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This area of Mt Lemmon camping is located at the head of a shallow, forested canyon a short distance off the Catalina Highway. Spencer Canyon faces the city of Tucson and the Santa Cruz Valley, both of which are visible as a distant panorama through openings in the forest canopy. Spencer Canyon Campground has 66 sites. Each site has a concrete table, firepit, B-B-Q and bear box for food storage. A beautiful night view of Tucson can be seen from several sites. Spencer is rugged, rustic in layout and close to the hamlet of Summerhaven. Each camping area has clean, stocked vault toilets. Campground hosts live on site. Firewood may be purchased from the hosts. The Catalina Highway is paved, but it can be snow covered in winter when chains and/or 4-wheel drive may be required.
$22 - $36 / night
Not freen 55 plus
I spent my late-September camping weekend at Spencer Canyon Campground in the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson, Arizona. Overall it was an ok experience, but I’m kind of nitpicky. The campsites are a little too close together for my taste. There was some noise at night, but for the most part folks were well-behaved during my 2-day stay. There is a nice view of the Tucson city lights at night, although I tend to want to avoid such things while camping because it takes me out of the experience. The staff was friendly and helpful. The site that I had was pretty small, but I came too late to get choice of the bigger ones.
For those who don’t mind a somewhat tightly packed campground and a view of sparkly city lights at night, Spencer Canyon is a nice place to stay.
We enjoyed our two night stay. The staff were helpful and friendly. The place was impeccably maintained. Had a campsite get a bit rowdy with a few choice words and the staff was on it before anyone complained. Top notch place. A bit noisy at night from traffic but almost all campgrounds are.
Right next to the I10 so real easy to get to. Big roomy level spaces, we had a premium spot. There is a cow farm behind the KOA and a train track that uses its horn which can be a bit annoying but really not a big deal when you consider that you're in a safe place to rest for a couple of nights. We enjoyed our stay.
Easy to get to close to several places to visit, half way between Tucson and Phoenix. Highway traffic noise at some times. Gravel pads.
This is a nice little KOA. It’s a small resort with all the amenities. It has a small dog park but it gets the job done. The people in the park are very nice and the staff are extremely kind and helpful. We thoroughly enjoyed our time here.
Stay for a couple nights on the way up from Tucson. It was perfect and quiet except the trains which is not the fault of the facility. The laundry was perfect although busy and a little small. Over all was a nice experience and cannot wait to come back.
Beautiful, clean campground. Sites are nicely spaced apart, bathrooms are clean, and fire pits are great.
Let me just start by saying that I would probably be in jail or prison right now if I didn't change my life and have a career that I didn't want to risk losing. We moved to this park in February 2021. On arrival the staff was very friendly and welcoming. The park isn't the prettiest but the staff was friendly to us and our children. The park was alive and children played outside. It was a very comforting feeling. I had absolutely no issues with this park until ownership/management change. Rules started changing, especially for children. They basically made rules to restrict children from being children. One example is that children under the age of 14 cannot be more than 50 feet from their RV site without a parent. They say this is for safety purposes but even if that is true or whether you agree that it's a safety issue, it is an illegal rule in the Great State of Arizona. They claim that this is private property and they can make any rules they want but that also isn't true. I was also told"we have a lawyer that helps us make these rules and approve them". Well get a new lawyer because you were about 1 mistake away from getting sued ma'am When you make an agreement verbal or written to lease part of your property the"private property" laws do not apply as that individual is a tenant. All tenants rights laws apply at that point so no you cannot just make any rule you like. Now moving on to the biggest issue...... While a lot of the stuff was easily overlooked as their dumb illegal rules weren't being strictly enforced, over the last few months they have made aggressive moves to start"enforcing" their[illegal] rules which almost got their"head of security" hurt. I have 2 daughters that are 9 and 10 which I have on weekends and a 15 year old step son. I give my children chores and responsibilities so they grow up with discipline. My children are also very well manored and respectful especially for ages. One of my children's responsibilities were to take out the trash. One day my kids came from taking the trash saying some man said that they couldn't be out there and that they need to go home. Well immediately I told my kids that unless it's someone from the staff telling them anything that they don't have to listen to what some random in the park says just as I'm sure any parent would. Well here's the kicker. This old man that my wife, my children and myself had no idea who he was kept harassing my kids and never identifying himself as staff. He also never identified any rules to my kids. He simply just stalked my children any time they were outside riding around on his golf cart and waiting for them to get to where he was and telling them to go home. One day my kids come home and say the man was here to talk. I go outside and this old man with a really jerk smile on his face came walking up like he was going to tell me the law and I would bow like a dog. To be fair he didn't say anything but the way he presented himself you can tell that he felt he had some kind of authority. I ask"hey do you work here?" He says"I'm the head of security" with a very aggressive attitude. I said"okay?" and he told me they couldn't be outside without an adult. I said"okay, way to flex you'authority'". I felt like this guy just thinks that he is someone but has another thing coming. Well I called the front office and asked for clarification on the rules. They left a booklet with the"new" rules on them for me in the mailbox outside of the office door. I read the entire packet and checked their rules against Arizona State law and found that most of their rules are in violation. At this point I advised my stepson and daughters to ignore their security guard if he speaks to them(this is perfectly legal since security either public or private has no more legal authority than a citizen on the road) and if he harasses them we will take action then. My kids took out the trash one last time and Mr"head of security" harassed my kids and said"your father will be hearing from me" but i never heard anything. I even waited outside for an hour while he drove around on his golf cart. Instead i found a written warning on the windsheild of my work truck the next day. I was very upset because they were illegally restricting my children from being children. The old me would have stopped right there and someone would have gotten hurt but i just decided to ignore it and hope that it would come to an end. So my step son which is 15(above the age of going outside alone) liked to take showers in the shower rooms. One day he goes to take a shower and guess who tells my step son he couldn't be there and would have to go home. Yes Mr"head of security". When my step son came and told me he couldn't take a shower that was the last straw. I immediately walked to the office in hopes to talk this out and resolve this. As I got to the office the old man steps out with the same jerk smirk and aggressive persona and says"ah yes come on in" in a very condescending way. I lost it. This dude has no respect, no idea about the law and no idea what a security guard is supposed to do and neither does the manager Debra. I may have been screaming and cursing at this man but they don't realize that he was 2 seconds from a memorable or I guess possibly hard to remember ambulance ride. If I didn't turn my life around and didn't want to lose my job he would have learned a very valuable lesson that day. Debra threatened me with a 24 hour notice to leave the property. I told her she wouldn't want to try that because if she did she would have a lawsuit. I decided that moment that we had to leave for the safety of my future and their head of security.
Cool place, great staff.
So many beautiful desert plants, some Saguaros, Yuca, Agave… Really lovely, clean KOA with awesome wifi. It was pretty quiet at the time we camped here so that was nice. Spacious spots with a little Ranch with a couple of horses nearby.
This place is pretty okay except the price and then the price goes up in December. But staff is friendly the maintenance people are helpful. And the neighbors are friendly.
Quick over night. Got in late didn’t see interior buildings. Sites clean. Services good. Rocking chairs, charcoal BBQ, table and chairs with umbrellas. Care taken with arch site. Everything flat. Nice dessert shrubs and cactus.
If you are looking for a traditional campground, this is not it. It's really a long -term RV park with plenty of park model campers. It does have nice bathhouses and exceptional laundry and pool, but you won't be roasting marshmallows on your 8 by 10 concrete slab next to your asphalt driveway. If you need a place to park your camper while exploring Tuscon, then it should work out.
Not a bad place to stay, but wouldn’t stay here again.
This KOA sits on the outskirts of Apache Junction, which itself isn't Phoenix proper but an eastern suburb. The RV park has all of the basics: power, water, sewer plus a pool and a level, clean site.
This site is actually about an hour further up toward Mt Lemmon. Search “Whitetail campground” to find it. All the roads in this area are gated off
There is a good mix of long term residents and travelers here. Good, clean safe place to stay with our son and two dogs. My son LOVED the swimming pool. Not a fancy resort, but a very kind, homey environment. I would stay here again.
Clean camp with full hookups. We stayed here to get away and visit Rooster Cogburns Ostrich farm. That was fun.
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.
Very clean. Loved the designated tent area. Everything was in great condition and the staff were extremely friendly and helpful.
I will start by saying that I really liked the park. Clean, well kept, nice facilities. All the nice things you want, but the staff managing the park are the nicest sweetest identity thieves you will ever meet. Used my bank card to pay for another month & pay electric bill. I was staying monthly. As the employee was running the card she told me system is always slow on Friday, she had several charges all went through, then while running the $650.00 rent charge their computer or employee tried to double charge me. My bank card app. Immediately notified me through text messages of the double charge. But because I keep less than $1,000 in that account the second charge was not allowed to go through. But the first charge did go through along with all the other previous charges. The employee told me the charge never went through. I tried to explain to her the charge did go through I had a receipt for it on my phone. She claimed they've had this problem before , and it took several days for the credit card company to clear it up. She then asked me to pay again! And because I'm not independently wealthy I told her I would only be able to pay rent once that month. I didn't contacted my bank and I disputed the second charge that didn't go through and was told by the bank the first charge did indeed go through. After getting back to the employees of the park they became very rude and accused me of trying to not pay. I work very hard for a living and always pay my bills, but since they were paid and the money was taken out of my account and paid to them according to my bank I was not worried about the problem and figured it would clear itself up in a couple days. The lack of ability to use technology I believe was the problem. I would almost bet money those employees probably have a VCR still flashing 12:00 p.m. with a flip phone sitting on top of it. Fast forward to 3 weeks later they still claim they haven't got their money my bank claims they have been paid I have a receipt for it on my phone only problem is the employees here scream and yell at you and try to talk over you and will not listen to any thing you say. they told me they were overbooked for the holiday weekend coming up and they needed me out. She then said since they were letting me stay there for free they needed me gone. I paid them their money now they're accusing me of stealing. If they had a pre-existing problem with their credit card vendor/point of sale company and had had issues before I would have paid cash had I known. Something definitely suspicious going on in the office of this place. Do I think they are identity thieves I doubt it, definitely not intelligent enough to pull something like that off. Are they so incompetent and hard-headed they would compromise your credit card information due to lack of intelligence, absolutely 100% they fit that profile exactly. Campers beware
Spencer Canyon campground in Mt Lemmon is nestled under the pine trees and boasts a 15-20 degree drop in temperature from nearby Tucson. Bear boxes are provided as are vaulted toilets. I’ve seen trailers travel down the canyon, but I wouldn’t try it. The roads are steep and narrow. Perfect for tent camping
I don’t pay for camping too often but glad I did here. Just passing through on an AZ trip and decided to pay for a couple nights just to relax.
This CG is huge with 60+ sites (can’t remember exactly how many) however they do fill up quick prior to the weekend. It’s in a wonderful area off the Highway and feels quiet and peaceful. Hosts were excellent, bathrooms were clean, and everything else was about as perfect as it gets. Majority of people here were respectful and kept noise down so it was great to enjoy the surroundings.
Overall this is one of the better paid CGs I’ve been to and wouldn’t hesitate to stop here again
This campground boasts several group sites, complete with plenty of parking, large gazebos with multiple grills for your group gatherings, and tent pads scattered throughout. The tent pads are not close together, giving you the privacy you need to retreat to your tent but still close to the amenities of the group site. Some sites are handicap accessible. A great place to beat the heat with family or scouts group. Hit up the town of Summerhaven for cookies and pizza at the cookie cabin.
I gave 4 days note for cancellation of a reservation using their on-line procedure. I received an email reply acknowledging my cancellation and a comment that a representative would contact me. When no one did, I assumed that my notice of cancellation had been processed. WRONG! I found out yesterday that my credit card had been charged.
Do not believe their advertising PR about Rule 1. A very unprofessional company
We stayed here one weekend in early April and had. A nice relaxing weekend. This campground is well cared for and the owners are very friendly. I would say the kids park could use some updating and the pool was too cold to swim in this time of year but we still had a nice stay 🙂. Only downside was the noisy train that goes by a few times a night... we hear everything in a pop up.
Camping near Picacho, Arizona, offers a unique experience surrounded by stunning desert landscapes and iconic saguaro cacti. Whether you're looking for a family-friendly spot or a quiet place to unwind, there are plenty of options to explore.
Camping near Picacho, Arizona, offers a blend of adventure and relaxation, making it a great spot for families and RVers alike. Just be prepared for the unique desert environment and enjoy the stunning views!
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Picacho, AZ?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Picacho, AZ is Picacho-Tucson NW KOA with a 4.3-star rating from 16 reviews.
What is the best site to find glamping camping near Picacho, AZ?
TheDyrt.com has all 6 glamping camping locations near Picacho, AZ, with real photos and reviews from campers.
