Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Congress, AZ

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.

Alamo state park wasn’t all that bad. Due to the virus and our sons upcoming surgery plus several parks and lake being closed this was the only option. The wild burros are a very neat site and great to watch! The lake unfortunately was experiencing a blue green algae bloom 🤢 Park rangers advised to NOT let pets or small children in the water. And fishing was also a bust due to water conditions. Our trip was the end of May so we did experience 110° during our weekend stay. We used the Choilla camp ground (C12) nice pull through spot with water & 30amp and was big enough to accommodate a second vehicle with our Jetskis.

Over all we were happy with our stay and would recommend / plan to visit again in fall or spring when the temps are cooler

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.)

My dog was laying in cigarette butts. At least it's free

Lots of lit up trucks and dirt bikes coming through the night I stayed but the views and rock formations were cool to check out with my dog.

I loved it up here during the monsoons and the week days. The weekends are rough with the ATV traffic hence alcohol in the evenings caused the drinks to walk up and down the main road fighting. My dogs barked and warned so camp was safe. Otherwise this is the place.

We loved this campground so much we came back a few days later. Nestled in the Dells we had a spot that backed up to the rocks that we were able to easily climb up each night and watch the sunset. The trail behind the campground was wide and clear and easy to walk with the dogs. The spots are private with lots of green in between.

Site 103 isn’t on the water, but it’s just across the street. There is a nice little place to set up your chair and sit on the shoreline. It looked to have more space between neighboring sites, which is great. Burros would hang out in our camp grazing grass completely unfazed by the barking dogs and screaming kids. Bathrooms were clean. All sites had Ramada’s. We had a wonderful time.

We have a 4WD truck, so we were able to get past most of the RVs and toy haulers, but they all seemed like family friendly people! The burros are no joke! You can hear and see them all around you. We also heard a few coyotes right after dusk which was cool. We had our two dogs with us and just kept them on the leash so we had no negative cactus experiences... Overall, a really cool place to be even if you don’t have an OHV. We got in around 6PM and were able to find a secluded spot with a fire ring already there, no problem.

This is probably the most unique lake in Arizona! Incredible views! Rock formations instead of shoreline make this a little less user friendly, but worth the effort.

There are multiple spots to choose from along this dirt road (Bloody Basin Rd) to pull off and camp. The road is nicely graded and fairly smooth with a few sections of washboard and rocky spots. We did fine in our 26 ft class C but drive with caution as some of the pull outs do not have turn around areas and there are deep ruts and washouts to navigate around.

There is no water, garbage or any other amenities so pack in and out whatever you bring, and pack out some more if you’re so inclined. Lots of debris left behind by shooters. 

Nice area with trails to hike or bike around. There are quite a lot of ATVs but they were not as bothersome as some of the areas we’ve camped in. You can hear the highway noise and see light pollution from Phoenix but it was not horrible. We did see some shooting garbage, targets and shells laying around but did not hear any shooting when we were there. My dog did get sprayed by a skunk during the daylight about 10 yards from our spot so be aware of wildlife! 

We did see a park ranger while we are there which is always nice. 

Weak but usable Verizon and AT&T coverage but not enough to stream anything.

This is a FREE BLM camping area. 

There are multiple places to pull off along Vulture Mine Rd that have dirt roads that you can take further back. We made a couple of attempts in our 26 ft Class C and almost got stuck and had to back out so be aware that some of the roads look good then suddenly become impassable with no turn around. We ended up near the Vulture Peak trailhead with an easy pull off and a view of the peak (33.880550,-112.820176).

There is no water or garbage so pack in and pack out and pack out more than you brought in if you feel inclined. There is a pit toilet bathroom at the trailhead entrance. This is also an ATV area so watch out while hiking because most thought they had the right of way. 

There is good hiking to the peak and across the street there is another access to hike in. There is some road noise but it is not too bad., overall a quiet place. This is a trailhead so there is a lot of day use traffic of vehicles, ATVs and hikers but the nights were quiet and pleasant. Chollas are everywhere and we constantly had to pick them out of our dogs so be aware. We did not see any wildlife except some birds but heard coyotes every night. 

Note: There is a nice spot about 3 spots in that has an old table and a couple of broken chairs sitting in it. No one came into that spot while we were there for 7 days so though it looks like someone is saving a spot, but I think unfortunately someone just left a bunch of junk there. 

Decent Verizon and AT&T coverage.

Dirt road is a bit washboard but very manageable by any vehicle.

Spots line the road to the left & right as you travel down the road. cell Service can be excellent or poor depending on site you choose (avoid the ones in the dips/valleys if its a concern for you)

No facilities, just good ol’ convenient Arizona boondocking.

I came in mid December and there were only a handful of others.