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.

Most sites in this dispersed camping area are within a few dozen yards of the dirt road, with more than a few vehicles driving unnecessarily fast through the area, kicking up a lot of dust. My most recent campsite became very dusty very quickly. The views are ok, with a few spots having pretty decent scenery. I spent a fair bit of time picking up old trash left behind, and there was quite a bit of it.

Overall, it was okay. More seclusion and distance from the dirt road would be welcome. Some views of Tucson on one side, views of San Manuel, Oracle, and a couple of mining operations on the other.