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Free and paid camping in Arizona

424 camps in Arizona: 317 free, 107 charge a fee. Every camp that charges is marked fee in the list below — or press Free only to hide them.

Arizona is two states stacked on top of each other, and the page below is sorted by the agency rather than by the altitude. Of the 424 camps here, 327 sit on national forest ground spread over 6 forests — the Tonto carries the most at 83, then the Apache-Sitgreaves (79), the Coconino (51), the Coronado (56), the Prescott (40) and the Kaibab (18) — and another 87 sit on BLM desert under a single heading. Then look at the elevations. Where we have one, these camps run from 176 feet to 9,494 feet. The median Tonto camp is 2,486 feet. The median Apache-Sitgreaves camp is 7,656 feet. Those two forests are in the same state and about five thousand feet apart, and almost nothing you learn about camping one of them transfers to the other. Read the unit heading and the elevation together, before anything else on this page.

So there is no Arizona season. There are two, and they run opposite each other. Down low the BLM's own advice for the Sonoran Desert National Monument is to enjoy it "from late October to mid-April to avoid summer heat," with summer temperatures that "may exceed 110 degrees F" — and 33% of the camps we have an elevation for on this page are below 4,000 feet. Up high it inverts. The Park Service says Arizona DOT closes Highway 67 to the North Rim "usually by December 1" and that the entrance gate is not unlocked "until North Rim visitor facilities open up for the season in mid-May" — and that is a paved state highway. The dirt runs later. The Kaibab warned on April 14, 2023 that after record snowfall "some roads and areas in the higher elevations are still snow covered and entirely impassible," that "most areas where the snow has melted are extremely muddy," and that driving them wet "can cause irreparable damage to the roadbeds." 27% of these camps are above 7,000 feet. No Arizona forest we read publishes an opening date for a forest road, because there isn't one — it opens when it melts and dries. Pull the district's road conditions for the specific road the week you go.

Between the two seasons sits the monsoon, and it is the part people from wetter states get wrong. The Weather Service dates it "June 15th to September 30th" and describes rain that "comes most days in the form of afternoon and evening thunderstorms." The risk is not getting rained on. It is that "the biggest threat in northern Arizona during the Monsoon season is flash flooding," and that "12 inches of water can sweep a car off the roadway." Do not camp in a wash. Do not park in one. If the road in crossed a dry streambed, assume it can stop being a road while you are asleep.

There is no Arizona stay limit either. Fourteen days is the common number and the fine print differs on every unit. The Tonto runs a forest-wide order, 03-12-00-26-02, in force to February 2031, prohibiting "camping for more than fourteen (14) days in a thirty-day period" — and camping at trailheads at all, which catches people who think a trailhead pullout is a free site. The Apache-Sitgreaves allows "no more than 14 days in a 30-day period" and then wants you gone properly: "after 14 days of camping on the Forest, you must move off of the Forest for at least 16 days." The Coronado counts over a longer window — "a 14-day stay limit per 60-day period" — and adds no camping within 200 feet of a water source "including water tanks," vehicles within 300 feet of the centerline if you are roadside, and no camping within a mile of a developed campground. The Prescott is 14 days in 30 out on the forest but only seven in the Prescott Basin, where order #09-233 confines you to designated sites. On BLM ground the general rule is 14 days in any 28 followed by a move of "often at least 25 to 30 miles." Five units, five answers — and we did not find a published stay limit for the Coconino or the Kaibab at all, so ask that district rather than assuming the 14 you read somewhere else.

Four things here will not match the habits you brought with you. Water is the first: no Arizona unit we read provides any. The Apache-Sitgreaves says "no amenities are provided; such as water, restrooms or trash cans," the Coronado says "potable water, restrooms, trash bins, and other amenities are not available at dispersed sites," and the BLM is blunter still — "Bring all the water you will need. There is no drinking water available on the monument." Carry every drop you intend to drink, and carry more of it than you would anywhere else. Second, Arizona is one of only two states where the BLM will sell you an entire winter: it runs its Long Term Visitor Areas "in California and Arizona" and nowhere else. They run "September 15th to April 15th," seven months, on a $180 permit, or $40 for any 14 consecutive days — and unlike everything else on this page they are serviced. La Posa, the one we read, lists ten accessible vault toilets, eight water faucets and two dump stations. Third, "dispersed" is shrinking around the towns. West of Sedona, order 03-04-06-23-25 bans camping outright except inside eight named areas — Rockview, Angel Valley, Javelina, Surprise, Windmill, Cockscomb, Greasy Spoon and Nolan, roughly 200 sites, still free, 14 days — and near Flagstaff order 03-04-08-25-01 does the same through April 2027. Both ban campfires and charcoal year-round whatever the fire danger is, with only a shut-off-valve LPG stove exempt. Elsewhere fire is conditional and unit by unit: the Apache-Sitgreaves allows campfires "unless there are fire restrictions in effect," and the Prescott warns that when restrictions land, "designated dispersed campsites, even those with metal fire rings, will not be permitted to have campfires." Check the unit you are actually driving to, the morning you leave. Fourth, on bears: we found no forest-wide food storage order on any Arizona page we read. Treat that as unknown rather than as permission, and ask the district office.

If you have not camped Arizona before and you are coming in summer, start on the Apache-Sitgreaves. It has 79 camps here at a median of 7,656 feet, which is the part of this state that is pleasant in July, and it writes its rules in plain sentences on one page instead of making you hunt down an order: 14 days in 30, campsite at least 100 feet from any stream, a one-mile perimeter around campgrounds, "drive on existing roads to prevent resource damage," and expect nothing — "dispersed camping means no bathrooms and no outhouses." Note the sting in its stay rule before you plan three weeks: when your 14 days are up you must move off the forest entirely for 16 days, not to the next drainage. If you are coming in winter, invert all of it and go low — the BLM ground and the Tonto, where the median camp sits at 2,486 feet, and the heat that makes July unusable is what makes January easy.

See all 424 on the map →

Showing 400 of 424. Arizona has more camps than fit on one page, so these are the ones we know most about first — of the 400 listed here, 303 are free and 97 charge a fee. The remaining 24 are all on the map.