Crescent Moon Ramada
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:52 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
Crescent Moon sits beneath the stunning Cathedral Rock, one of the most photographed scenes in the American Southwest. Historical buildings and towering Arizona Sycamore trees decorate the landscape of this popular day use park (group shelter also known as Ramada) located in Sedona, Arizona. Visitors will marvel at the reflection of the red cliffs in the waters of Oak Creek at Red Rock Crossing. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors enjoy picnicking, fishing and wading in the crystal clear waters of Oak Creek. Flora, fauna and rock formations in the surrounding area offer excellent photography opportunities. Within a few minutes, visitors can access hiking, biking and scenic driving through Oak Creek Canyon to view majestic red-hued cliffs, buttes and canyons. The site is also conveniently close to developed entertainment like golf courses and stylish restaurants in the resort town of Sedona.
Facilities
Each reservation includes a roofed structure with open sides, a concrete floor, 1 prep table, 6 picnic tables, and a large charcoal grill. 20 amp electricity available for decorative lights. Reservation includes use all day, from park opening until dusk. Includes 10 reserved parking spaces. Also includes access to the grounds, guests on foot are not restricted to the "ramada" area. (Be aware that the rest of the area is still available to the public during your reservation.)
Natural Features
Placed beside a tree-lined creek, the picnic area's location offers a serene place to enjoy nature, with Sedona's famous red rock cliffs setting the backdrop. Crescent Moon lies in a high desert region situated at the base of the Mogollon Rim, a 200-mile long slope that ranges between 5,000 and 7,000 feet in elevation. The unique landscape creates erosion that has shaped spectacular canyons and buttes that make the region an appealing attraction. Natural scenery, plants and animal life are the principle attractions in our area. They are integral parts of the ecosystem and natural community. As such, they are protected by Federal, State, and Park laws. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (928) 203-0624.
Nearby Attractions
The towns of Sedona and Oak Creek offer plenty of lodging, camping, shopping and dining to entertain guests. A variety of hiking trails and swimming holes are a short drive away. The Red Rock/Secret Mountain Wilderness area in the heart of Oak Creek Canyon is a popular destination, where visitors will find abandoned dwellings and rock art from early inhabitants.
What the agency tells you
Weddings at Crescent Moon are by reservation only. If you are booking the Ramada for a wedding, you MUST also schedule a ceremony time at Recreation.gov Crescent Moon Wedding Reservations.
Includes entry fee and 10 reserved parking spaces, additional vehicles MUST pay the day use fee at the entrance kiosk and ARE subject to availability. Maximum number of guests for this reservation is 50.
Day-use only (group shelter also known as Ramada)
Everything else this campground posts · 10
There is NO OVERNIGHT CAMPING AT CRESCENT MOON
Area opens at 7am (summer) or 8am (winter) and closes at DUSK. Exit gate never closes.
Vault toilets are available for guest use.
Charcoal grills and picnic tables are available for guest use. Caterers or comercial delivery of food, cake, etc is allowed, but vendors must drop off and pick up only. They cannot remain on site. No food trucks and no caterers cooking on site.
Guests are responsible for cleanup, there are dumpsters on site. "Leave No Trace!"
Alcohol is allowed, but no glass containers allowed!
Ravens, squirrels, deer and other wildlife frequent the site. NEVER leave food or trash unattended, or feed any wildlife you may encounter!
Absolutely NO amplified music is allowed! Acoustic music from a single instrument is allowed, such as a guitar.
ALL fireworks are prohibited! Flowers and other decor are allowed, BUT NO petals, confetti, glitter, rice, seed, etc are to be strewn or scattered.
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 .
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Picnicking
- Swimming
Full this Saturdayread 15:52 UTC
The agency files 1 record here and marks it day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in. How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 15:52 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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 · 12
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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:52 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 records · the site map
All 1 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| CRES | Ramada 1 | day use | 15 amp | yes | 482 ft | 187 ft | $182 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Crescent Moon Ranch CabinCoconino National Forest · 0.3 miChavez CrossingCoconino National Forest · 1.9 mi
Manzanita CampgroundCoconino National Forest · 7.9 mi
Manzanita.Coconino National Forest · 8.6 mi
Cave SpringCoconino National Forest · 12 mi
Fernow CabinCoconino National Forest · 13 mi333 Red Rock Crossing Rd. Sedona, AZ 86336 From Phoenix, take I-17 north to State Highway 179. Go north on 179 for 13 miles to Sedona, then turn left on Highway 89A and continue south for 4 miles. Turn left on Upper Red Rock Loop Road and proceed another 4 miles to Crescent Moon.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Sedona, AZ
Typical weather
Typical October night 51°F, day 79°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 33°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
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Crescent Moon Ramada 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 →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyElijah CraneU.S. Representative · Arizona’s 2nd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMark KellyU.S. Senator · Arizona
- Your senator, on the same appropriationRuben GallegoU.S. Senator · Arizona
No contact form we could verify, so that link is their own site. Contact is inside it. Washington office: 202-224-4521.
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Crescent Moon Ramada, Coconino National Forest, Arizona
Dear Elijah Crane, I’m a constituent in Arizona’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Crescent Moon Ramada, Coconino National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. Every site at Crescent Moon Ramada is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Crescent Moon Ramada keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Crescent Moon Ramada. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Crescent Moon Ramada (Coconino National Forest, Arizona) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Crescent Moon Ramada, Coconino National Forest, Arizona
Dear Mark Kelly, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Crescent Moon Ramada, Coconino National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. Every site at Crescent Moon Ramada is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Crescent Moon Ramada keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Crescent Moon Ramada. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Crescent Moon Ramada (Coconino National Forest, Arizona) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Crescent Moon Ramada, Coconino National Forest, Arizona
Dear Ruben Gallego, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Crescent Moon Ramada, Coconino National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. Every site at Crescent Moon Ramada is reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Crescent Moon Ramada keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Crescent Moon Ramada. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Crescent Moon Ramada (Coconino National Forest, Arizona) via campanac.com