Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Saguaro National Park

Just northwest of Tucson is this beautiful county campground, located a few miles from Saguaro National Park and the awesome Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum (a must see). Hiking and mountain biking trails are all over the area, with the Brown Mountain hike being our favorite as it’s accessible from the campground and has great views all around.  

Each site is equipped with electric hookups and there are water spigots throughout the campground, in addition to running water in the clean bathrooms (no showers though) and a nice dishwashing sink.  The picnic tables ranged from normal-sized to very small and awkward, depending on the site. There is decent privacy in between most sites, as it is beautifully landscaped with native desert cacti, shrubs, and trees.  

It’s important to note that this campground doesn’t take reservations, but if you show up by 8am and get in line, you will more than likely get a spot.  You can continue to add nights to your stay before 10am each morning, for up to 7 days total. They also don’t take credit cards, so come prepared with cash or a check.

We made a stopover at this campground while en route to Saguaro National Park. It was incredibly easy to locate, the road is well-maintained, and the surrounding area is spotlessly clean.

The path leads up a mountain away from the city lights of Tuscon. It’s just a short drive away. There’s plenty of spots. Watch out for huge ants! We almost camped on a mound. They won’t bother you however. All in all a good spot. It overlooks Saguaro National Park. You can see the many cacti from the ridge.

This park is beautiful!   Campsites are set in the middle of the desert.  You can see the sun rise and set over the Sonoran desert.  There are easy and more difficult hikes in the area.  The Saguaro National Park is just a few miles away.  

There are no showers available in the campground.  You can only stay for 1 week at a time.

This is a nice 40+ campground right on the edge of Saguaro National Park. The sites are gravel with full hook ups. I had plenty of room to maneuver my 19’ travel trailer. They have planned activities -at least in the winter- which is nice to see. There seem to be a lot of long term guests here and they are very social with each other.

Tucson Mountain Park offers an amazing opportunity to camp among the saguaros, just outside of the west side of Saguaro National Park. The actual park doesn’t offer developed camping, so this is the best option for exploring the area.

Benefits of Tucson Mountain Park include its cost ($10/night for a tent), proximity to the park (less than 10 minutes), and scenery (saguaros everywhere!). The only downside is that during peak season, the park fills up. Luckily, when we visited in February, there were still a few sites left available for our tent.

Our biggest reason for visiting the area was to see Saguaro National Park, and camping here offered easy access to the park. We loved the west-side scenic loop drive at sunset, hiking in the east district, and attending as many ranger programs as we could to get a better understanding of these desert giants. We also spent one night backpacking in the eastern district, which was an incredible way to dive in deeper to see the desert ecosystem up close.

You can read much more about our four days in the park on our blog: Switchback Kids (Saguaro)

We stayed there for a week in February 2022 visiting family and friends, and exploring the attractions of the area.

Justin’s is a busy place and office staff were almost always on the phone trying to arrange nights of availability or help the travelers any way that they could. When we called they could accommodate us but we ended up in 3 different spots over our week’s stay as there were reservations for the spots that they needed to honor. For us it wasn’t a big deal as we were in a 31’ Minihome. When no space was available I overheard them offering free dry camping until a spot opened up. The business has a very capable and customer focused staff.

The RV Park is clean and capably run. We really enjoyed our stay there and we would return again.

An interesting feature of the Park is that it has walking trails that lead to the Saguaro National Park, but the area around the RV Park is rich with the native plants of the area all on its own. If you travel through Tucson, Saguaro National Park’s Desert Museum is a recommended place to go.

Gilbert Ray is an extremely affordable campground located in Saguaro National Park. It doesn't have showers but it does have rv hookups and a bathroom with hot water dish wash stations.

It is located right next to Tucson AZ but features lots of hiking options in the national park. The best of both worlds. It has very helpful campground hosts and a tourist draw.. old west Hollywoodmovie sets.

I really like this safe quiet and convenient option as a single female traveler

We stayed 2 nights at Catalina State Park in early May. We were in site B48 - this site was at the edge of the loop so it was nice and fairly private - but there was very little shade. I probably wouldn't pick that site again in the warmer months! There were a lot of other sites that had some trees around them and seemed much shadier. Campground was very clean. Bathrooms were spotless with giant free showers, which was awesome. The bathrooms were a pretty long walk from our site (there is only one bathroom facility for that loop). There are some trails in the park. We saw (and heard) coyote, prairie dogs, and a rattlesnake eating a prairie dog along a trail right behind our campground loop! We explored nearby Tuscon (interesting town with really cool murals and a great craft beer scene) and Saguaro National Park (about 30-45 minutes away). The park is very quiet and peaceful, yet very close to stores and a main road if you need anything. The campsite we were in had full hookups for electricity and water (we were in a campervan and didn't need them but it was nice to have access to).

Met some friends here. We had a fire in the fire pit and hiked around. Dog park was nice and the bath house had clean showers and facilities. WiFi was free and good. Site was clean, level and pull through.

Happy Valley campground's name can be decieving.. its actually at 6,000' of elevation, 4.6 miles up the Miller Creek trail in the Rincon mountains east of Tucson. It lies within the Saguaro National Park so a permit is required ($8 fee). Up to 6 people per permit. There is 3 spots at the camp. Each spot has a fire ring, bear box, and some good size stumps to sit on around the fire. There is a vaulted toilet at the site as well. Water can be scarce in the Rincons so plan accordingly!

Another 3.4 miles up the trail and you'll be at the summit of Rincon Peak (8,200'ish).