Best Tent Camping near Picacho, AZ

Camped 14-15 March 2021 - Minutes from the hustle and bustle of Tucson and Oro Valley, but surprisingly quiet. Catalina State Park Campground has two campsite loops- A and B, as well as the Ringtail group tent site. I tent camped at site A16, which was a decent distance from the neighboring sites. The loops and parking slips are asphalt paved. Familiarize yourself with the site map, because most of the campsite numbers were on posts set back a distance from the road, making it tough to locate some of the sites, especially if you’re arriving after dark. Campsites are typical desert sand, with mesquite and palo verde trees. I had plenty of location options within the site for setting up my tent, but had to choose carefully, as to not sleep atop an access hole to the round-tailed ground squirrel burrows that are in abundance throughout the campground. The site had water, an electric hook up (which I didn’t need), a nice sized thermoplastic polyethylene coated metal picnic table (easy to clean), a raised BBQ grill and a beautiful view of the Santa Catalina Mountains. The restroom and shower facility in loop A was clean and adequate, with three toilet stalls (one of which was ADA compliant, as well as two showers (one being ADA compliant). Signage on ADA shower stall indicated adaptive equipment (shower chair, etc.) was available through the camp hosts. An open breezeway between women’s and men’s restrooms includes a sink, soft drink machine, a small “Take a book, share a book” cabinet, and informational bulletin boards. A posted sign indicated wifi password for the campground, but whenever I tried to connect, I got a prompt that it was unavailable. I had a strong Verizon signal. Per another sign posted in the breezeway, the 48-day Bighorn Fire of June 2020 burned almost 120,000 acres / 25% of Catalina State Park. Because of vegetation loss, the Canada del Oro wash (along the main road between the entrance/ranger station and the campground) is prone to flooding when it rains at higher elevations. The wash has been running black with ash, and for longer periods of time than before the fire. The ash coats the sand, preventing the rainwater from being absorbed, creating the potential for flash floods. The Romero Trail to Romero Pools has been closed since the fire, with signs indicating reopening in May 2021. There are still plenty of miles of beautiful desert trails to enjoy. There are two large grocery stores and two gas stations within five miles of the campground.

Loved this spot for a night. Practically in the NP, hard to tell the park bounds of Saguaro. Camp hosts were orderly and extremely friendly and available. Grounds were tidy! Bathrooms were clean. Felt really safe as a solo camper. Tent only sites are secluded to themselves. I was in B2 and I’d book that one or B3 if I ever go back. This tent site cluster has a little shade whereas the other two tent sites down the road are pretty exposed.

Nice RV hookups but great tent sites as well. Desert vegetation so don't count on much shade. Best in the fall or spring. Summer is Hot!

Me and my family did a 1 day tent camping trip to Catalina state park. And we all absolutely loved it there. The bathrooms are super clean, the staff was very helpful. The camping sites are great, lots of space. Would definitely recommend a trip to Catalina state park.

May, 2019 we visited Saguaro National Park near Tucson AZ. We had planned to hike into the park at one of their few campgrounds but the office informed us that there was a controlled burn and recommended we not stay in the park and suggested Gilbert Ray as a good option. Gilbert Ray Campground is a great location for visiting the National Park. We arrived to find the office closed for the summer, so self serve option was available, at 10.00 per night for tent camping you can’t beat the price. The bathrooms were clean and as an added plus they have a dishwashing station. We stayed in the A loop. There are no showers and the campsite it all gravel making it next to impossible to put a tent stake in. The sites are fairly close together, for example, I could hear our neighbor unzip his tent. All sites have picnic tables. Cell service is good.

Campground Review

Catalina State Park is just a bit outside of Tucson Arizona, and more importantly, Saguaro National Park.  We used this State Park as a jumping-off point for our trip to Saguaro and it was a pretty good location for that.

Oro Valley is a modern area with tons of shopping and dining options right outside the park.  This was very convenient for us to pick up McDonalds or grab something we forgot from the store.

The Park itself is stunning.  Right up against the mountains, the views are gorgeous, especially at sunset.  We were in campsite #A-23, which was AMAZING. Perfect for tent camping, the space is large and flat.  You could easily fit several tents in this site.

We drove around campgrounds A and B and found the sites to be much more spaced out in A.  Most of the sites were occupied by RVs, which made for a very quiet and non-stressful night!  

Our site had electric hook ups and a water faucet.  Also a BBQ grill and picnic table are provided. Wood fires are NOT permitted in the park.

Overall we LOVED this place.  We will for sure return in the near future!

The Park also has a lot of amazing trails, including a very short hike to see Hohokam ruins which were so cool to see!!  The kids loved this hike and the views were amazing.

Product Review

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time - at Catalina State Park we had the opportunity to try out the Wenzel Camp Quilt (or 2!).  These quilts are so great! Our old camp blanket had to be carefully folded in a particular way and then zipped up. These quilts come with stuff bags and you can just stuff the quilt in them when you are done!  I now keep these in the car with me at all time, because you never know when you need a picnic blanket, or something to keep you warm!

For us, it is a no-brainer to just toss one or two of these in with your camping gear.  Here in Arizona, the temperature drops fast once the sun goes down. Although it was over 100F during the day, it was still FREEZING cold in our tent at night.  We were so grateful to have these quilts to snuggle up and keep us warm!

Campground Video

https://youtu.be/yw_dUs9b7aM

Sweet campground with awesome hike up to Picacho peak. Cell service is good people are friendly, showers don’t cost extra.

Close to all the action, 45 minutes to Saguaro National park and and Tucson! Really great challenging hike in the park up to Picacho Peak, if you are feeling adventurous. Big clean bathrooms with free hot showers and electricity at the campsites!

Stayed one night while traveling. So glad we stopped. Beautiful views of Picacho Peak and the ancient cactus trees. Nice flat trails walking thru the desert, gentle breeze and surreal sunset colors. We had our skamper so able to hook up to watch the game see pic. We were surprised to learn about the civil war history that took place. I had no idea.

I enjoyed my stay here for 2 days. Had a great time hiking the Sunset Trail to Picacho Peak.

PROS - large campsites, picnic tables and fire pits on each site. Some sites have a covered pavilion. Great hot showers. Separate dish washing station. Clean facilities. Electric hookups.

CONS - No hot water or trash cans at the dishwashing station. Can hear road noise from I-10, but you get use to it

This is a great little camping spot nestled below Picacho Peak just north of Tucson. The campground is spread through the saguaros, and other cactus so you are right in with them. There isn’t much shade so the campground is only open September thru May. It closes during the hot months of summer. Several sites did have covered picnic tables. Sites have water and electricity, some have sewer. There is a dump station also. The sites are level. There are modern showers and bathrooms. Convenient to several hiking trails. In

This is a great place to camp near Tucson with great views and lots of hiking. If you plan to climb Picacho bring lots of water and gloves. There are parts of the climb you must use cables to pull yourself up. They have electrical hookups, but no water due to a water shortage. There is also a dump station to “unload” prior to departure from the campgrounds. I believe there is also WiFi available for a fee if you need it. Personally speaking, we go camping to unplug so we try not to use cellular or Wi-Fi connections.

If you want the environment you expect Arizona to be, this is the place. Plenty of spots to choose from, open to all types of camping. I chose to tent here, but the majority of people were in RVs. Spots weren’t too hard to find although there were a lot of people. The roads back to it were pretty poor farm roads, but any type of car can make it. No amenities, good cell service. Would stay here again

Stayed here one night driving through. Came after hours and set up a tent.

Very clean. Loved the designated tent area. Everything was in great condition and the staff were extremely friendly and helpful.

A beautiful park with a challenging hike. Great stop off or home base to see a lot of great arizona attractions like saguaro national park, tombstone and tucson.