Best Tent Camping near Mesa, 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.

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.