Alto Pit OHV Campground
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 16:57 UTC
- A night
- $14–$28When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 11In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Alto Pit OHV Campground is located at the foot of Granite Mountain Wilderness Area, at an elevation of 6,200 feet. The off-highway trail system within the recreation area draws enthusiasts of all ages with degrees of skills that prove challenging and enjoyable for everyone alike. To make reservations click on the availability button to the right to book this site or call 1 (877) 444-6777. For general campground questions contact the Bradshaw Ranger District at 1 (928) 443-8000. Keep reading
Recreation
Once an active gravel pit, Alto Pit is now exclusively used for motorized off-road travel. Main Pit is the larger of two gravel pits within the recreation area. West Pit is located a short distance to the southwest of Main Pit. The 20-mile trail system offers challenging rides for advanced recreationists and thrilling rides for beginners.
Facilities
The campground has 10 single occupancy campsites and one double occupancy campsite. Each campsite has a picnic table, campfire ring, and space for a tent. Near the entrance to the facility is a large Ramada. This may be used for group gatherings of up to 50 people. Ten campsite driveways are pull-through, one campsite driveway is back-in, and all have gravel surfaces. Some campsite driveways allow a camp unit (RV or tow vehicle and trailer) and an extra vehicle quite easily, while others may be snug. Services include three vault restrooms and two trash dumpsters. There are no RV hook-ups or dump station in the campground. There is a $5 day-use fee for visitors not camping although day-use is free on Wednesdays.
Natural Features
The rugged landscape that encompasses and surrounds Alto Pit OHV Campground is a nearly perfect setting for off-highway vehicle (OHV) enthusiasts. Granite rock in various stages of degradation is evident and is more pronounced when viewing craggy and rugged Granite Mountain rising abruptly to the north. Predominate vegetation include ponderosa pine, limber pine, oak, manzanita, and a variety of shrubs and grasses.
Nearby Attractions
Granite Basin Recreation Area is located northeast of the Alto Pit OHV Area and just a 15 minute drive away. Granite Basin contains Yavapai Campground, Granite Basin Lake and several day use areas. Visitors enjoy fishing, bird-watching, backpacking, hiking, horseback riding, biking, picnicking, camping, and just plain relaxing. Immediately rising north of Granite Basin Lake is rugged Granite Mountain with a highest point of 6,874 feet within Granite Mountain Wilderness Area. Thumb Butte, at 6,515 feet, rises prominently southeast of Alto Pit OHV Area and can be seen from most anywhere in the Prescott Basin. It is one of the most popular destinations in the Prescott National Forest.
What the agency tells you
Maximum stay limit is 14 days within 30 consecutive days in Prescott National Forest including stays at dispersed sites.
No water, electricity or RV sanitary dump station is available.
Fires are permitted only in stoves or designated fire rings.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Camping is permitted only in a designated campsite.
The maximum occupancy at a campsite is 5 people and two full-sized vehicles (except campsite #3 where the maximum occupancy is 10 people and four full-sized vehicles).
The maximum number of RVs towing a car or vehicles towing a trailer is one per single campsite and two per double site. There is a $5.00 fee for a 2nd vehicle in a single campsite with a two car maximum or $5.00 fee each for the 3rd and 4th vehicle. A double family campsite is $36 if occupied by only one vehicle with a four vehicle maximum. Not every double site can accommodate four RVs or Trailer combinations.
All campers with a second vehicle must pay with exact change using the self-pay kiosk upon arrival. There is a $5 day use fee-except Wednesday
At least one person must occupy a campsite during the first night after camping equipment is set up. Camping equipment may not be left unattended for more than 24 hours.
Depositing refuse in provided trash receptacles brought from private property is prohibited.
Fireworks, including sparklers, are prohibited at all times on National Forest Lands.
Quiet hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Speed limit is 15 MPH!
ATVs may travel on the campground’s one-way road only to access trails (no laps are permitted).
Additional important rider and campground information can be found on Prescott National Forest's website.
Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org .
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 11
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 38 ft
- Accessible sites
- 2
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…may be snug. Services include three vault restrooms and two trash dumpsters. There are no RV hook-ups…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Night sky · 210th darkest of 262 in AZ
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 11 km away
- Patchy color
Nothing to book until it reopensread 16:57 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
OpenBookedClosed
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
“There is a $5.00 fee for a 2nd vehicle in a single campsite with a two car maximum or $5.00 fee each for the 3rd and 4th vehicle.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Alto Pit OHV Campground closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 60 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- White Spar CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 7.4 mi · 56 sites
- Powell Springs CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 28 mi · walk-up
- Chavez CrossingCoconino National Forest · 48 mi · 3 sites
- Cave Creek Group SiteTonto National Forest · 58 mi · 1 site
recreation.gov availability, read 16:57 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
11 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 11 mapped sitesAll 11 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 11 of the 11 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| ALTO PIT OHV CAMPGROUND | 01 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 236 ft | 2.2 mi | $14–$28 | |
| ALTO PIT OHV CAMPGROUND | 02 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 138 ft | 2.1 mi | $14–$28 | |
| ALTO PIT OHV CAMPGROUND | 03 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | yes | 94 ft | 2.1 mi | $14–$28 |
| ALTO PIT OHV CAMPGROUND | 04 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 129 ft | 2.1 mi | $14–$28 | |
| ALTO PIT OHV CAMPGROUND | 05 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 182 ft | 2.1 mi | $14–$28 | |
| ALTO PIT OHV CAMPGROUND | 06 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 333 ft | 2.0 mi | $14–$28 |
| ALTO PIT OHV CAMPGROUND | 07 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 226 ft | 2.1 mi | $14–$28 | |
| ALTO PIT OHV CAMPGROUND | 08 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 94 ft | 2.1 mi | $14–$28 | |
| ALTO PIT OHV CAMPGROUND | 09 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 96 ft | 2.2 mi | $14–$28 | |
| ALTO PIT OHV CAMPGROUND | 10 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 84 ft | 2.2 mi | $14–$28 | |
| ALTO PIT OHV CAMPGROUND | 11 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 84 ft | 2.2 mi | $14–$28 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Yavapai CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 1.4 mi
Thumb ButtePrescott National Forest · 3.4 mi
White Spar CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 7.4 mi
Groom Creek SchoolhousePrescott National Forest · 11 mi
Lynx CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 11 mi
Lower Wolf Creek CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 11 miFrom the courthouse located in downtown City of Prescott, go northwest on Iron Spring Road. Continue 5 miles past the junction of Gale Gardner Way and Iron Springs Road. Alto Pit is on the right side of the road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Williamson, AZ
Typical weather
Typical October night 40°F, day 73°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 24°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Alto Pit OHV Campground is in Arizona’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Eli Crane (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →