Looking for the best tent campgrounds near Tonto National Forest? The Dyrt helps you find campsites with tent camping near Tonto National Forest. Each spot offers quick access to one or more of Tonto National Forest, Arizona's most popular destinations.
Camping on public lands away from developed recreation facilities is referred to as dispersed camping. Most of the remainder of public lands are open to dispersed camping, as long as it does not conflict with other authorized uses or in areas posted "closed to camping," or in some way adversely affects wildlife species or natural resources. Dispersed camping is allowed on public land for a period not to exceed 14 days within a 28 consecutive day period. The 28 day period begins when a camper initially occupies a specific location on public lands. The 14 day limit may be reached either through a number of separate visits or through 14 days of continuous overnight occupation during the 28 day period. After the 14th day of occupation, the camper must move outside of a 25 mile radius of the previous location until the 29th day since the initial occupation. The purpose of this special rule is to prevent damage to sensitive resources caused by continual use of any particular areas. In addition, campers must not leave any personal property unattended for more than 10 days (12 months in Alaska). Campsite Selection Dispersed camp sites are located along most secondary roads and may not be marked. Popular locations can be recognized by the telltale flat disturbed area that has been used as a camp site before. Not all flat spots are sites. If possible, please use existing sites to avoid creating new disturbances. To further protect your public lands, campers must not dispose of any refuse, hazardous materials, sewage, or in any manner pollute the surrounding area.
Boat access only.
The Point is located in the Mesa Ranger District and is mostly known for boat access only camping on Canyon Lake. There are only three designated camp units at this site, but the camp units can also be used as picnic sites for day use. Boaters enjoy The Point during summer months along with fishermen because of the courtesy dock. No garbage collection. Pack it in, Pack it out.
Rattlesnake Cove provides direct access to Bartlett Reservoir. Rattlesnake Cove has a sloping beach suitable for use in many water recreation activities. This area boasts of beautiful vistas of the desert with mountains in the background. The beach at Rattlesnake Cove is generally gently sloping with gradual change in water depths. Enjoy this primitive area with your friends and family by bringing your own grill and gear.
Bachelor Cove Located along the shoreline of central Arizona’s largest lake. The setting is in the Upper Sonoran Desert; Vegetation includes mesquite, cat claw, desert broom, as well as cholla and saguaro cacti, this site provides spectacular views of the Sierra Ancha Mountains.
Ranger
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.
Scout
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.
Guide
Not very much room for a trailer, mostly tent camping.
Did get cell phone service there though.
Guide
Great campground. RV & tent camping. 30 foot rigs ok. Porta potties available. Camping about 100 feet from river allowed. Fishing ok. Supposedly smallmouth bass in river.
Scout
Great spot for tent camping. Awesome for beginners and young families. Bathrooms were clean. Fellow campers were respectable. Site overall very clean. Would go again.
Ranger
Group campground that is reasonably priced and can accommodate big groups. Has pit toilets and potable water access, ramadas, grills and campfire location. Good for campers and tent camping
Guide
In Tonto National Forest Close to Phoenix located near Bartlett Reservoir Fire Rings and Picnic Tables at some sites next to Verde River below Bartlett Dam
GuideLocation in Tonto National Forest You need Tonto Pass at bottom off Bartlett Reservoir Dam some sites have Picnic Tables & Fire Rings located next to Verde River
Guide
This is an amazing place yo camp and hike. The views of thd mountains at sunset is surreal. Immaculately maintained. Water and electrical hookups as well as tent camping dry spots. Very hot in the summer but heavenly in the winter.
Guide
Nice park just outside of Scottsdale. Fun mountain bike trails. Clean bathrooms. Quiet in late December. Only 5 or 6 tent campers here. $22 night for tent site. We parked in our van. Can use showers at RV camp area. Great spot.
TravelerWe enjoyed a couple of days car/tent camping at this multiuser campground . We parked on a private shaded pad next to a fire pit and table. Very quiet (mid week). Showers were closed but the bathrooms were spotless. Camp host on grounds firewood for sale. Close by Payson.
TravelerA beautiful desert park at the foot of the Superstition Mountains. One of the cleanest campgrounds I have ever been to. I have only tent camped alongside a camper on an RV pad, but the space was more than ample for both. Lost one star because you can hear noise from the nearby "ghost town" attraction.
GuideThe map shows McDowell twice but there is only one. It us about 23K acres of beautiful desert surrounded by the Superstition Mountains. Clean campground and pretty quiet. Flush toilets, showers available in the RV campground. Fun MTB, hiking trails. We camped here twice in December 2020 because we liked it so much.. tent camping is $22/night. Highly recommend.
ScoutLarge campground with beautiful views from every campsite. Desert camping so there are no tall trees for shade and it can get windy. Sites with good privacy, full restrooms with free showers. Tent sites are not as nice as RV sites with full hookup. Lots of trails for mountain biking or hiking.
Guide
This campground in McDowell Regional park is for tent camping and small Vans, etc. Mix of both walk in sites and back in sites. It is set back a ways from the rest of the park. No showers here. Need to go to the trail head or RV campground for showers which was a bit of a hassle. Excellent mountain biking and hiking trails right out of the campground.
Legend
This camping area is on Saguaro Lake and only offers boat-in camping. You'll need a Tonto National forest permit with watercraft sticker. It's beautiful here. The lake itself can be crowded but I think it's worth a chance, especially considering most are coming for day use. Nearby you can do Salt Water River Tubing or visit the (now second) tallest fountain in the world at Fountain Hills. Once you get off the highway, the drive down is beautiful. The water always looks so blue and seeing wild horses is almost a guarantee!
Ranger
Box Bar shoreline is located right on the verde fiver. The parking/camping is about two minutes walking distance from the river.
We didn’t camp, just came down for the day. This is a fun spot to swim and picnic. This is free and not on Tonto National Forest, so you don’t need a Tonto Pass.
Fire restrictions are in place. There are no facilities other than three port-a-potty’s. Only 45 minutes from Mesa. We usually go to the salt river but I noticed that this area and water is much cleaner!
ScoutThis is a nice day use spot. Has clean restrooms, ample parking and ramadas for group activities. Handicap ramp with swimming beach access that motorized boats are not allowed to enter. Beautiful desert mountain view. No hook ups or drinkable water. Bring your own. Also a Tonto National Forest use permit placard is needed. Placards are for sale at many Az merchants like Circle K's in Cave Creek which you pass through on the way there for $8 or for $12 at local ranger station and marina. Good boat ramp for launching nearby.
Traveler
A dozen or so free tent sites. Tables, fire rings, grills. Vault toilets. Campers under 20’ should be okay. Larger RVs should consider a spot back off seven springs road. Going too much further up the road isn’t a good idea for RVs.
Road in is pretty good. Some washboard. Most vehicles will make it. I’ve done it several times in a compact car.
Late fall to early spring is best.
Zero cell service.
Legend
We were not impressed with this USDA Forest Service operated campground. There are better places to stay in the Tonto National Forest area. I’d only stay here again if everything else was full.
It was toilets. That was about it. No cell service either (T-Mobile). No water or trash. Pack it in, pack it out. There are also some protests going on in the area right now. The land is sacred to Western Apache tribes and it might be opened up to copper mining.
The picnic tables and fire pits are nice. I highly recommend driving along the Gila-Pinal Scenic Route. Breath taking vistas.
RangerOne of the most striking campsites I’ve ever been to. We were at site 135 which isn’t on a loop but rather off the main road but that wasn’t a drawback. It was a short walk on a path to the flush toilets and showers from our spot too which was a plus. Water there too. We were tent camping with two young kids (2 and 4) and this was a great spot for that. The pull in wasn’t very long FYI. Rangers were nice, sold ice and other items at the camp store. Only drawback was the signs to find your loop/site were a bit confusing but it could be because we’d never been there before. 😜
GuideThere are 28 RV spots and 18 tent sites. There are restrooms and showers, although on a holiday weekend, they can get gross. The view from site C, D, 1-14 is the closest to the water and in my opinion, the nicest sites. There is a beautiful hike just across the road. The views from the top of the mountain are amazing. The water and the views are breathtaking. We had several RV's side by side which helps as the sites are close to one another so if you have noisy neighbors, I could see that being an issue. We had a wonder trip and will be returning in October.
Legend
We spent 3 nights here in February, and while it was chilly, the place was very quiet and the stars were amazing! There are no hookups here, but there are bathrooms with flush toilets (some have showers), and there are faucets with potable water. There's also a boat launch and a few playgrounds for the kids.
There were mostly RVs here, but the waterfront tent sites are amazing if you don't mind walking in from the main parking area (it's not a far walk).
Each campsite has a picnic table with a shaded awning and a fire pit, but you have to bring in your own wood or gather it from the surrounding forest. Saw lots of birds here - cactus wren, quail, finches, warblers, and road runners.
ScoutYou are RIGHT on the lake but not worth it to me. It’s quite pricey! (& minimum of a two night stay!) All the tent campsites are side-by-side; no privacy whatsoever. A lot of RVs & generator near by. (I don’t want to listen to that.) The “bathrooms” are porta potties that don’t look like they are cleaned often. The guy at the front gate only knows how to check people in, nothing else (aka: can’t tell you if you can’t get a site or not). He told us to go online but the website doesn’t allow you to do same day booking. We didn’t end up staying because I can’t see spending over $100 for that spot.
GuideOak Flat is a Forest Service campground in the Tonto National Forest and is about 90 minutes from Phoenix. It's a short distance off a windy mountain highway which means it's easy to get to but traffic can be heard from camp. (Luckily it's not a busy interstate and traffic is pretty infrequent at night.) It's not spectacular location but there are decent views of the oak scrub desert surrounding the camp.
There are a handful of campsites with picnic tables and firepits, plus several flat and open areas for RVs or tent cities. Some sites are open and others have a few shady tree for hammocks, slacklines, and more. There is a bathroom which was clean and well-stocked with toilet paper, despite the campground being quite full when I stayed here for a few nights in April. There is no water, however, so be prepared with as much as you'll need. The elevation is just shy of 4,000' which means nights are typically a few degrees cooler than in the Phoenix area.
There are no hiking trails from the campground but there is a network of dirt roads which take you back into the desert scrub oak forest and through hundreds of bouldering problems of all levels. Just a few miles away, however, the Arizona Trail crosses the highway and heads north into the Superstition Wilderness.
This campsite is pretty basic but is a good place to kill some time, especially given that it's free! It's also a great place to set up your base camp if you want to do some bouldering.
Legend
For a free site, this place is amazing. We stumbled across this city run campsite after a trip to the Tonto National Forest. I almost didn’t post a review because I wanted to keep this place a secret.
This small campground has a dozen sites that are completely free. Site 2 even has electric hookups and sewage drainage. The other sites are non-electric. Each site had a fire pit and picnic table. It has flush toilets with a sink! There are also fish cleaning areas.
The sites don’t have a water view, but there are day use areas around the lake. Additional flush toilets in the day use area as well. Calling this a lake is also a stretch, it more of a pond. We didn’t have fishing gear with us, but based off some internet research, I don’t think there are any fish in the pond.
This would be a great place to stop for a night, but not stay for an extended period of time. There isn’t much to do in the area besides the pond and a Dollar General. However, free is free and that means something on an extended road trip. Expect 10% gradients along AZ Hwy 177. Excellent cell service (T-Mobile).
Legend
About 2 miles upriver from the Mormon Flat Dam, the Tonto National Forest maintains 4 official campsites, complete with a covered picnic table and fire pit at each, as well as composting toilets and a great boat dock for larger boats.
The sites were in a bit of disrepair and the bathroom wasn’t stocked and smelled a bit, but the views and location of this site can’t be beat! Just come prepared with what you need. And, there was an emergency call button by the bathrooms (something we have never seen in any place we’ve camped?). No drinking water available, so be sure to bring at least 1 gallon per person per day.
Warnings: We found that this site could either feel extremely remote, or a total party scene with music blaring from a boat moored at the dock, depending on who is there and how they got there. Also, the wind can blow strongly up/down this canyon, so check the weather before heading in.
Keep on the lookout for lots of birds and Big Horned Sheep as you paddle/boat up river to the Horse Mesa Dam area. The dam is on lock down (you won’t actually see it), but the journey upriver is absolutely gorgeous with fascinating geology and beautiful Sonoran Desert cactus!
First-come, first-served, and…FREE!
Tent camping near Tonto National Forest in Arizona offers a unique blend of stunning landscapes and outdoor adventures, perfect for nature enthusiasts and families alike.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Tonto National Forest?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Tonto National Forest is Hackamore Road Dispersed with a 2.9-star rating from 10 reviews.
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TheDyrt.com has all 25 tent camping locations near Tonto National Forest, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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