Apache Trout Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $38–$58Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 64All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Apache Trout Campground is one of five campgrounds at the Big Lake Recreation Area in Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, and is especially popular for group camping. With boating and fishing facilities and a variety of amenities, Apache Trout is a convenient and comfortable place to stay. Plenty of open space, shaded forests and mountain scenery make for a pleasant outdoor experience. Keep reading
Recreation
The Apache Trout facility is a short walk away from the 450-acre Big Lake, one of Arizona's top fishing lakes. Big Lake is known for its trout fishing, with rainbow, cutthroat, brook and Apache trout being the most sought-after species. The recreation area is also popular for hiking, mountain biking, bird watching and wildlife viewing.
Facilities
The campground is especially convenient for small to medium sized groups. Campsites are diverse and offer a wide range of options. There are 22 double sites, one group site that can accommodate 50 people, another that can hold 100 and more than 20 individual sites. This is the only campground in the lake recreation area that has sites with full hookups. Flush toilets and showers offer additional convenience.
Natural Features
The campground sits at an elevation of 9,100 ft. in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona. It is a very scenic area, forested with ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, spruce and aspen interspersed with high elevation meadows. Some campsites have shade, while others are mostly sunny. Summer temperatures are pleasant and cool, a nice respite from the heat of lower deserts.
Nearby Attractions
Visitors can explore endless vistas and take part in many outdoor activities in the surrounding Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, which encompasses 2 million acres of magnificent mountain country in east-central Arizona and New Mexico.
What the agency tells you
Standard Single Family sites: Recreation Use Fee allows ONE camping unit ONLY. Double and Group sites: Refer to Specific Site # for capacity limits.
FIRST COME FIRST SERVE sites must be booked in person. DO NOT call to determine availability, as they are only available on-site.
Extra Vehicles: Cannot be paid for in advance - upon arrival coordinate with the host for payment and where to park.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Late Arrivals: campers are not considered a "no-show" until 24 hours after arrival date check in time. Our policy is that your site will not be released before that.
Opening and closing dates are weather permitting, please call 928-537-8888 for more information.
Bears frequent the area; please obey all food storage rules and regulations. Check with your host for details.
Click here for more information on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest
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.
This is a high elevation facility: use caution when traveling from lower elevations.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 64 · 26 group
- Hookups
- 31 electric, 31 water, 31 sewer
- Longest rig
- 80 ft
- Accessible sites
- 21
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…area that has sites with full hookups. Flush toilets and showers offer additional convenience. Natural…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Meadow
- Picnicking
- Night sky · 27th darkest of 262 in AZ
- Bortle 2
- Fall color · reported 12 days ago, 5.3 km away
- Peak color
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 16:44 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
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.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $38–$58 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:44 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
64 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 63 mapped sitesAll 64 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. 64 of the 64 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 1 & 2 | group standard area nonelectric | 50 ft | 183 ft | 1,910 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 11 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | yes | 56 ft | 2,576 ft | $38 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 12 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | yes | 53 ft | 2,606 ft | $38 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 13 & 14 | group standard area nonelectric | 50 ft | 53 ft | 2,658 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 15 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 48 ft | 2,669 ft | $38 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 16 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | yes | 48 ft | 2,715 ft | $38 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 17 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 56 ft | 2,620 ft | $38 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 18 & 19 | group standard area nonelectric | 50 ft | 87 ft | 2,836 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 20 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 87 ft | 2,909 ft | $38 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 21 & 22 | group standard area nonelectric | 40 ft | 63 ft | 2,912 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 23 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 63 ft | 2,850 ft | $38 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 24 & 25 | group standard area nonelectric | 60 ft | 76 ft | 2,840 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 26 & 27 | group standard area nonelectric | 50 ft | 76 ft | 2,765 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 28 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | yes | 57 ft | 2,725 ft | $38 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 29 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | yes | 57 ft | 2,674 ft | $38 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 3 & 4 | group standard area nonelectric | 50 ft | 89 ft | 2,091 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 30 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | yes | 94 ft | 2,592 ft | $38 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 31 & 32 | group standard area nonelectric | 50 ft | 125 ft | 2,459 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 33 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 118 ft | 2,336 ft | $38 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 34 & 35 | group standard area nonelectric | 50 ft | 104 ft | 2,227 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 36 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | 86 ft | 2,180 ft | $38 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 37 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 83 ft | 2,166 ft | $38 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 38 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 75 ft | 2,197 ft | $38 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 39 & 40 | group standard area nonelectric | 45 ft | 55 ft | 2,141 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 41 & 42 | group standard area nonelectric | 60 ft | 55 ft | 2,185 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 43 | standard nonelectric | 53 ft | 95 ft | 2,164 ft | $38 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 44 & 45 | group standard area nonelectric | 50 ft | 95 ft | 2,106 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 46 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 67 ft | 2,092 ft | $58 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 47 & 48 | group standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 67 ft | 2,098 ft | $105 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 49 & 50 | group standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 46 ft | 2,130 ft | $105 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 5 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 89 ft | 2,176 ft | $38 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 51 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | yes | 46 ft | 2,177 ft | $58 |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 52 & 53 | group standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 52 ft | 2,202 ft | $105 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 54 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | yes | 52 ft | 2,155 ft | $58 |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 55 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | yes | 112 ft | 2,080 ft | $58 |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 56 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 59 ft | 2,008 ft | $58 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 57 & 58 | group standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 59 ft | 2,058 ft | $105 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 59 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 58 ft | 1,961 ft | $58 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 6 & 7 | group standard area nonelectric | 50 ft | 97 ft | 2,255 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 60 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | yes | 58 ft | 2,006 ft | $58 |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 61 & 62 | group standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | $105 | |||
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 63 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 131 ft | 1,896 ft | $58 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 8 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | yes | 112 ft | 2,352 ft | $38 | |
| Aspen Loop (Sites 1-63) | 9 & 10 | group standard area nonelectric | 50 ft | 119 ft | 2,454 ft | $58–$250 | ||
| Fir Group (Sites 87-110) | Fir Group | group standard area nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 339 ft | 3,229 ft | $58–$250 | |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 64 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50 amp | yes | 70 ft | 2,079 ft | $58 |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 65 & 66 | group standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 70 ft | 2,096 ft | $105 | |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 67 | standard electric | 80 ft | 50 amp | yes | 90 ft | 2,184 ft | $58 |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 68 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 95 ft | 2,175 ft | $58 | |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 69 | standard electric | 70 ft | 50 amp | yes | 88 ft | 2,265 ft | $58 |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 70 & 71 | group standard electric | 65 ft | 50 amp | 88 ft | 2,264 ft | $105 | |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 72 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50 amp | yes | 73 ft | 2,351 ft | $58 |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 73 & 74 | group standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 73 ft | 2,373 ft | $105 | |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 75 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50 amp | 88 ft | 2,461 ft | $58 | |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 76 | standard electric | 58 ft | 50 amp | 97 ft | 2,536 ft | $58 | |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 77 & 78 | group standard electric | 65 ft | 50 amp | 98 ft | 2,583 ft | $105 | |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 79 | standard electric | 58 ft | 50 amp | 98 ft | 2,489 ft | $58 | |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 80 | standard electric | 65 ft | 50 amp | yes | 76 ft | 2,546 ft | $58 |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 81 & 82 | group standard electric | 50 ft | 50 amp | 91 ft | 2,456 ft | $105 | |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 83 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50 amp | 76 ft | 2,538 ft | $58 | |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 84 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50 amp | 71 ft | 2,518 ft | $58 | |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 85 | standard electric | 65 ft | 50 amp | yes | 71 ft | 2,466 ft | $58 |
| Oak Loop (Sites 64-86) | 86 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50 amp | yes | 107 ft | 2,555 ft | $58 |
| Pine Group (Sites 111-124) | Pine Group | group standard area nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 216 ft | 2,491 ft | $58–$250 |
25 of 64 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
CutthroatApache National Forest · 0.2 mi
GraylingApache National Forest · 0.4 mi
BrookcharApache National Forest · 0.5 mi
Rainbow (AZ)Apache National Forest · 0.9 miBuffalo Crossing CampgroundApache National Forest · 6.3 miHorse Springs CampgroundApache National Forest · 6.9 miFrom Pinetop, Arizona, take Highway 260 east 25 miles to Highway 273 south. Follow Highway 273 south 19 miles to Forest Road 8115 (Big Lake Entrance). Turn right and travel 3 miles.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Greer, AZ
Typical weather
Typical October night 30°F, day 61°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 14°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
Apache Trout 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 →