17 Ironwood Campground Central Arizona
19 Lost Dutchman State Park Campground Central Arizona
22 The Point Campground Central Arizona
41 Alamo Canyon Primitive Campground Southern Arizona
BEST FOR BIRD-WATCHING
3 Forked Pine Campground Northern Arizona
19 Lost Dutchman State Park Campground Central Arizona
24 Upper Pinal Campground Central Arizona
42 Bog Springs Campground Southern Arizona
50 Sunny Flat Campground Southern Arizona
BEST FOR FAMILIES
2 Desert View Campground Northern Arizona
15 Desert Tortoise Campground Central Arizona
17 Ironwood Campground Central Arizona
27 Fool Hollow Lake Recreation Area Campground Mogollon Rim
33 Brookchar Campground White Mountains
BEST FOR SCENIC VISTAS AND PHOTOGRAPHY
2 Desert View Campground Northern Arizona
7 North Rim Campground Northern Arizona
9 The View Campground Northern Arizona
21 Mingus Mountain Campground Central Arizona
28 FR 9350 Dispersed Camping Area Mogollon Rim
BEST FREE CAMPGROUNDS
1 Canyon View Campground Northern Arizona
24 Upper Pinal Campground Central Arizona
28 FR 9350 Dispersed Camping Area Mogollon Rim
36 KP Cienega Campground White Mountains
37 Los Burros Campground White Mountains
BEST FOR WILDFLOWERS
15 Desert Tortoise Campground Central Arizona
34 Recreation Area Campgrounds White Mountains
36 KP Cienega Campground White Mountains
44 Hospital Flat Campground Southern Arizona
47 Riverview Campground Southern Arizona
BEST HIDDEN GEMS
1 Canyon View Campground Northern Arizona
18 Lawrence Crossing Campground Central Arizona
24 Upper Pinal Campground Central Arizona
32 Blue Crossing Campground White Mountains
49 Stockton Pass Campground Southern Arizona
Saguaros keep watch from the hills above Canyon Lake as you paddle out to The Point (see campground 22).
INTRODUCTION
HOW TO USE THIS GUIDEBOOK
Menasha Ridge Press welcomes you to Best Tent Camping: Arizona. Whether you’re new to camping or you’ve been sleeping in your portable shelter over decades of outdoor adventures, please review the following information. It explains how we have worked with the author to organize this book and how you can make the best use of it.
CHOOSING THE TOP 50
Because we’ve written this book with car campers in mind, we’ve chosen to include only campgrounds that you can drive to, with the exception of one boat-access-only campground. Another book entirely could be written about the best backpacking camps in Arizona, but we haven’t included any of those here. Rather, we’ve included only official public campgrounds, striving for an equal balance of the developed and undeveloped. One of us must have her shower every day and the other would be perfectly happy to hang out in the woods for weeks, so we think we represent both ends of the spectrum.
When we told other campers we were writing this book, smiles would cross their faces as they thought about their personal favorite places to pitch a tent. More often than not, if they chose to share their secret with us (knowing that we might reveal it to the public), they knew of a great location on public land with no more amenities than a fire ring and a great view.
A startlingly high proportion of Arizona is public land, belonging to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management, or the State of Arizona, and most of this is open to dispersed camping: choose your own spot off