Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Buckeye, AZ

Leaf Verde is in Buckeye, AZ which is only 30 minutes from Phoenix. The pool is refreshing and if you aren’t into swimming there is a pool table, dog park and shuffle board to keep you busy. The sites are gravel and close together but nice.

Important: If you plan to arrive after hours you must call ahead so you can get the gate code. They gave us a temporary spot that was pull thru due to the time of our late arrival. Then at noon they escorted us to our site to set up for the duration of our visit. I included an images of daily, weekly, and monthly rates for 2023 and full list of amenities and the winter activities. There are also deluxe sites available. This camp ground is pet friendly with a dog park area and offered daily planned activities. We participated in game night, line dancing classes, aquatic aerobics in the heated pool, and the New Years party. The showers are very clean and the laundry room was immaculate. The sites have full hook up 30/50 amp and sites up to 100'x55'. They offer propane services. There isn't anything to do in the town.

My wife and I took a two day trip upto Lake Pleasant with our Coleman Camper and Bayliner Boat. It's just a 50 min drive from Buckeye, so it's very close and convenient for us to getaway and still have city amenities near by 15 min drive. The campgrounds are very well taken care of and the restrooms are clean. Unfortunately there was a Fire Ban when we stayed, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the nightlife of the stars and mingling with fellow campers. During the day the lake was so relaxing and refreshing during the heat of the desert. Took the boat as far north to explore the lake and the secluded coves this lake offers. The website makes it easy to pick your site based on availability, however during the week you probably can just pull in and grab a site.

From the first contact at making reservations, to the rescheduling, to the follow up contact to the check in and then the park it’s self….CLASS! Park is Clean, level, spacious, pool is heated, two dog parks. The park staff are solid rockstars!

If you’re a social butterfly and don’t have dogs, this place could work. The sites are really crammed in and on top of that, your door is face to face with your neighbor which makes it so awkward to do anything outside when you don’t want to talk to an overly chatty neighbor. Or if you or your neighbors have unfriendly dogs they can’t be out at the same time. Facilities are decent, same with pool. Adequate dog parks but nowhere for dogs to pee near sites other than gravel.

We stayed here one night and would recommend it for anyone wanting to enjoy the night skies, having some distance between RV pull in's, and relax while driving cross country.

The staff was welcoming and showed us to our sites and ensured we hooked up with no issues.  Then, let us enjoy the night.

The dog run was great and well maintained.  We thought he pet rock cemetery was touching (passed on pets have rocks with their names on them laid out in a small memorial). 

We had a pull through full hook up site.  The site was required minor leveling, but no need to unhook. Wifi worked great.  There was road and rail noise though.

We are not sure if there are really any local attractions.

We stayed at the Willow Campground for two nights while visiting family and friends in the Surprise area. Hiked the Waterfall and Black Loop Trail for a little exercise as well. Didn’t do any others as our dog had an encounter with a stray cholla ball. This would be the only concern for those traveling with pets. There are quite a few lose even along trails. Other than that the facilities are clean and well kept. Fresh water and showers are available.

Saddle Mountain is fun to hike but strenuous. The area is quiet and easy to get to. RV and pet friendly.

Free. Wide open space, an abandoned air strip. Really cool cactus variations all around, you can hear coyotes. And there are wild burros in the area you can def hear them and during the week it's likely you will see them! It is popular for ATVs and such, so it can get a bit noisy, and it apparently gets pretty packed over the weekend. But empty during the week. About 30 minutes away from town. Though there are a few paid campsites in the area. Not sure what the stay limit is, probably 14 days. All the cacti so close is a bit hazardous for pets and small children, my dog already got spines in her paws.

Camped 5 nights at the desert tortoise campground in my NoBo travel trailer. Semi developed so no hook ups. Bathrooms were clean and the area was well kept. The spot includes a ramada with picnic table. There is also a fire ring pit w/ grill which you’ll need to bring firewood for. I fished off the shoreline which was only a few hundred feet from my spot. The spots are relatively close to each other and tent camping is also allowed. Water is clear and very nice. Wild donkeys from old miners back in the day still roam around. They are very accustomed to humans so won’t hesitate to steal food. Definitely something to watch pets around as well.

Great place for some R&R! While out-running a winter storm in Northern Arizona we headed South. Traveling through the Phoenix area we thought it would be hard to find a GOOD, CLEAN and AFFORDABLE place to stay since it was during the winter holidays. We lucked out when we happened upon this gem. The resort was safe, clean, had great amenities, and the staff were great.

-- AND THEY HAD GREAT PRICES! --

It did seem the pull-thru sites were a bit tight. However, we stayed in one of the standard RV spaces. So, we can't confirm that they actually are tight, it just appeared that way.

We did not have a picnic table at our site. (It does not appear that there are tables at any of the sites.) But there was plenty of room between rigs to park a vehicle -and- set up our own tables and chairs.

There is a shooting range near by. People and pets with issues hearing gun/rifle shots during the day should be aware, you -can- hear the shots being fired. It's not deafening, not loud at all, in our humble opinion. You just know there's shots being fired.

At the time of this review you can save even more money because they provide AAA and Good Sam discounts!

If you're looking for a nice, clean, FRIENDLY, resort with amazing prices, Pioneer RV Resort is the place!

-- WE WILL STAY THERE AGAIN. --

(Our apologies for lack of more pictures, it was pouring rain during our stay. However, we will say that the pictures on their website are indeed representative of the resort, amenities, and cleanliness.)

We came out here to scout out Margie's cove but realized when you turn in you can keep going straight to tons of campsites with firepits. We probably passed about 6 or 7 before we parked and saw a truck even further out. Not sure why this whole area hasn't been listed, there's a ton of empty sites.

Not sure if I put these coordinates in right, this is only my second time contributing but if you head north on 85 going towards buckeye you will turn right on South Woods Road. It's a bit hilly in the beginning so we pulled over to the side and walked out there to find a ton of sites. We have 2 wheel drive truck pulling a 24 foot TT and it did great.

There are washes all around but the sites are good and packed albeit rocky. About 30 minutes North is the town of buckeye where there's a walmart, autozone, etc and some beautiful hikes out at the Skyline Regional Park. Some saguaros around the spots for some nice sunset shots and a ton of sonoran vegetation at that Skyline Park. Would come here again!

Next to the Floss shooting range and the Sheriff's training range is a gem of a recreation park with great views of Buckeye and the Phoenix valley. Only one vault toilet, no water or electric, but no signs stating camping not allowed either. Although almost every sight has a grill or fire ring of some sort, but since May no fires of any type are allowed, probably due to wild fire hazards. This would be a superb star gazing adventure site for primitive camping. You just need to pack in/out all essentials like water and food.

We went through the extensive application to stay a night and then called back and were told we could not have a reservation because our dog was "mixed". We were actually going to drop the dog off with family in Phoenix, but were told if we even enter the gates with the dog in our truck they would cancel our reservation. BTW, our dog is half Lab, half rhodesian ridgeback. Not a large dog. We were told if our dog was a purebred Lab she would be permitted. Really strange.

General: Very small (7-site) campground. One site is ADA-accessible and paved (the rest are gravel) but there are no hookups at any site. 

Site Quality: Generous-sized gravel driveways; Site D sloped uphill slightly. A concrete picnic table, BBQ grill, and fire pit complete the site. I was a little surprised that the picnic tables did not have shelters as it gets quite hot in Arizona (the day-use pavilions were covered). 

Restroom: Two-stall, one-sink restroom. No showers. This restroom is also used by the day-use area so by the end of the day, it looks like it has been well-used. It was cleaned at night. It looked like the sink was clogged, but it was just slow draining. 

Activities: Hiking! There are several hiking trails directly accessible from the campground and all the trails are well-marked. There is a short (.6 mile) ADA-accessible trail. Horseback riding and mountain biking are also activities although we saw neither in our two days at this park. There was also a wildly popular star-gazing event while we were there. 

Final thoughts: IMO, the best sites are B, C, and D. Site D especially has no visible neighbors on either side. Kudos to the city of Buckeye – they could have easily crammed a half-dozen more campsites in this area, but I am glad they did not! As I mentioned, this is a popular day-use area and by 7 am on a weekend in early April, the day-use parking lot was completely full. Despite this, we did not see too many people on the trails.