Peppersauce
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
With its picturesque vegetation and dramatic setting at the foot of 9,157' Mt. Lemmon in southeastern Arizona, Peppersauce Campground is an outstanding area for enjoying an afternoon picnic or a weekend campout. This year-round facility is a popular stop among off-road vehicle enthusiasts and families. Hunting, hiking and scenic driving opportunities are nearby. It is located 8 miles from the town of Oracle. Keep reading
Recreation
The Santa Catalina Mountains are known for their exceptional hiking. Hikers can find access to the Arizona Trail, which runs from Mexico to Utah, about 5 miles from the campground along Forest Road 38. Off-road vehicle trails are also available in the area. A few nearby caves afford visitors the opportunity for caving and spelunking.
Facilities
Peppersauce Campground has one reservable group camping area for up to 35 people at a time. The facility is equipped with vault toilets, several tables and benches, a grill, campfire rings and lantern posts. The parking area can hold up to 10 vehicles. First-come, first-served individual campsites are also available. A campground host is available on-site for visitor assistance.
Natural Features
Campsites at Peppersauce are spread throughout a creekside oasis of enormous Arizona sycamore and walnut trees that provide shade in summer and color in autumn. The campground sits at an elevation of 4,700 feet alongside Peppersauce Creek. The creek is normally dry except during heavy rains or the area's summer monsoon season. Campers should be aware that the creek is prone to flash flooding during rain events.
Nearby Attractions
Visitors can explore several historic, cultural and natural attractions within a day trip, including the University of Arizona's Biosphere 2, the city of Tucson, Saguaro National Park, Sabino Canyon and Colossal Cave.
What the agency tells you
Peppersauce daily group site fee is $50.00.
The road going into the group site is impassible for most low clearance passenger cars, trailers, and RVs.
Trailers are discouraged; sites are small and do not have pull-throughs
Everything else this campground posts · 10
No hookups
No cell phone service
Pack and saddle stock are not permitted in campground
Build fires only in fire rings, stoves, grills or fireplaces provided; you are responsible for keeping fires under control; be sure fire is completely extinguished before leaving
Please bring your own firewood, as none is provided
No off-road vehicle riding in the campground or group area
To ascend the control road up Mt. Lemmon from the campground, a two-wheel drive high-clearance vehicle is sufficient; in bad weather, a four-wheel-drive, high-clearance vehicle is needed; in winter, snow can quickly make the control road impassable by any vehicle
Bears and other animals live in the area; all food must be secured in the food storage lockers provided or in a hard-sided vehicle; dispose of trash in trash cans
Click here to learn more about Coronado National Forest
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
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 22 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…at a time. The facility is equipped with vault toilets, several tables and benches, a grill, campfire…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Picnicking
- Visitor center
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 212th darkest of 262 in AZ
- Bortle 4
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
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
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| PEPPERSAUCE | Group Area | group standard area nonelectric | 22 ft | 3.3 mi | 277 ft |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Spencer Canyon CampgroundCoronado National Forest · 8.3 mi
Whitetail CampgroundCoronado National Forest · 8.8 mi
Palisades Ranger Residence CabinCoronado National Forest · 8.8 mi
Showers Point Group SiteCoronado National Forest · 9.0 mi
Sollers Cabin (AZ)Coronado National Forest · 9.0 mi
Rose CanyonCoronado National Forest · 10 miFrom Tucson, drive north on Oracle Road (U.S. Highway 89). Continue for 27 miles to State Highway 77. Turn right (east) and drive 10 miles to the town of Oracle. Take the first Oracle exit and travel 4 miles through the town to Forest Road 38. Follow 38 to Peppersauce Canyon.
Please note: the speed limit is 5 mph inside the campground and 35 mph outside the campground on Forest Road 38.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Campo Bonito, AZ
Typical weather
Typical October night 52°F, day 77°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 35°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 Junes are colder than the June 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
Peppersauce is in Arizona’s 6th congressional district. Its representative, Juan Ciscomani (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →