Agency-listedUSFSUnpriced · confirm
Houston Mesa Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · AZ · 34.26938, -111.31888
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →U.S. Forest Service lists this as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Houston Mesa Campground · Tonto National Forest · AZ
No road within 1 mi of the pin in the national MVUM layer — and that layer carries no data at all for this forest (unit 0312), so this is the layer's silence, not the ground's. Access may be a county road or unmapped.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
What the record says about the site — Houston Mesa Campground · Tonto National Forest · AZ
- Toilet on site
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Houston Mesa Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,046 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Houston Mesa CampgroundNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Houston Mesa Campground · Tonto National Forest · AZ
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater0 mi
- DDump0 mi
- ShShower0 mi
- GGrocery0 mi
- FFuel0 mi
- HHardware0 mi
- EVEV fast charger2 mi
- RxPharmacy2 mi
- +Urgent care3 mi
- @Mail3 mi
- MMechanic32 mi
- LLaundry37 mi
- AAir-up38 mi
- OOutfitter48 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 0 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Houston Mesa Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
5,046 ft
Ground slope
3.4% · gentle
State
AZ
Coordinates
34.26938, -111.31888
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around Houston Mesa Campground · Tonto National Forest · AZ (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureRacetrack Tank · ~0.1 mi · USGS: intermittent lake or pond
- Nearest townMesa Del Caballo · ~1.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~0.1 mi
- FuelMaverik · ~1.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~0.1 mi
- GroceriesHouston Mesa General Store & Fuelwoods · ~1.6 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~2.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicBanner Payson Medical Center · ~2.7 mi
- HardwareHarbor Freight Tools · ~1.9 mi
EV charging — from Houston Mesa Campground · Tonto National Forest · AZ — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger1.9 mi straight-line S — Payson, AZ - Tesla Supercharger (at a shopping center) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 12 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach3 within 25 mi · 9 within 50 · 133 within 100 · 169 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS2.0 mi — APS - Payson (Payson, AZ), Payson
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO55.2 mi — Walmart 5329 (Anthem, AZ), Anthem
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)36.8 mi — MOSCATO STATION2, Camp Verde, AZ · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 117722 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Houston Mesa Campground · Tonto National Forest · AZ — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Flush restroomHouston Mesa Horse · at this camp · USFS
- Flush restroomHouston Mesa Campground · at this camp · USFS
- Flush restroomHouston Mesa Group · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletFlowing Springs · ~3.0 mi NW · USFS
Coming out here — Houston Mesa Campground · Tonto National Forest · AZ
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Racetrack Tank as an intermittent lake or pond, ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 3.4% — gentle. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Houston Mesa Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Houston Mesa Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Flowing Springs Dispersed~3.0 mi
- Sharp Creek Group~10.1 mi
- Kehl Springs Campground~11.5 mi
- Ponderosa Campground~11.8 mi · fee
The unit that manages Houston Mesa Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Houston Mesa Campground are set by Tonto National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Houston Mesa Campground
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Houston Mesa Campground
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Houston Mesa Campground
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Off-grid communication →All field notes →