below. I came up in December when daytime temperatures are in the mid-to upper 50's and night time in the upper 20's. Almost all of the land around Payson is under the U.S. Forest Service or by tribal governments so much of the land is still natural for hiking, horseback riding, fishing and hunting activities. The Tonto Natural Bridge is the largest known travertine natural bridge in the world, is just northwest of Payson in Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. Payson is also a good place for rock hunters. There are quartz crystals, geodes, agate and onyx. In town, there are so many restaurants and shops to explore. The area has three golf courses, two being private country clubs. Mazatzal Casino, a tribal casino, is on the south end of the city. I'm not sure about other carriers but T-Mobile has decent service in town but sketchy as you travel Payson and beyond for activities. There are lots of places where I have No Service. Payson is a nice town with lots of things for me to do. It has, obviously grown a bit, since the last reviews. It is a nice place to explore and enjoy both beautiful outdoors and fun activities in town.

My family just moved close to Bartlett Lake and we were so excited to go paddle boarding and…read morekayaking. We've gone paddle boarding and kayaking before and it has always been such a fun experience for all of us. When I made a reservation there were no kayaks available which was fine so I booked 5 paddle boards. The cost was about $124. We were advised to arrive 30 minutes before 8:00 AM so that we could check in. We went to the Go Stand Up Paddle area in the marina and were met by the very abrasive owner, Chad. He was not wearing a mask and he was talking very closely (like 1 foot away from our faces). He told us to fill out the paperwork and we asked if he had any kayaks available and he said there was a cancellation so three of my family members were able to use them. While he was helping out another group we waited around for 20 minutes. No one spoke to us or tried to provide good customer service. Out of nowhere Chad starts yelling at his employee to help us and make sure that they charge us correctly for the kayaks. This was extremely uncomfortable to watch as a customer and I felt very bad for the employee. Chad took me to his office and he started cursing and using crass language so that was off putting. He told me that he was saving us money by foregoing all of the fees from their billing company and that my new total was $184. That was fine. He charged my card and my family and I waited for him to help the group before us. After about another 20 minutes (about 10-15 minutes after our reservation time) Chad came back and started talking to us about how to use the paddle boards. We told him that we knew how to use them so he didn't explain much, but just kept looking at us up and down. I could feel him judging us. Chad led my sister and I to the paddle boards and he gave me a very small lightweight one and my sister a sturdy and long one. He told me that the one he gave me was his professional one that he used in races and not to damage it. If you don't want customers to damage your personal belongings why would you allow them to rent it out? He kept telling me to stand in the middle of the board but from previous experience I know that it's best to stand a little bit towards the back of it. He also said some very rude things to my sister when I left them at the dock. He questioned her paddle boarding experience and condescendingly asked "Have you even done this before?". My experience during the two hours out on the water was pretty miserable. The board Chad gave me was so light to the point where it was so difficult to balance especially when the wake from the boats were so strong. He honestly should just rent out the longer paddle boards to his customers because most of us just want to paddle board for fun. Thankfully my family made this time worthwhile and took my mind off of how condescending and rude he was towards us. A few hours after we left the marina I checked my bank statements. Chad refunded us the $124 from the previous booking but charged us $184 and $190, which made no sense and is a large sum. I called him immediately and he said that he actually was trying to save us money and that he didn't know he charged us twice. He told me he would call his billing service right away. A few days later I did not see the entire refund back in bank account so I called him. Chad got mad at me and said I was annoying for calling him about it. Excuse me, but you charged me $190 extra, of course I'm going to call you. He kept cutting me off when I tried explaining what my bank account was showing and he told me he would contact me as soon as he called his billing service. I waited a few days and he never called back and I didn't see the refund. I called and texted him yesterday with no response, but I finally received the remainder of the refund this morning. I wish he would have notified me that he did in fact reach out to his payment system. All in all I will not come back and rent from this company. I would not recommend Go Stand Up Paddle to anyone I know unless they wanted to be belittled and judged.

Chad who runs the place is totally unprofessional and we had to wait for over an hour, on our dime,…read moreto get him to finally show up to work. We paid for 3 hours and got 1 1/2 hours because he was late. Would not take any responsibility for his being late. All the lakes have marinas with kayak rentals. Good luck using this one.