Best Tent Camping near Florence, AZ

I don’t know why they bother be so strict with noise from campers after 10:00. You can’t see it, but your 20 feet off the main road and if you are there on a weekend the road noise from the motorcycles and cars racing up and down the road to and from the bar will keep you up until 3:00 in the morning. If you manage to fall asleep finally by 3:00 and you are in a tent, be prepared to be woken up again at 4:30 when the boaters start launching their boats 5 feet from the tent area. I did not find the camp staff helpful, including the fact that we got there at 2:00 which is check in time and had to wait 30 minutes for someone to show up to open the gate. We had very little interaction other than that. Obviously the noise is not their fault, but if you are planning on tent camping there you need to be aware. It may be a good spot for RVs that have some insulation from the road noise and are further away from the boat docks, but if your tent camping, find other places. Note - no water available at all to tent sites. Not even a shared spigot. The bathrooms were not working while we were there. They did provide a temporary trailer for showers and toilet but it was poorly stocked and filthy the entire weekend.

Camped 14-15 March 2021 - Minutes from the hustle and bustle of Tucson and Oro Valley, but surprisingly quiet. Catalina State Park Campground has two campsite loops- A and B, as well as the Ringtail group tent site. I tent camped at site A16, which was a decent distance from the neighboring sites. The loops and parking slips are asphalt paved. Familiarize yourself with the site map, because most of the campsite numbers were on posts set back a distance from the road, making it tough to locate some of the sites, especially if you’re arriving after dark. Campsites are typical desert sand, with mesquite and palo verde trees. I had plenty of location options within the site for setting up my tent, but had to choose carefully, as to not sleep atop an access hole to the round-tailed ground squirrel burrows that are in abundance throughout the campground. The site had water, an electric hook up (which I didn’t need), a nice sized thermoplastic polyethylene coated metal picnic table (easy to clean), a raised BBQ grill and a beautiful view of the Santa Catalina Mountains. The restroom and shower facility in loop A was clean and adequate, with three toilet stalls (one of which was ADA compliant, as well as two showers (one being ADA compliant). Signage on ADA shower stall indicated adaptive equipment (shower chair, etc.) was available through the camp hosts. An open breezeway between women’s and men’s restrooms includes a sink, soft drink machine, a small “Take a book, share a book” cabinet, and informational bulletin boards. A posted sign indicated wifi password for the campground, but whenever I tried to connect, I got a prompt that it was unavailable. I had a strong Verizon signal. Per another sign posted in the breezeway, the 48-day Bighorn Fire of June 2020 burned almost 120,000 acres / 25% of Catalina State Park. Because of vegetation loss, the Canada del Oro wash (along the main road between the entrance/ranger station and the campground) is prone to flooding when it rains at higher elevations. The wash has been running black with ash, and for longer periods of time than before the fire. The ash coats the sand, preventing the rainwater from being absorbed, creating the potential for flash floods. The Romero Trail to Romero Pools has been closed since the fire, with signs indicating reopening in May 2021. There are still plenty of miles of beautiful desert trails to enjoy. There are two large grocery stores and two gas stations within five miles of the campground.

Group campground that is reasonably priced and can accommodate big groups. Has pit toilets and potable water access, ramadas, grills and campfire location. Good for campers and tent camping

This is an amazing place yo camp and hike. The views of thd mountains at sunset is surreal. Immaculately maintained. Water and electrical hookups as well as tent camping dry spots. Very hot in the summer but heavenly in the winter.

Nice RV hookups but great tent sites as well. Desert vegetation so don't count on much shade. Best in the fall or spring. Summer is Hot!

Nice park just outside of Scottsdale. Fun mountain bike trails. Clean bathrooms. Quiet in late December. Only 5 or 6 tent campers here. $22 night for tent site. We parked in our van. Can use showers at RV camp area. Great spot.

Me and my family did a 1 day tent camping trip to Catalina state park. And we all absolutely loved it there. The bathrooms are super clean, the staff was very helpful. The camping sites are great, lots of space. Would definitely recommend a trip to Catalina state park.

A beautiful desert park at the foot of the Superstition Mountains. One of the cleanest campgrounds I have ever been to. I have only tent camped alongside a camper on an RV pad, but the space was more than ample for both. Lost one star because you can hear noise from the nearby "ghost town" attraction.

The map shows McDowell twice but there is only one. It us about 23K acres of beautiful desert surrounded by the Superstition Mountains. Clean campground and pretty quiet. Flush toilets, showers available in the RV campground. Fun MTB, hiking trails. We camped here twice in December 2020 because we liked it so much.. tent camping is $22/night. Highly recommend.

Large campground with beautiful views from every campsite. Desert camping so there are no tall trees for shade and it can get windy. Sites with good privacy, full restrooms with free showers. Tent sites are not as nice as RV sites with full hookup. Lots of trails for mountain biking or hiking.

Almost an urban park just due to it's proximity to the city of Mesa, Usery park offers great tent camping, group campsites, as well as RV Sites with Electric and Water hookups. Dump station on site. 

Usery is a great jumping off point for hiking in the National Forest. There is an extensive trail network both in the park and connected to the Tonto National Forest. One of the most popular is Wind Cave Trail.

There is also a world class Archery Range here. There is a usage fee of about $2 (at time of this writing) on top of your park entry fee, but kids are free.

One of the most striking campsites I’ve ever been to. We were at site 135 which isn’t on a loop but rather off the main road but that wasn’t a drawback. It was a short walk on a path to the flush toilets and showers from our spot too which was a plus. Water there too. We were tent camping with two young kids (2 and 4) and this was a great spot for that. The pull in wasn’t very long FYI. Rangers were nice, sold ice and other items at the camp store. Only drawback was the signs to find your loop/site were a bit confusing but it could be because we’d never been there before. 😜

There are 28 RV spots and 18 tent sites. There are restrooms and showers, although on a holiday weekend, they can get gross. The view from site C, D, 1-14 is the closest to the water and in my opinion, the nicest sites. There is a beautiful hike just across the road. The views from the top of the mountain are amazing. The water and the views are breathtaking. We had several RV's side by side which helps as the sites are close to one another so if you have noisy neighbors, I could see that being an issue. We had a wonder trip and will be returning in October.

We spent 3 nights here in February, and while it was chilly, the place was very quiet and the stars were amazing! There are no hookups here, but there are bathrooms with flush toilets (some have showers), and there are faucets with potable water. There's also a boat launch and a few playgrounds for the kids. 

There were mostly RVs here, but the waterfront tent sites are amazing if you don't mind walking in from the main parking area (it's not a far walk).

Each campsite has a picnic table with a shaded awning and a fire pit, but you have to bring in your own wood or gather it from the surrounding forest. Saw lots of birds here - cactus wren, quail, finches, warblers, and road runners.

You are RIGHT on the lake but not worth it to me. It’s quite pricey! (& minimum of a two night stay!) All the tent campsites are side-by-side; no privacy whatsoever. A lot of RVs & generator near by. (I don’t want to listen to that.) The “bathrooms” are porta potties that don’t look like they are cleaned often. The guy at the front gate only knows how to check people in, nothing else (aka: can’t tell you if you can’t get a site or not). He told us to go online but the website doesn’t allow you to do same day booking. We didn’t end up staying because I can’t see spending over $100 for that spot.

Campsite 36

Spent the night close to home as my dog had never been camping and I wanted to see if he liked it (he does!).

Booked online about two weeks prior for a Monday night stay and most of the campground was available. When I arrived about 75-80% was full, so good idea to book ahead.

Some of the sites are super close together, especially on the newer loops (sites 75-104 and 106-134). They'd be ok with a trailer, but I'd feel cramped in with my tent. The main part of the campground where I was is a bit more spread out, with vegetation between most of the sites.

My site had a big pad for the tent that was raked, a picnic table, a fire ring/grill, easy access to the hiking trails, and a great view of the mountains.

Beware during the winter as the wind can come up during the night and morning hours, so stake your tent down well. It got up to maybe 15 mph, so not super strong, but typical for the edges of the valley.

Staff was friendly, and the bathroom was clean. I didn't use the shower.

One specific note about my site 36: don't book it if you'll be taking a 5th wheel or really any trailer. The access road is narrow and the parking spot is at a 90° angle so it'd be very difficult to back into. Better to pick one of the pull thru spots. If you have a campervan or are tent camping then it's a great spot.

I'm glad I came here. Can't wait to come back! This would be an epic place during a full moon, or really anytime it's clear to see the stars. Too bad it was cloudy my entire stay.

Kudos to the wonderfully friendly guard at check-in. However, Canyon Lake Campground was easily the worst stay I have ever encountered at a camp site and I was quickly reminded why I do not stay at shared campgrounds very often. But the temptation of sleeping next to a lake and the gentle lapping of waves on the shore lured us in. There was no gentle lapping, and because our site was full of trash and because the trash bins themselves for the grounds were overflowing, there was a swarm of bees hovering around the trash can area. And what I later realized was likely a sugar high from their regular soda consumption from the cans strewn around, the jacked up bees hovered around our morning breakfast, coffee, and dinner and buzzed us regularly. One truck down the row of tightly crammed tent sites blared loud music over his speaker (yes just one, the other side was already blown out) for most of the sunset, and the site across from us allowed their chihuahua to bark obsessively at every passerby for quite some time. The group directly next to us slept split between a small tent, the truck bed, and inside of their truck. Hardly the "camping" experience most people generally consider. I highly doubt anyone in that camp ground was out to "experience nature" quite the same way that we were.

The more manicured RV sites were on a grass lawn and all led right up to the water, so I imagine their experience, aside from the shared bees and trash cans, could be quite different than ours.

We couldn't run away fast enough in the morning.

Campground Review

Catalina State Park is just a bit outside of Tucson Arizona, and more importantly, Saguaro National Park.  We used this State Park as a jumping-off point for our trip to Saguaro and it was a pretty good location for that.

Oro Valley is a modern area with tons of shopping and dining options right outside the park.  This was very convenient for us to pick up McDonalds or grab something we forgot from the store.

The Park itself is stunning.  Right up against the mountains, the views are gorgeous, especially at sunset.  We were in campsite #A-23, which was AMAZING. Perfect for tent camping, the space is large and flat.  You could easily fit several tents in this site.

We drove around campgrounds A and B and found the sites to be much more spaced out in A.  Most of the sites were occupied by RVs, which made for a very quiet and non-stressful night!  

Our site had electric hook ups and a water faucet.  Also a BBQ grill and picnic table are provided. Wood fires are NOT permitted in the park.

Overall we LOVED this place.  We will for sure return in the near future!

The Park also has a lot of amazing trails, including a very short hike to see Hohokam ruins which were so cool to see!!  The kids loved this hike and the views were amazing.

Product Review

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time - at Catalina State Park we had the opportunity to try out the Wenzel Camp Quilt (or 2!).  These quilts are so great! Our old camp blanket had to be carefully folded in a particular way and then zipped up. These quilts come with stuff bags and you can just stuff the quilt in them when you are done!  I now keep these in the car with me at all time, because you never know when you need a picnic blanket, or something to keep you warm!

For us, it is a no-brainer to just toss one or two of these in with your camping gear.  Here in Arizona, the temperature drops fast once the sun goes down. Although it was over 100F during the day, it was still FREEZING cold in our tent at night.  We were so grateful to have these quilts to snuggle up and keep us warm!

Campground Video

https://youtu.be/yw_dUs9b7aM

If you want the environment you expect Arizona to be, this is the place. Plenty of spots to choose from, open to all types of camping. I chose to tent here, but the majority of people were in RVs. Spots weren’t too hard to find although there were a lot of people. The roads back to it were pretty poor farm roads, but any type of car can make it. No amenities, good cell service. Would stay here again

Cholla Recreation Site is located on Theodore Roosevelt Lake, central Arizona’s largest lake. It offers expansive views of the Four Peaks Wilderness, Salome Canyon, and the Sierra Ancha mountain range. The campground contains an extensive selection of both RV and tent-only sites, and is one of the largest solar-powered campgrounds in the United States. Potable water, toilet buildings, showers, playgrounds, and a paved boat launch with a courtesy dock are available for campers. Cholla RV dump station, located across from Christmas Loop, is open Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 2 pm.

$25/site/night for individual camp unit; $50/site/night for double camp unit; America the Beautiful Interagency Senior or Access Pass holders receive 50% discount (persons over 62 or have a permanent disability) for single camp units only.

Campground fees must be paid for at the fee machine located at the campground. When we arrived the machine wasn’t working so we checked in with the camp host and flagged down a ranger to let them know.

They have both cabins and rv and tent the views are amazing 👏 stafed great . Just make sure you read the rules for cabins vs tent ⛺️

camping in a 2 man tent, traveling in a raised 2WD. We took the dirt road to the end looking for a nice secluded spot, we passed a handful of sites for both rvs and tent. We found a small site in a dried out run off area past the second cattle guard.

We ventured down as far as we could go and carried our tent the remaining 20 or so meters.

Lots of dried wood around for kindling, enough stones to make a fire ring.

The sunrise and sunset here were spectacular, the lake provides an awesome blue.