Mesquite (AZ)
- Right now
- Closed by fireThe agency’s own sentence, quoted below
- A night
- $16When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 4In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
Mesquite Campground provides privacy and shade. Here you can relax under the shaded canopies of mesquite trees while listening to the sounds of water flowing from the Verde River just a short distance from your site. Designated camp sites have fire rings, grills and picnic tables where families can enjoy time together. There are hiking, fishing, swimming opportunities and more. 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
Swimming River and Stream Fishing Non-Motorized Boating Nearby Hiking Trails Nearby OHV Routes Facilities 12 campsites First-come, First-serve only. No reservations. Maximum occupancy per individual campsite is 10. 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. Portions of the Verde River are deep. Use of motorized watercraft on flowing portions of the Verde River is prohibited. Road to campground is unpaved and unmaintained. Recommend high clearance four-wheel-drive vehicles. Not reccommended for trailers. Potable water is not available. Quiet hours 10:00 pm to 6:00 am (running generators are not permitted during quiet hours). THERE ARE NO TRASH SERVICES. PACK IT IN, PACK IT OUT.
Natural Features
The Verde River is just a short distance from the campground, with swimming, fishing, and non-motorized boating access. Large trees provide plenty of shade.
Nearby Attractions
Horsehoe Reservoir Towns of Carefree and Cave Creek Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (480) 595-3300.
What the agency tells you
-12 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. See Season & Fees for more payment details. -First-come, First-serve only. No reservations. -Maximum occupancy per individual campsite is 10. -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. -Portions of the Verde River are deep. Use of motorized watercraft on flowing portions of the Verde River is prohibited. -Road to campground is unpaved and unmaintained. -Recommend high clearance four-wheel-drive vehicles. -Not reccommended for trailers. -Potable water is not available. -Quiet hours 10:00 pm to 6:00 am (running generators are not permitted during quiet hours). -THERE ARE NO TRASH SERVICES. PACK IT IN, PACK IT OUT.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 4
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…vehicles. Not reccommended for trailers. Potable water is not available. Quiet hours 10:00 pm to 6:00 am (running…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, River, Creek
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Off Road Vehicle Trails
- Paddling
- Water access
Nothing to book until it reopens
Mesquite Campground Post Fire Recovery Closure for Public Health & Safety.
The closure above is the reading. We hold no availability snapshot for this campground, so there’s no thirty-night strip to draw under it.
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 18
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
What the agency said · 1
Mesquite Campground Post Fire Recovery Closure for Public Health & Safety. Mesquite Campground closed due to post fire recovery.
U.S. Forest Service · posted May 15, 2026
Filed as emergency from the agency’s own words “Fire”. That reading is ours.
Open within 60 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Sheep BridgeTonto National Forest · 7.7 mi
- Cave Creek Group SiteTonto National Forest · 8.5 mi · 1 site
- Bagley Flat Campground and Boat DockTonto National Forest · 30 mi
- Houston Mesa Campground and Equestrian SitesTonto National Forest · 31 mi
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
4 sites · the site map
All 4 sites
| Scan and Pay | ScanPay 2 | type not stated | |
| Scan and Pay | ScanPay 3 | type not stated | |
| Scan and Pay | ScanPay 4 | type not stated | |
| Scan and Pay | Standard | standard nonelectric | 767 ft |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cave Creek Group SiteTonto National Forest · 8.5 miRiverside Campground (AZ)Tonto National Forest · 12 miThe site is 22 miles northeast of Carefree. From Carefree, take Cave Creek Road to Bartlett Dam Road. Turn right and continue for 6 miles to the junction of FR 205 and FR 19. Continue on FR 205 which turns left and becomes an un-maintained, unpaved road to Horseshoe Reservoir. Continue approximately 9 miles more on FR 205, following the route to Horseshoe Reservoir. Watch for the sign marking the site.
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
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Mesquite (AZ) 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 →