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A playground and shade trees in a town parkPhoto: Mysterymanblue (CC0) · Wikimedia Commons

Outdoors · Cottonwood

Parks in Cottonwood

Two of these are destinations and two are for the neighborhood, and it is worth knowing which is which before you load the car.

Dead Horse Ranch State Park is the big one, on the Verde River at the north edge of town, with fishing lagoons, a campground, cabins and trails that run on into the national forest. It is a state park, so it charges: $10 per vehicle with one person, $20 for two to four, $5 to walk or cycle in. The visitor center runs 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and day-use hours move with the season. It is also the valley’s best easy river access and where the Birding and Nature Festival happens each April.

Riverfront Park, at 1284 East River Front Road, is the city’s and it is free. It has the valley’s public dog park, one and a third acres split into small-dog, large-dog and training areas, plus disc golf, a skate park and ball fields. It hosts the Verde Valley Wine Festival and Thunder Valley Rally, so on those weekends expect it to be busy and the parking to be gone. The Old Town Jail Trail connects it to Old Town on foot, from a trailhead at 1101 North Main.

Cottonwood Kid’s Park on South 12th Street and Lions Club Park are neighborhood parks: playground and grass rather than a day out.

Dogs, water and heat

The dog park at Riverfront is the only fenced one in the valley; the Sedona one is at Posse Grounds, half an hour away. Dogs are fine on leash at Dead Horse Ranch on the trails and in the campground. Our dog-friendly guide covers the rules that catch people out, including the two state parks near Sedona where dogs are restricted or banned outright.

From June to September, plan anything outdoors for before 9 a.m. The river makes Cottonwood feel cooler than it is.

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4 places on the map.

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Cottonwood Kid's Park

Parks

Cottonwood Kid's Park is a city park at 350 South 12th Street in Cottonwood, Arizona. It is run by the City of Cottonwood. The posted opening hours are Mo-Sa 09:00-17:00, so it is open six days a week through the middle of the day and closed on Sunday. Those hours are what the city posts for the park itself, and shade and water at a park like this can depend on the season, so plan a summer visit for the morning. There is no phone number on this listing. For questions about the park, or about closures for maintenance or a scheduled event, contact the City of Cottonwood.

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Dead Horse Ranch State Park Benjamin Cody (Murderbike) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Dead Horse Ranch State Park

Parks

Dead Horse Ranch State Park is at 675 Dead Horse Ranch Road in Cottonwood, managed by Arizona State Parks. The features listed are lagoons, fishing, canoeing, hiking trails, a campground and camping cabins, which makes it the park in this valley you can stay at rather than just visit. Entry is $10 per vehicle for one person, $20 for two to four people, and $5 to walk in or cycle. The visitor center is open 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM daily. Call (928) 634-5283 about camping, which books up, or see azstateparks.com.

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Lions Club Park

Parks

Lions Club Park is a park in Cottonwood, Arizona, run by Lions Clubs International rather than by the city. It sits at about 1025 meters, which is ordinary for the valley floor and means hot afternoons through the summer and cold early mornings in winter. No street address, phone number or opening hours are published here, so treat the pin on the map as approximate and look for the sign rather than a number on a gate. A park kept by a service club is often booked for a scheduled event, which can take up the shaded tables at short notice. Shade and water are worth checking before you plan a long visit.

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Riverfront Park

Parks

Riverfront Park is a city park in Cottonwood, at 1284 E River Front Road, managed by the City of Cottonwood. It holds a dog park with separate small and large dog areas, a disc golf course, a softball complex, a skate park, an inline hockey rink, and volleyball. The park also hosts the Verde Valley Wine Festival and the Thunder Valley Rally, so parking fills up on those weekends. The phone number is (928) 639-3200. We do not have park hours, field reservation rules, or fees on file, so call the number before you count on an open field.

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