Looking for the best tent campgrounds near Congress? You can find tent campsites by type, including drive-in, walk-in, and even hike-in for a backpacking adventure. Each spot offers quick access to one or more of Congress, Arizona's most popular destinations.
Horsethief Basin Recreation Area offers a variety of recreational opportunities including: hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, camping, fishing, and OHV riding. Castle Creek Wilderness is located nearby, and Horsethief Cabin and Turney Gulch Group Campground are available by reservation. Day use sites and trails are open year-round; overnight accomodations are not available during the winter. Scroll down (below the recreation map) to learn more about these recreational opportunities. Note: Until further notice, use of a high-clearance vehicle is recommended for those who plan to visit recreation sites in Horsethief Basin.
High in the cool pines northwest of Chino Valley, the Camp Wood area has no developed recreational facilities, but has a variety of trail-use and dispersed camping opportunities. Trails in the area include: * 7 Up to Hyde Mountain Trail #5 * Adra Loop Trail #9044 * Bt Butte Trail #133 * Cold Water Trail #21 * Connel Mountain Trail #9921 * Cottonwood Mountain Trail #8 * Cutoff Trail #22 * Dead Steer Basin Trail #9908 * Grapevine Springs Trail #9825 * Hyde Mountain Trail #6 * Merritt Spring Trail #9 * Prospect Point Trail #9097 * Shivers Trail #9879 * Shivers Trap Trail #10 * Stinson Tank Trail #9836 * Stringtown Trail #9917
Built in 1902, this historic schoolhouse and adjacent picnic area in Arizona's Prescott National Forest may be reserved for day use for groups of up to 60 people. The facility offers a picturesque, quiet setting with indoor and outdoor areas for weddings, reunions, luncheons and group meetings. The schoolhouse served about 10 to 15 children in the early 1900s. The building was an active school until 1952. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is used for administrative and training purposes.
Groups enjoy gathering in the outdoor picnic area during nice weather or heading indoors into the the two-room schoolhouse if the weather turns. A leisurely walk through the forest on the accessible, paved Groom Creek Nature Trail provides a nice afternoon respite, and visitors can camp nearby if desired. Prescott National Forest has miles of hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding trails for visitors wishing to explore the area.
The schoolhouse building has two rooms with new furniture(tables and chairs) for indoor use. The outdoor picnic area is accessible and equipped with 10 picnic tables, vault toilets, an amphitheater (limited access) and parking for 12 vehicles or two buses. No drinking water is available at this site; guests must bring their own.
The group area is set in a ponderosa pine ecosystem, an area dominated by pines and mixed with juniper trees, Gambel oaks and native grasses. A multitude of colorful wildflowers bloom in the spring and during the summer monsoon season. Afternoon thunderstorms are possible from late June through mid-September. The forest is home to a wide variety of wildlife. Visitors may spot deer, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, rabbits, lizards, snakes and birds.
Upper Wolf Creek Campground is just around the corner if you want to camp overnight. Restaurants, shopping, historic sites and many amenities are nearby in the historic town of Prescott.
$150 / night
Nestled among pines and boulders of Prescott's iconic Granite Mountain, Granite Basin Recreation Area offers a variety of recreational opportunities year-round including: hiking, backpacking, horse riding, non-motorized boating, rock climbing, fishing, camping, and picnicking. Scroll down (below the recreation map) to learn more about the excellent recreational opportunities in Granite Basin. Granite Basin Recreation Area Brochure (1.54 MB) Note: Some sites in this recreation area may close to prevent resource damage following especially heavy snow and when the roads are too icy. If you plan to visit and want to make sure it is open, please contact the Bradshaw Ranger Station: 928-443-8000. Notice: Visitors are asked to be alert and stay on existing trails when recreating on Granite Mountain as the area recovers from the Doce Fire of 2013. Soil erosion has occurred on portions of the trails, thus exposing more rock, and cross-country travel increases the possibility of encountering rolling rocks, stump and root holes, falling trees, and loose soils from rains.
Ranger
We had a lovely time staying at the Willow Lake RV Park on our visit to Prescott. The bathrooms were spacious and there is a trail directly behind the park that leads out to Willow Lake and a plethora of trails for the trail runner/hiker/explorer. They have great wi-fi, the area has lots of trees and shade and picnic tables too!
We actually arrived late for check-in the the office left our our map and information for us.
We had a 30' RV we wanted to pull through and had no problems with this park. I'd recommend a stop-in here for sure! Their neat little tent-camp sites were even closer to the lake and the trails.
Guide
I've been trail riding in the Wickenburg area since I was a kid, and the rodeo grounds across the street from Constellation Park is a gathering site for just about everyone who heads out into the desert on their 4-legged transportation. On my most recent visit to Constellation Park, the park and rodeo grounds were empty, but this place fills up fast whenever there are events scheduled, and the sites are first come, first served with NO reservations system, so plan ahead!
There are 35 dry camp sites along a dirt road north of the rodeo grounds on Constellation Road in Wickenburg - they are primitive dry sites with no tents allowed - all camping must be self contained. Site fees are $8 per night, or $12 per night to have a horse corral included. Yes, I'm confused too - horses are ok, but tents are not? I'm not sure what the logic for self contained camping is for these sites, as they would make excellent car camping/tenting sites, but I'm not the one who makes the rules.
The park opens onto state and BLM land, which you can ride or backpack into with a permit -
https://land.az.gov/recreational-permit-portal
Wickenburg is already a relatively quiet town with not much traffic outside the US 60 / US 93 interchange for people traveling from Phoenix to Las Vegas, so it's nice and quiet up here. The road undulates up over small rises, so unless there's a late night at the rodeo arena, there are no lights to compete with the star gazing show either. Again, tent camping would make so much sense here. . .
I'd give the park 5 stars for the pretty desert views, quiet location and big skies if you were allowed to enjoy them outside of an RV. Oh well, we don't get everything we want, right?
Guide
We tent camped here and it was still too hot in late summer months. Campsites were clean and ok size more for tent but kind of small for RV. There were lots of trees. Host was friendly.
LegendNo tent camping. Self contained RVs only. Constellation park campground hosts horse events and rodeos that draw crowds from everywhere and of all ages. Campground is directly across the street from all horse and rodeo activities so this is very convenient if you are in the area for horsemanship.
Legend
What a cool little park. The campground was nothing fancy, but the park and lake were beautiful! The sites were a nice size and layout of the campground. Seemed like a place that tent camping would be best, but there were campers and RV's there too.
Guide
This park is quite large and has many camping options: day passes, tent camping, semi-developed sites, and fully-developed sites with awnings for big rigs.
There are many hiking trails too, for every level of difficulty.
The nature is splendid, with hummingbirds, chipmunks, and plenty of chollas and prickly pear cactai.
The ambience is quite festive, much more than what I am used to (although the noise may be due to the fact I went on NASCAR weekend).
GuideThis park is so close to town, but far enough that you feel like you are way out. There are standard campsites (water and electric) as well as tent camping area. The sites can fit good sized rigs. There is a ton of trails for hiking, biking, and horses. Brand new showers, restrooms, and a dishwashing area. Dogs are allowed, but please keep them on a leash and pick up after them so we don't lose the privilege!
Here is a link to the Maricopa parks with maps: https://www.maricopacountyparks.net/maps/
Traveler
Love this Saddle Mtn Campsite! The pin location is accurate but it looks there are multiple different access routes. We really enjoyed it here because you can pull up within 50-100 yards from Saddle mountain and camp right below it. So cool.
We tent camped for about 5 days here, the crowd was minimal, felt very safe. Plenty of trails to walk, can explore the mountain and there are petroglyphs here. We only found a couple, but didn’t look too hard.
Overall loved this place, easy access, safe, fun and some cool views!
Guide
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.
Scout
I am a frequent camper at Hilltop. I tent camp so I camp on 16 which isn't as big a the other sites but fine for me. I came spring and fall and never summer. I just went at the end of Sept 2024. Weather was gorgeous 80 hi/ 50 low. This is earlier than I normally camp. I have camped late October and have sleep in my tent in 19° weather. A Mr Buddy heater helps but have a carbon monoxide alarm just in case. Quieter than Lynx Lake campground but a bit further out. Still it's beautiful. I am local so of I forget something I can go home and come back out. Host normally has firewood for sale. They are still working on the water lines so as of the end of Sept there was only the water you bring in yourself. Costco is down the road a ways and they fill propane tanks pretty cheap. Lots to do in the area if you want to go to town and enjoy dinner. Prescott and Prescott Valley have great restaurants.
Ranger
We visited in April. We were the only tent on our loop during the week and it was only an issue in that the RV's all used their generators at times throughout the day - particularly early morning and dinner time - On the weekend it was all reserved and our loop turned into all tenters - it was SO quiet. This was not necessarily true of the other loops that we heard in the distance. Our site #7 was fine for a tent - nice views to an open area with Ponderosa Pines shading the site and also allowing enough sun in to use our solar chargers. There are other better tent sites - #8 right next to us was wonderfully private. One can always hear the traffic noise of Highway 89 - particularly the motorcycles. The campground has recently been logged in all the surrounds - kind of weird... but understand. The location of the campground is close to Prescott which makes it very convenient if you're wanting to take advantage of Prescott offerings. The trails in our immediate area were closed because of the logging. Although not really nearby ... but for us from the midwest it was worth the trip ... take the 40 mile trip to Arcosanti Urban Laboratory off of I-17 - good to step out of ones comfort zone!
Scout
I grew up in Arizona and had never been to Alamo Lake. The lake is kind of in the middle of nowhere but what a hidden treasure. We camped there in March 2018. It was on the warm side. The area is best suited for camping October - March. This is the desert people. Or if you have a giant RV with air conditioning and cable television, you could go anytime. Fish early in the morning and late at night.
The campground is rather large with different areas for tent camping and hook-ups. We stayed with an electric and water hook-up in a pop-up tent trailer. There were lots of big rigs and toy haulers. We definitely had toy envy with only our pop-up and kayaks. This is a big ATV area so there were lots of ATVs riding around. People also had speed boat and canoes. The campground was not completely full even though it was Easter weekend. It was also relatively quiet. The bathrooms were sparkling clean and had nice showers with hot water. There was also an AMAZING fish cleaning area at each campsite loop. If you aren't really a campsite person, there is dispersed camping available by the shore but you need to drive down a dirt road through a tiny fork in the road "town" called Wayside. There is a bar/restaurant/store/campground/gas station in Wayside. The next town is about 30 miles away.
We found some great fishing which is unusual for Arizona. We caught bass, bluegill and catfish. We saw people catching a lot of fish. They have bass fishing competitions at this lake and I can see why.
The lake is surrounded by pretty red mountains. The sky is a beautiful blue. I highly recommend the area. Not too crowded, good fishing, nice clean campground. What more could you want but maybe a nice cold beer!
RangerWe ended up at the beautiful campground as a second choice. Boy oh boy weren't we glad that we ended up here!! just about a mile out of Prescott there was this gem of a campground. This is a short drive to downtown Prescott. Once again Arizona does not fail us. The price was amazing at $14 a night. There is 4 vaulted toilets,which were in good condition, and at each of them there is a water spicket, with very good drinking water total of 9 water hydrates, 4 trash dumpsters as well. We brought our small tent this time since it was just a 1 night stay. spacious tent spot with plenty of room where we could of fit our 11 ft tent. We could of easily of backed a pop up and turned it around in there. We saw a few Rvs there. There were plenty of spots for bigger Rvs as well. Sites were far apart, 52 single and 4 double spots. 5 are pull through, 34 back in and 17 paralell parking. campsites were not off of one road, you are able to drive down different roads to find different sites. The sites with parallel parking didn't seem pleasing to us but to some of night. Every, and I mean every site was booked for this holiday weekend. We did not hike this trip but there was a trail near our campsite, definitely a must on our next visit there.
Ranger
There are several different RV/Camping options at Pleasant Harbor Marina / RV Resort.
In the resort with Full Hookups
Out on the "flat" with just water and power (dump station on site)
Out on the "flat" with no hookups. (can also tent / car camp)
As compared to the Maricopa County Parks side, this has a little bit more party atmosphere, is less secluded, but you can almost always get at least a boondocking spot without a reservation. They also have large events here as well so check their calendar for the weekend you are wanting to go!
We keep a boat at Lake Pleasant and are part of the Arizona Yacht Club so we are up here all the time.
TravelerWe have camped many times with my family. Many people have RVs in our group and some have tents and truck tents! All are welcome and easy to navigate. Great for individuals and groups. Cheap, just 8$! It is clean, quiet and beautiful views. Close to town and close to fun attractions such as the rodeo or box canyon wash!
Ranger
We found a dispersed campsite right of Senator Hwy in Prescott AZ by Wolf Creek. It was somewhat difficult to get to, but it is possible in a 4x4 and good ground clearance. There were nice fire rings already made and plenty of space for multiple tents if wanted! Plenty of trees for hammocks and plenty of ground space for tents.
Traveler
Awesome in spring or fall in a tent! Moonless night.
Scout
Nice campground for tent or small rvs. Trails for less than 50"wide no rzrs. Great for me riders!
GuideMy daughter and I camped over the weekend and had so much fun. We were on site 41 which was a little too small for our large 8 person tent, but a smaller tent would have fit just fine. We weren’t able to have a fire because of this, but we had a blast anyways. But it looked like site 40 had a little bigger spot. It rained the whole weekend and while our site got wet the ground was so well maintained that it drained quickly and never got muddy. Even though we had a few rude people being extremely loud at 1am bear is, I would highly recommend this campground to anyone looking for somewhere to go.
TravelerThis place is amazing. It’s feel like you are camping in wilderness. Lots of wildlife and beautiful views. The rangers are pretty kind. Plenty of services for campers (Tents, RV’s, cabins) and daily visitors.
TravelerGreat campround near Prescott, AZ Visited here in April. Nicely wooded campground with multiple hiking options. Flat tent pads, long driveways, quiet, fairly private sites, drinking water available, and outhouses with pit toilets. Some cell signal on TMobile and a cell booster.
GuideThis 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.
TravelerI think it’s a great place to stay when coming late at night. Close to the highway. Some trash around. It is very open space so wind will attack you really rough. Even roof top tent felt the impact.
GuideThis campground was exactly what we were looking for. We were in the woods, shaded, our site had power but not all do. The sites were nicely spaced apart. Fully paved roads and level parking as well as a groomed area for a tent setup. Picnic tables, grill, and fire pit at each site.
TravelerVery short drive from civilization. Semi developed sites are a good way to break someone in to tent/car camping. Full restrooms and showers nearby. Usually clean.
You can even hit one of the restaurants at the lake.
Primitive camping on the shoreline is cool and still not too far from facilities.
Guide
We arrived late at night to a site full of off roading vehicles and other ATVs. Obviously a meet.
The ground is very compact and straight dirt, multiple rvs had generators running so the night was loud. We ended up leaving.
I'm sure its a sweet spot for off roading and to rv camp but not so much for tents.
Legend
Rough sloped area at crest by cell tower. There is another better quality road slightly south of this rough upper area that I include in this camping area. This is AZ Trust Land so a $15 online permit is needed to be legit. Cell signal is very good. No toilets, no water, no tables, no dumpsters. Only a few miles into town and a grocery store.
Only 2 stars as the area is no scenic and had beat down vegetation and general vibe is sketchy with some crapped out tents and campers. .
Tent camping near Congress, Arizona offers a unique blend of natural beauty and outdoor adventure, perfect for those looking to escape into the wilderness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Congress, AZ?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Congress, AZ is Crown King Area (Horsethief Basin lake) with a 4.7-star rating from 7 reviews.
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TheDyrt.com has all 9 tent camping locations near Congress, AZ, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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