Best Campgrounds near Mount Lemmon, AZ

Great spot. Very flat, can get a size RV in here. Only reason I’m giving 4 stars is there are a few people you can tell live here. Therefore, a little noisy with people coming in/out all day. No gate. Clear road to find. Felt safe.

Lots of camping spots. Most widely dispersed… though you could have people 30-40 yards away if they are jerks… or if they just want someone nearby.

A Ranger stopped by to check me out. Friendly. No issues.

Very dry here (4/29/25). Saw a few birds. Three Pronghorn Antelope, about 400 yards away. Heard two different packs of coyotes, and maybe a couple of loners.

Good place to boondock

We’ve stayed often and also full timed.

We stayed here for 5 nights in a 24 foot RV (March 20 - 25) . I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet it was overnight. We parked one of the closest open spots to the main Silverbell Road. It was far enough away from Silverbell that I really had to focus to hear anyone (in a regular vehicle) driving down that road. We sometimes heard some side by sides driving around the area, but, it was maybe 1 - 2 times a day max. There seemed to be a lot of daily traffic on the side road (off of Silverbell) - we assumed it was people coming in to do some hiking further in. We saw a couple of 4 wheel drive trucks come in and didn't see them depart until the next day, but, most of the traffic seemed to come in late morning and leave mid afternoon. Once sunset arrived it was perfectly quiet until morning. We picked up a few items of trash - but they were few and far between. The weather was a bit warm on some of the days (87 - 90), but, we are use to very hot days in Phoenix, so, mostly tolerable for us in the shade. We did not hear any huge trucks on Silverbell Road the entire time we were there - just passenger vehicles, pickup trucks or sometimes side by sides. Silverbell has a lot of various degrees of washboard - we went slow so it didn't bother us. The side road off of Silverbell Road was a little narrow and bumpy in places, which is why we essentially picked one of the first spots - but, we were quite happy with it.  As for other noises, I may have heard some shooting, but, it was so far off I couldn't be sure and it was rare. I did see and hear a number of airplanes, but, giving the location I was not surprised, nor did they bother us. We very much enjoyed our stay and would happily stay here again!

It seems to look like this place is closed. Arrived there on a Friday night but the gate in front of the road was closed and locked unfortunately.

The KOA is under new management and they are making changes.  The pool/spa is being redone and were closed during our stay. Oh well.  Sites are typical of a KOA with enough room to spread out a little. The wifi is good with decent AT&T cell service.  Bathrooms are clean and well stocked. Now the issue.  The shower in the mens room has a problem with the floor.  Due to settling of the ground the water goes into the dressing area. There is a large squeegee provided to push the water to the drain but you have to deal with it. Management is aware and have plans to repair but with only one shower when do you do that??  I am sure they will work it out.  Other than that it was a nice campground and we will stay again next year.

The view is great! There are agglomerated spots but you can find one isolated farther on the road if it's what you want. Feel off-grid but the is cellphone service. You can wake up with cattle around your spot.

The road from the highway is paved for most of the way. It is about 7 miles from I-10 north of Tucson. You can see the small airport, but it's not busy. The Pump Station Rd dirt access road is a little washboard, but inside the camping area, it's pretty good. We only went in a short ways as we were just overnight. The Ironwood Forest is close by and was a nice ride.

The washboard road getting to the coordinates is worse than the road within the dispersed camping area! There are a few good rolling bumps and small ditches but going slow will help. Plenty of areas to pull into, some are ez in and out loops, some are back-ins. I went in 1.25 miles from the entrance on Pumps station road with my 18’ trailer with no issues other than stuff moving in the cabinets. I walked another half mile and saw more sites but they are closer to the “airport”. Don’t be put off by that. There is almost no activity during the week and on the weekends there are some very small planes in and out that are towing gliders or dropping parachutists. Very little noise and fun to watch! The site I was in must have had frequent or dedicated visitors because there was a very lovely set of stone boundaries, rock and creosote gardens and a fire ring with an edged path! (see photos) Very clean,very quiet!!