Agency-listedUSFSFee
Playground Group Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · AZ · 34.69836, -112.13433
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 — Playground Group Campground · Prescott National Forest · AZ
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 000104 (Mingus Mtn), 440 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as improved native material surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
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 →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Playground Group Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 7,523 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Playground Group 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 Playground Group Campground · Prescott National Forest · AZ
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail4 mi
- MMechanic6 mi
- HHardware6 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- LLaundry7 mi
- DDump8 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- ShShower8 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- WWater8 mi
- +Urgent care12 mi
- AAir-up18 mi
- OOutfitter20 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 6 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 — Playground Group Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
7,523 ft
Ground slope
1% · flat
Nearest rail line
~6.1 mi · other track
State
AZ
Coordinates
34.69836, -112.13433
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Playground Group Campground · Prescott National Forest · AZ (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMingus Lake · ~0.3 mi · USGS: intermittent lake or pond
- Nearest townJerome · ~3.7 mi
- Nearest rail line~6.1 mi · other track
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~7.9 mi
- FuelFuel · ~6.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~7.5 mi
- GroceriesMini Mart · ~6.7 mi
- PharmacyFry's · ~7.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicVerde Valley Medical Center · ~6.5 mi
- HardwareThe Home Depot · ~19.6 mi
EV charging — from Playground Group Campground · Prescott National Forest · AZ — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.6 mi straight-line E — Hyundai of Cottonwood - DCFC · Blink Network · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach11 within 25 mi · 21 within 50 · 115 within 100 · 159 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)17.9 mi — Findlay Hyundai Prescott, Prescott
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO38.4 mi — La Quinta Grand Canyon (Williams, AZ), Williams
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)5.2 mi — Verde Building i, Clarkdale, AZ · Blink 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 429751 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Playground Group Campground · Prescott National Forest · AZ — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletPlayground Group Campground · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMingus Lake Day Use · ~0.4 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMingus Mountain Picnic Ground · ~0.8 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMingus Mountain Vista A · ~0.9 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Playground Group Campground · Prescott National Forest · AZ
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Mingus Lake as an intermittent lake or pond, ~0.3 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 1% — flat. 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.
- Rail line mapped ~6.1 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as other track. No track the atlas classes as a main line is mapped within 10 mi. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in 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 Playground Group Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Playground Group Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Mingus Mountain Campground~0.9 mi · fee
- Potato Patch Campground~1.3 mi · fee
- Prescott National Forest~9.0 mi
- Yavapai County~9.0 mi
The unit that manages Playground Group Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Playground Group Campground are set by Prescott National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Playground Group Campground
Reserve
https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232206
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
no road or trail found nearby — check manually | Fee 2026-09-25: group site only, priced by party size - $75 per night for 1-25 people, $100 for 26-50, $125 for 51-75, $150 for 76-100. Caveat: the same page also prints '$10 for campsite / $5 for extra vehicle' under its self-service fee-station text, and recreation.gov 232206 shows $0 in its rate table; the group tiers are what the page's fee block states. Confirm with the Prescott NF before you go. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/prescott/recreation/playground-group-campground and https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232206.
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 Playground Group 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.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- 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 — Playground Group Campground
When the high country opens →Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →How to read this page →All field notes →