C C C (AZ) Tonto NF
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 41 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
Civilian Conservation Corps Campground offers spread out camp sites with large sycamore trees providing shade. Picnic tables and firepits with cooking grates are available for families to enjoy while passing the time away together. Cave Creek Trailhead is nearby where you can follow along the Cave Creek Riparian Ecosystem. This spot is popular for bird watching! This location is available on a first-come, first-served basis only. Visitors are required to physically arrive at the campground to purchase and claim a site. Keep reading
Once on-site, you may be able to pay for your campsite(s) by scanning a QR code using the Recreation.gov mobile app, and the Scan and Pay feature. If this option is available, you will need to first download the free Recreation.gov mobile app https://www.recreation.gov/mobile-app prior to your arrival as some remote areas have limited or no cellular service. Camping passes can also be purchased at a Tonto Fee Machine Pass. $16 per site, per night. Nearest fee machine location is at the Cave Creek Ranger Station.
Recreation
Camping Hiking Creek Access OHV Routes Bird Watching Facilities 10 campsites Maximum occupancy per individual camp unit is 10 people. Maximum number of vehicles per individual camp unit is three. All vehicles must completely fit within the designated parking area. Check-in time is 12:00 pm, and check-out time is 10:00 am. 14 day stay limit. Not recommended for trailers over 16ft. Hikers and equestrians should park at the CCC trailhead to the north. No livestock allowed. Trash cans are available, please keep the campground tidy! No potable water service at campground.
Natural Features
Large sycamore trees provide plenty of shade and the Cave Creek Riparian Ecosystem is just steps away from your campsite. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (480) 595-3300.
Nearby Attractions
Towns of Carefree and Cave Creek
What the agency tells you
-10 campsites -Campsites are $16 per night, per site. America the Beautiful Senior or Access Disability passholders are eligible for a 50% discount. Pass must be valid and present with passholder at time of stay. Single camp unit only. See Season & Fees for more payment details. -Maximum occupancy per individual camp unit is 10 people. -Maximum number of vehicles per individual camp unit is three. All vehicles must completely fit within the designated parking area. -Check-in time is 12:00 pm, and check-out time is 10:00 am. -14 day stay limit. -Not recommended for trailers over 16ft. -Hikers and equestrians should park at the CCC trailhead to the north. -No livestock allowed. -Trash cans are available, please keep the campground tidy! -No potable water service at campground.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 4
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…please keep the campground tidy! No potable water service at campground. Natural Features Large…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Birding
- Hiking
- Mountain biking
- Off Road Vehicle Trails
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 1 of the 4 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 9
What you actually pay
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 · 4
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
4 sites · the site map
All 4 sites
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cave Creek Group SiteTonto National Forest · 0.3 miMesquite (AZ)Tonto National Forest · 8.5 miHorseshoe (AZ)Tonto National Forest · 8.5 miSheep BridgeTonto National Forest · 12 miRiverside Campground (AZ)Tonto National Forest · 17 miThis site is 20 miles north of Carefree. From Carefree, take Cave Creek Road/Forest Road (FR) 24. The last 9 miles of FR 24 is an all weather gravel road. The gravel portion of the road is narrow with blind curves.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Scottsdale, AZ
Typical weather
Typical October night 60°F, day 86°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 41°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
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
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land

C C C (AZ) Tonto NF is in Arizona’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, David Schweikert (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →