Best Tent Camping near Kearny, AZ

While busy, this is a well ran and well managed campground. The hosts are diligent to touch base with everyone coming in (safety) and the campsites though somewhat close together, offer unique ways to capture some privacy. The mountain can get very cold and windy at night, so make sure you have a sleeping bag rated for freezing temps. This campground has some of the cleanest vault toilets I’ve ever seen! Seriously! I don’t know how they do it!

The camp hosts have fire wood for sale as well, you just have to flag them down when they drive by. Each site has a fire ring and grill. I also found several fresh water pumps within walking distance from my camp. The site is very easily accessible but some of the dirt roads can get pretty rutty, so use caution with lower profile vehicles.

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.

Spencer Canyon Campground is a nice campground approx. 20 miles from Tucson up the General Hitchcock Highway(often called the Catalina Highway or Mt. Lemmon Highway). It is located approximately 3 miles past the Palisades Visitor Center and the entrance is marked well by a big brown sign as you approach. Phill and Denise, the friendly campsite managers will give you advice and suggestions about campsites that suite your needs. The photos attached to this review are from campsite#6, which is close to the Phill& Denise’s camper location and the highway- yes, we did hear road noise. Most campers chose locations deeper in the campground, but we were there on a busy weekend so most of those“deeper” campsites were occupied. All sites have a large bear box, concrete picnic table, charcoal grill and an iron fire pit. The picnic area of the site is level but the whole campsite is NOT so pick your location carefully if you want to pitch your tent on a flat, level plot. We did find some firewood left over from prior campers but recommend bringing your own, dry wood if you have room in your rig. In my observation, there is a rather nice, vessel toilet house strategically located to serve 6- 7 campsites. There is also a water faucet to be shared by 6- 7 campsites. Campsite#6 has its own faucet so others might also. There are 60+ campsites throughout Spencer Canyon and I would suggest that those“deeper” in the campground are more desirable. It should be noted that most of the campsites are close together, that is, about 50-75 feet apart, hence, my“... if you don’t mind company” comment. It should also be noted that Phill& Denise are really nice and helpful, the campsites are well maintained and clean, it is only 22 miles from Tucson and less than 6 miles from the mountaintop hamlet of Summerhaven, and is situated at approximately 7,900 fee of elevation. Thus, Spencer Canyon Campground is a great getaway from the Arizona heat and close enough to Tucson for a 1- 2 night weekend.

We were dry /primitive campers saving our coins here and there camping! This was an easy quick $10 but I do recommend getting there before closing hrs. As you have to call the camp host to let you in. There is no designated camp zones it is a very dry area ofcourse being in the middle of Arizona. But we were prepared with sleeping pads and tent tarps for comfort. But for 10 bucks you can’t beat that! There was an animal 4H fair of some sort going on which we enjoyed even through all our sleep! The animals did seem to “sleep with us!” There is showers and easy convience to I-10/I20? Also Walmart/standard fast food defiantly more RV friendly but with the right gear you should be fine! I love supporting places like this over the hotel industry

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.