Groom Creek Horse Camp
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 14 of the next 14 nights read 16:43 UTC
- A night
- $18From, per site
- Sites
- 35All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Equestrian campers will find Groom Creek Horse Camp seven miles south of Prescott, Arizona at an elevation of 6,398 feet. The ponderosa pine setting, nearby trails and limited equestrian camping opportunities make this a popular destination. Each campsite has a steel corral enclosure and an overhead tether line that accommodates two to four horses. Two group picnic sites are also available for reservation for group gatherings within this campground. To make reservations click on the availability button to the right to book this site or call 1 (877) 444-6777. For general horse camp questions contact the Bradshaw Ranger District at 1 (928) 443-8000. Keep reading
Recreation
Three trails are in close proximity to Groom Creek Horse Camp. Horse Camp Loop Trail 383 (2 miles) is accessed from Loop C, across from the group site or at the campground's entrance. Wolf Creek Loop Trail 384 (5 miles) is accessed from Horse Camp Loop Trail 383 and from Forest Service Road C101. Groom Creek Loop Trail 307 (9 miles) is accessed from the trailhead across from the entrance to Horse Camp. These trails are shared with other users including mountain bikers and hikers. Off-highway vehicle use occurs on designated roads and trails.
Facilities
Horse Camp has two reservable loops (Loops B and C) and one first-come, first-serve loop (Loop A). Each of the 30 campsites in Loop B and C have a picnic table, steel fire ring, 16'x16' steel corral, and an overhead tether line. Of the 30 campsites, 27 campsite driveways are pull-through, three driveways are back-in, and all have packed gravel surfacing. The internal access roads are also packed gravel. Four vault toilets, five trash dumpsters, and six water faucets service the campground. Nearly all water faucets are located at a vault toilet. Facilities are not accessible for persons with disabilities. Reservable group sites are located in Loop B and in Loop C. The group site in Loop B has six picnic tables, five pedestal fire grills, one group fire ring, and limited parking for a maximum of two vehicles. Trailers cannot be accommodated. The group site in Loop C has a steel ramada with six picnic tables, a steel ramada-covered cooking area with two triple cooking surface fire pedestal grills, water faucet, one large and one small steel fire ring, overhead tether line, a 16'x16' steel corral, and limited parking for a maximum of two vehicles. Groom Creek Horse Camp is intended for equestrian users only, campers without horses will be turned away, you can find more information at our Forest webpage or by calling the Bradshaw office at (928) 443-8000.
Natural Features
Horse Camp occupies an area dominated by ponderosa pine mixed with alligator juniper, oak species, and a variety of forbs and native grasses. Colorful wildflowers bloom in the spring, and during the summer monsoon seasons. Visitors may see a variety of wildlife including deer, mountain lion, bobcat, coyotes, fox, rabbits, lizards, snakes, and birds.
Nearby Attractions
Prescott is a 15 minute drive from Horse Camp. Many activities including arts, crafts and music festivals are scheduled throughout the summer. Goldwater Lake, located within minutes of Horse Camp, is managed by the City of Prescott. The City of Prescott's recreation pass and day-use fee should not be confused with the Prescott National Forest Day-Use Passes or day-use fee.
What the agency tells you
Maximum stay limit is 14 days within 30 consecutive days in Prescott National Forest including stays at dispersed sites.
Groom Creek Horse Camp is intended for equestrian users only, campers without horses will be turned away.
Fireworks, including sparklers, are prohibited at all times on National Forest Lands.
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Check-in 2:00 PM or later; Check-out 12 NOON or earlier. Early arrivals can park across the street at Trailhead 307 and enjoy equestrian trails until check-in time. Those who occupy a site early are expected to pay the site fee at the same rate as an overnight visit
All guests with a second vehicle must pay with exact change using the self-pay kiosk as soon as campsite is selected.
Quiet hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Pets are welcome but must be on a 6 foot leash or in a cage and never unattended.
All smoking must be done within enclosed vehicles, buildings, or developed fee recreation sites where the area is cleared of all flammable material
Fire restrictions may be imposed due to dry conditions, at which time smoking, wood and charcoal fires may be prohibited.
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
- 35 · 35 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 35 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Not allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…roads are also packed gravel. Four vault toilets, five trash dumpsters, and six water faucets…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…toilets, five trash dumpsters, and six water faucets service the campground. Nearly all water faucets…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Horseback riding
- Visitor center
- Night sky · 213th darkest of 262 in AZ
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 4 days ago, 12 km away
- Patchy color
19 of 62 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:43 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
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
“Single Site: First Vehicle Free, Second Vehicle Fee is $5” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $18 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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 16:43 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
37 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 36 mapped sitesAll 37 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 35 of the 37 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| A | 01 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 167 ft | 3,068 ft | $18 |
| A | 02 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 112 ft | 2,849 ft | $18 |
| A | 03 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 147 ft | 2,672 ft | $18 |
| A | 04 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 70 ft | 2,761 ft | $18 |
| A | 05 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 70 ft | 2,807 ft | $18 |
| A | 06 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 82 ft | 2,888 ft | $18 |
| B | 08 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 74 ft | 3,152 ft | $18 |
| B | 09 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 74 ft | 3,193 ft | $18 |
| B | 10 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 81 ft | 3,238 ft | $18 |
| B | 11 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 81 ft | 3,299 ft | $18 |
| B | 12 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 118 ft | 3,385 ft | $18 |
| B | 13 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 112 ft | 3,508 ft | $18 |
| B | 14 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 90 ft | 3,583 ft | $18 |
| B | 15 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 90 ft | 3,648 ft | $18 |
| B | Loop B Group Picnic | day use | 35 ft | 191 ft | 3,559 ft | |
| C | 16 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 90 ft | 2,893 ft | $18 |
| C | 17 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 136 ft | 2,942 ft | $18 |
| C | 18 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 90 ft | 2,971 ft | $18 |
| C | 19 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 103 ft | 3,117 ft | $18 |
| C | 20 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 103 ft | 3,213 ft | $18 |
| C | 21 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 135 ft | 3,329 ft | $18 |
| C | 22 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 135 ft | 3,462 ft | $18 |
| C | 23 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 158 ft | 3,276 ft | $18 |
| C | 24 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 134 ft | 3,397 ft | $18 |
| C | 26 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 130 ft | 3,271 ft | $18 |
| C | 27 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 102 ft | 3,144 ft | $18 |
| C | 28 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 73 ft | 3,065 ft | $18 |
| C | 29 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 73 ft | 2,995 ft | $18 |
| C | 30 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 96 ft | 2,962 ft | $18 |
| C | 31 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 147 ft | 2,741 ft | $18 |
| C | 32 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 108 ft | 2,657 ft | $18 |
| C | 33 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 94 ft | 2,708 ft | $18 |
| C | 34 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 79 ft | 2,624 ft | $18 |
| C | 35 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 79 ft | 2,665 ft | $18 |
| C | 36 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 40 ft | 2,797 ft | $18 |
| C | 37 | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | 40 ft | 2,777 ft | $18 |
| C | Loop C Group Picnic | day use | 22 ft | 3,232 ft | $18 |
The agency files 2 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It files them as day use. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
25 of 37 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Groom Creek SchoolhousePrescott National Forest · 0.5 mi
Upper Wolf Creek GroupPrescott National Forest · 1.0 mi
Lower Wolf Creek CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 1.3 mi
White Spar CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 3.5 mi
Eagle Ridge Group CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 4.4 mi
Hilltop Campground (AZ)Prescott National Forest · 4.5 miFrom Phoenix, Arizona, Take I-17 north for 61.8 miles. Take exit 262 toward Cordes Junction/Prescott. Merge onto State Route 69 west and follow for 33.8 miles. At the split, take the ramp for Route 89 south. Turn slight left onto East Gurley Street/89 and follow for about 0.8-mile. Turn left at Mt. Vernon Street (Senator Highway, County Road #56) and continue for 7.2 miles to Horse Camp on the right. Groom Creek Loop Trailhead #307 is east of the campground, across Forest Road #52.
From downtown Prescott, Take Gurley Street east to Mt. Vernon Avenue. Take Mt. Vernon (Senator Highway, County Road #56) south for about 7.2 miles to Horse Camp on the right. Groom Creek Loop Trailhead #307 is east of the campground, across Forest Road #52.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Prescott, AZ
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Groom Creek Horse Camp 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 →