Best Tent Camping near Goodyear, AZ

Tent campers near Goodyear, Arizona have several established and dispersed camping options within reasonable driving distance. Margies Cove West Campground offers primitive tent camping on Bureau of Land Management land, while Boulders OHV Area provides dispersed tent camping with more facilities. For those seeking developed sites, McDowell Regional Park-Ironwood offers tent camping with amenities including drinking water, electric hookups, and picnic tables approximately 45 miles northeast of Goodyear.

Most tent sites in this desert region feature minimal preparation, with natural dirt surfaces common at dispersed locations. Margies Cove West Campground provides free camping but lacks facilities entirely - no drinking water, toilets, or trash service. Boulders OHV Area includes basic amenities like picnic tables, toilets, and trash collection. Fire regulations vary seasonally due to extreme wildfire danger, with complete bans common during summer months. Campers should pack sufficient water, as daytime temperatures frequently exceed 100°F from May through September. The winter season (October-April) offers more comfortable tent camping conditions.

The desert landscape provides distinctive tent camping experiences across these locations. Tent sites at Margies Cove West offer significant seclusion in a valley setting with minimal light pollution. A visitor commented that "the mountain's block out a lot of light pollution from the City so it gets very very dark." Boulders OHV Area accommodates tent campers with cleared areas and vault toilets, though campers should expect occasional noise from off-road vehicles during daylight hours. According to one visitor, "there are several fenced in and cleared dirt areas to park" with "great star views." McDowell Regional Park offers a more developed experience with spaced-out sites in a scenic Sonoran Desert setting featuring abundant saguaro cacti. Numerous hiking trails connect directly to campsites, providing access to the surrounding desert terrain.

Best Tent Sites Near Goodyear, Arizona (3)

    1. Margies Cove West Campground

    4 Reviews
    Gila Bend, AZ
    17 miles
    Website
    +1 (602) 867-5400

    2. Boulders OHV Area

    7 Reviews
    Wittmann, AZ
    40 miles
    Website
    +1 (623) 580-5500

    "If you dont mind occasional off road vehicles driving through during the day, its a good spot with plenty of room."

    "Nobody else on Friday night, plenty of space

    The typical rumble strip dirt road to this point but easily doable.

    Service: 1 bar Verizon"

    3. McDowell Regional Park-Ironwood

    4 Reviews
    Rio Verde, AZ
    48 miles
    Website
    +1 (602) 506-2930

    "This campground in McDowell Regional park is for tent camping and small Vans, etc. Mix of both walk in sites and back in sites. It is set back a ways from the rest of the park. No showers here."

    "One restroom, flush toilets, water spigot outside, dumpster. Friendly to camper vans. Showers down the road. Lots of hiking and biking."

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Recent Tent Camping Photos near Goodyear, AZ

1 Photos of 3 Goodyear Campgrounds


Tent Camping Reviews near Goodyear, AZ

424 Reviews of 3 Goodyear Campgrounds


  • Chenery K.
    Oct. 20, 2017

    Skyline Regional Park

    Fantastic hiking! Camping. . . not so much.

    Skyline Regional Park, Buckeye AZ

    www.skylineregionalpark.com and camping page www.skylineregionalpark.com/camping/ 

    This is a brand new park in the city of Buckeye, AZ at the south end of the White Tank Mountains and is located about 20 miles from White Tanks Regional Park in the Maricopa County Parks district (see my review). The park itself is very pretty, all of the amenities are new and fresh, and several of the trails are under active construction. 

    This is a very popular and BUSY park for mountain bikers - I was surprised to see the trailhead parking lot nearly full (almost 2 dozen cars) on a Thursday late afternoon/evening, and as people came back to the lot to leave nearly all of them were mountain bikers, with a few hikers mixed in.

    The good - 

    It’s neat and clean, nice new restrooms with flush toilets and sinks that also have motion lights to conserve energy - they stay dark at night, so there are fewer bugs swarming around the entrances, although the restrooms are marked with bee warnings.

    The campsites are level, evenly spaced away from each other on a long loop, and have big sturdy concrete picnic tables along with a fire ring and standing grill. The parking spaces are easy to back into and help to block the view of some of the campsite from the road.

    I stayed in site D, which is at the top of the low hill that composes a loop of 7 sites (A-G) but sites E and F would be my choice next time, as they are terraced into the hill as it comes down from the peak sites of C and D - each of the sites E and F have an erosion wall that makes nice seating (see photo)

    Site G is currently under construction, and was not available for reservation as of my stay in the middle of October, but will be the site closest to the restroom and trail head when it’s available. Not a big issue, as each site is only a few dozen yards from each other.

    The trail head has a nice map of the available trails, covered ramadas with recycle containers along with trash receptacles, and even a shaded horse hitching post area with an automatic horse waterer. There is no potable water for people to drink in this park.

    The sites are cleared of brush/cacti and have a nice wide gravel path to the restroom - I carried a UV light but didn’t see any scorpions anywhere near the road or my camp, which is certainly not the case just up the road in White Tanks Regional part, where the campsites are more desert/less groomed (but have water&electric).

    The less than good - 

    It’s pretty boring. There are 7 sites that are basically identical with the same view of the trailhead parking lot - it’s nice that the restroom is close, but there’s not much privacy for any of the sites. No trees of any significant size, so none of the sites have appreciable shade available.

    I’m not sure who these sites were designed for - they are deep enough for RVs to back in, but there is no electric or water, and they recommend driving 5 miles away to a truck stop as the closest RV dump site and pay showers, so that can’t be very convenient for non-tent campers. 

    The campsites have a nice flat area for a tent, but it’s next to the “driveway” rather than at the back of the site so your tent has NO privacy from the road/trailhead parking lot, and the entire camping loop is located on a very uninteresting section of terrain. 

    The park is far enough from the freeway (2 miles) that it’s quiet, and tucked into the foothills enough to block the city lights from Phoenix, so stargazing is quite nice. However, it’s under a flight path from Phoenix to San Diego/Los Angeles, so every few minutes a jet blinks through your sky space. It’s also apparently under a flight path for Luke Air Force Base, and I had several noisy jets pass overhead just as I was settling in for the night. I live in the area so those jets are a constant background noise in my life and they were no big deal to me, but might be unsettling for someone who was really looking for a “peace and quiet” camping experience.

    There was a fire ban in effect during my stay and they don’t announce them on their website - you have to remember to call and ask before you get there. However, even during a fire ban you can use your fire pit and grill, so it’s really not a big deal unless you were planning to set up camp way out in the desert somewhere.

    My least favorite -

    The mountain bikers take these trails seriously and are out on the trails with head lamps and bike lights until LATE at night, and their voices carry all over the park so this is NOT a quiet place to camp. 

    The signage all says that the trails are open from sunup until sundown, and that the park gates close at 10pm. The reality is that the hikers and mountain bikers wear lights and stay out on the trails until far after sundown because even though my campsite reservation said I would need to use a gate code to leave the park after 10pm, that is not the case. The gate leaving the park has an auto-opening feature, so you can drive up to it in the middle of the night and it will be triggered to open and let you out. Day-use park visitors can and do stay until very late, as there is no consequence for being in the park after the trails “close” or even after 10pm, since they don’t risk being locked in. I didn’t see any park employees driving around to enforce the park closing time, and I did become a little concerned (as I was the only camper that night, and alone with my dogs) when someone drove up to use the restroom at the trailhead at 11:30pm (car headlights shining directly into my camp of course) - again, not much privacy.

    All in all - I’d come back to this park to hike any day of the week. The trails are wide and new and well maintained, and it’s a new area to explore. As far as camping goes, there are plenty of nice parks not far from here, so I’d probably recommend driving an extra half hour to one of the Maricopa county parks at Estrella Mountain or White Tanks to take advantage of the same or better mountain views with more amenities.

  • Staci R.
    Sep. 18, 2017

    Buckeye Hills Regional Park - PERMANENTLY CLOSED IN 2018

    Red flag flying!!

    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.

  • Greg L.The Dyrt PRO User
    Feb. 6, 2022

    Painted Rock Petroglyph Site And Campground

    Great low-cost camping!

    BLM Painted Rocks Petroglyphs Campground. 26 miles west from Gila Bend. Very large campground about a third of sites can be reserved online at recreation.gov. Sites are very cheap only $8 / $4 senior rate. However there is NO WATER and no RV dump. Cell service on Verizon and ATT are excellent, but TMobile is poor extended. Vault toilets, tables, fire rings and dumpsters. Bring firewood from Gila Bend at Chevron Station. Camp host onsite is very friendly and the petroglyphs site is walking distance. Ebikes are very useful in this campground as it is very large and spread out from the two vault toilets! Note that there is NOT a 14d limit to camp here, will let you figure it out. And UPS and FedEx will deliver and the camp host will keep your packages at their site for you to pick up.

    Only 4 stars due to no potable water available or would have given 5 stars.

  • Lee D.The Dyrt PRO User
    Dec. 10, 2023

    Skyline Regional Park

    Small campground, very popular day-use park

    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.

  • Justin M.
    Apr. 23, 2023

    Maricopa County Park Lake Pleasant

    Enjoyable time

    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.

  • rThe Dyrt PRO User
    Feb. 28, 2024

    Lake Pleasant Regional Park Campground

    Desert Tortoise Campground

    This review is for the Desert Tortoise Campground. Overall, I enjoyed my stay here. Campsites are decent but a couple of shortcomings.

    PROS Campsites have covered pavilions with a picnic table, fire ring, and gravel drives. Bathrooms are dated but clean and in good working order. Portable water is available at the rest rooms. Dumpsters are available.

    CONS No hot water in bathrooms. No showers. Other campgrounds within the park had showers that you could use, but there was only one functioning bathhouse. No dishwashing station available. Boat noise on the lake is sometimes a disturbance.

  • jeff B.
    Dec. 20, 2021

    McDowell Regional Park-Ironwood

    Excellent Regional Campground

    This campground in McDowell Regional park is for tent camping and small Vans, etc. Mix of both walk in sites and back in sites. It is set back a ways from the rest of the park. No showers here. Need to go to the trail head or RV campground for showers which was a bit of a hassle. Excellent mountain biking and hiking trails right out of the campground.

  • L
    Aug. 24, 2020

    McDowell Mountain Regional Park

    Wide open spaces

    Very nice clean campground and extremely private! No sewer, however electric and water are available and conveniently located. NO shade however and in the summer it is HOT! Desert surround's and lots you singing coyotes at night and early morning! Huge sites with picnic tables and fire rings. Restroom are big and well cleaned. Love this park!

  • Chris B.
    Aug. 6, 2019

    Lake Pleasant Regional Park Campground

    Midweek Getaway

    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.


Guide to Goodyear

Tent camping near Goodyear, Arizona offers a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in the stunning desert landscape while enjoying a variety of outdoor activities. With several campgrounds in the area, you can find the perfect spot to pitch your tent and unwind.

Tent campers like these nearby activities

Tips for tent camping near Goodyear

  • Be prepared for rustic conditions at Margies Cove West Campground, which offers a secluded experience but lacks amenities like toilets and picnic tables.

Campground amenities to consider

  • Enjoy the spacious sites and well-maintained facilities at Boulders OHV Area, which features restrooms and ample room for tent camping.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is the most popular tent campsite near Goodyear, AZ?

According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Goodyear, AZ is Margies Cove West Campground with a 2.8-star rating from 4 reviews.

What is the best site to find tent camping near Goodyear, AZ?

TheDyrt.com has all 3 tent camping locations near Goodyear, AZ, with real photos and reviews from campers.