Cutthroat
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $26From, per site
- Sites
- 18All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Cutthroat Campground lies at an elevation of 9,000 feet in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona. It sits on the shoreline of Big Lake and affords visitors many recreational opportunities in a quiet, scenic setting. Popular activities include trout fishing and hiking. Keep reading
Recreation
Named after a species of trout, Cutthroat is adjacent to 450-acre Big Lake, one of Arizona's top fishing lakes. The lake is known for its trout fishing, with rainbow, cutthroat, brook and Apache being the most sought-after species. The recreation area is also popular for hiking, mountain biking, birding and wildlife viewing.
Facilities
Sites for tent camping only are scattered throughout this small facility and spaced a good distance apart. Some are directly on the waterfront. The basic amenities of restrooms, picnic tables and drinking water are provided, and anglers and boaters have the convenience of a boat ramp. An RV dump station is one mile away.
Natural Features
The campground is located in a very scenic area, forested with ponderosa pine, spruce, Douglas fir, and aspen trees, which provide ample shade. Summer temperatures are pleasant and cool, a nice respite from the heat of lower deserts. Visitors should come prepared for cool nighttime temperatures and occasional summer rain storms.
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. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (928) 537-8888.
What the agency tells you
Tent camping only. Guest must walk to some sites.
Standard Single Family sites: Recreation Use Fee allows ONE camping unit ONLY.
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 · 7
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.
FIRST COME FIRST SERVE sites must be booked in person. DO NOT call to determine availability, as they are only available on-site.
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.
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.
Click here for more information on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.
This is a high elevation facility; use caution when traveling from lower elevations.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 18 · 18 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
Facilities
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…of restrooms, picnic tables and drinking water are provided, and anglers and boaters have the…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Boating
- Fishing
- Fall color · reported 13 days ago, 5.6 km away
- Peak color
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:56 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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $26 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 15:56 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
18 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 18 mapped sitesAll 18 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 18 of the 18 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 18 of the 18 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| CUTT | 001 | tent only nonelectric | 123 ft | 257 ft | 1,185 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 002 | tent only nonelectric | 123 ft | 190 ft | 1,292 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 64 ft | 244 ft | 1,256 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 161 ft | 393 ft | 1,098 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 64 ft | 273 ft | 1,237 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 006 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 228 ft | 1,276 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 007 | tent only nonelectric | 35 ft | 261 ft | 1,243 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 008 | tent only nonelectric | 167 ft | 448 ft | 1,056 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 009 | tent only nonelectric | 58 ft | 297 ft | 1,215 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 010 | tent only nonelectric | 57 ft | 235 ft | 1,278 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 011 | tent only nonelectric | 111 ft | 262 ft | 1,294 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 012 | tent only nonelectric | 120 ft | 380 ft | 1,211 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 013 | tent only nonelectric | 128 ft | 342 ft | 1,326 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 014 | tent only nonelectric | 89 ft | 489 ft | 1,268 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 015 | tent only nonelectric | 84 ft | 575 ft | 1,200 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 016 | tent only nonelectric | 84 ft | 617 ft | 1,242 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 017 | tent only nonelectric | 111 ft | 655 ft | 1,325 ft | $26 |
| CUTT | 018 | tent only nonelectric | 111 ft | 747 ft | 1,235 ft | $26 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Apache Trout CampgroundApache National Forest · 0.2 mi
GraylingApache National Forest · 0.3 mi
BrookcharApache National Forest · 0.4 mi
Rainbow (AZ)Apache National Forest · 0.9 miBuffalo Crossing CampgroundApache National Forest · 6.6 miHorse Springs CampgroundApache National Forest · 7.1 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 2 miles to Cutthroat Campground.
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
Cutthroat 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 →