Potato Patch Campground
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 15 of the next 15 nights read 16:53 UTC
- A night
- $18–$36Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 41All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Campers looking for some peace and quiet will find this relaxing campground offers cool summertime temperatures and easy access from scenic Hwy 89A in central Arizona. The campground is located at 7,200 ft. in elevation between Mingus Mountain and Woodchute Wilderness in a beautiful ponderosa pine forest. To make reservations click on the availability button to the right to book this site or call 1 (877) 444-6777. For general campground questions contact the Verde Ranger District at 1 (928) 567-4121. Keep reading
Recreation
Wildlife viewing, hiking, scenic driving and off-highway scenic driving are popular in the area. The wanderer in you will appreciate your close proximity to Yeager Canyon Trail #28 and Woodchute Trail #102, a rewarding hike into the 5,923 acre Woodchute Wilderness and view from the top of Woodchute Mountain. Access to a segment of The Great Western Trail is located adjacent to the campground. Mingus Lake is just across the highway and stocked for fishing. The Verde River in the valley below offers rafting, kayaking and bird watching.
Facilities
Each site at Potato Patch Campground features a picnic table, paved parking, a level tent pad (non-electric sites only), and an elevated fire ring with grill. Accessible sites have an additional pedestal grill. Loop B: All twelve sites have electrical hookups (30 amp). Tents are not permitted. See site map under photos. Three composting toilets, garbage service, and potable water (not for filling RV tanks) are available to all campers.
Natural Features
This mountain top campground offers a cool respite from hot Arizona summers -- a classic forest setting for a memorable camping adventure. Connect with your inner naturalist and observe the wildlife and wildflowers found in abundance around the campground. Interesting geology can be found in any direction with many significant rock formations, canyons and mountains within easy driving distance from Potato Patch.
Nearby Attractions
The historic and eclectic mining town of Jerome is just down the steep, winding mountain road, with unique shopping and dining opportunities and Jerome State Historic Park. Tuzigoot National Monument, an ancient pueblo, and the lively historic towns of Clarkdale and Cottonwood with museums and basic services are just over 9 miles away. Hayfield Draw OHV Area is located on Highway 260 between Cottonwood and Camp Verde for a unique OHV recreational experience. The towns of Prescott Valley and Prescott are 20 miles away and provide a wide array of services, shopping and dining.
What the agency tells you
Maximum stay limit is 14 days within 30 consecutive days in Prescott National Forest including stays at dispersed sites.
A Forest Service host is on site.
Access is limited to a combined vehicle length of 40 ft.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Interagency Senior and Access passes are honored for a 50% discount on overnight fees only.
All guests without a reservation (first-come, first-served) or a second vehicle must pay with exact change using the self-pay kiosk as soon as campsite is selected.
Pets are welcome but must be on a 6 foot leash or in a cage and never unattended.
Quite hours are between 10 pm and 6 am.
OHV/ATV use is prohibited in the campground.
Fireworks, including sparklers, are prohibited at all times on National Forest Lands.
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.
Click here for more information on the Prescott National Forest.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 41
- Hookups
- 12 electric
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 3
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Composting Toilets
- “…See site map under photos. Three composting toilets, garbage service, and potable water (not for…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…composting toilets, garbage service, and potable water (not for filling RV tanks) are available to all…”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 179th darkest of 262 in AZ
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 29 km away
- Patchy color
Full this Saturdayread 16:53 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
Every one of the 36 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 23 are free on Tue, Oct 20. read 16:53 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.
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
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $18–$36 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 16:53 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
41 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 40 mapped sitesAll 41 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 41 of the 41 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.
| Loop A | A01 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 92 ft | 4,663 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A02 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 103 ft | 4,798 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A02a | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $18–$36 | ||||
| Loop A | A03 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 40 ft | 4,939 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A04 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 40 ft | 4,968 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A05 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 67 ft | 4,907 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A06 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | yes | 61 ft | 4,968 ft | $18–$36 | |
| Loop A | A07 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 61 ft | 5,024 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A08 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 62 ft | 5,040 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A09 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 60 ft | 5,081 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A10 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 48 ft | 5,102 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A11 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 48 ft | 5,149 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A12 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 60 ft | 5,090 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A13 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 60 ft | 5,140 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A14 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | 67 ft | 5,064 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A15 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 52 ft | 5,029 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A16 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 52 ft | 4,978 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A17 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 100 ft | 4,917 ft | $18–$36 | |
| Loop A | A18 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 94 ft | 4,884 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A19 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 62 ft | 4,748 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A20 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 65 ft | 4,718 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A21 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 62 ft | 4,687 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A22 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 65 ft | 4,660 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A23 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 61 ft | 4,755 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A24 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 61 ft | 4,804 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A25 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 48 ft | 4,813 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A26 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 45 ft | 4,860 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A27 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 64 ft | 4,866 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop A | A28 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 45 ft | 4,904 ft | $18–$36 | ||
| Loop B | B01 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 37 ft | 4,739 ft | $24 | |
| Loop B | B02 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 37 ft | 4,732 ft | $24 | |
| Loop B | B03 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 37 ft | 4,732 ft | $24 | |
| Loop B | B04 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 46 ft | 4,756 ft | $24 | |
| Loop B | B05 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 39 ft | 4,790 ft | $24 | |
| Loop B | B06 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 39 ft | 4,824 ft | $24 | |
| Loop B | B07 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 41 ft | 4,773 ft | $24 | |
| Loop B | B08 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 37 ft | 4,742 ft | $24 | |
| Loop B | B09 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 37 ft | 4,710 ft | $24 | |
| Loop B | B10 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | yes | 59 ft | 4,664 ft | $24 |
| Loop B | B11 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 25 ft | 4,679 ft | $24 | |
| Loop B | B12 | standard electric | 40 ft | 30 amp | 25 ft | 4,669 ft | $24 |
25 of 41 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Playground Group1.3 mi
Mingus Mountain Campground and Group SitePrescott National Forest · 2.2 miPowell Springs CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 10 mi
Lynx CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 19 mi
Hilltop Campground (AZ)Prescott National Forest · 19 mi
Eagle Ridge Group CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 19 miFrom Prescott, take U.S. Highway 89 north past Granite Dells, turn right on Hwy 89A and travel approximately 20 miles to the top of Mingus Mountain on steep, mountainous grade. Potato Patch Campground entrance will be to your left (across from the Summit Picnic Area) on Forest Road 106.
From the Verde Ranger Station in Camp Verde, travel approximately 20 miles northwest on Hwy 260 (toward Cottonwood). Turn left on Hwy 89A. Stay on Hwy 89A (watch for a second left turn), then follow the paved and winding mountain road through the town of Jerome and up to the summit on Mingus Mountain. This road is steep with tight hairpin turns and few pull-offs in Jerome or on the roadway. The turn-off to Potato Patch is on the right, across from the Summit Picnic Area.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Jerome, AZ
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 66°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 16°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
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
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
Potato Patch Campground 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 Potato Patch Campground, Prescott National Forest, Arizona
Dear Elijah Crane, I’m a constituent in Arizona’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Potato Patch Campground, Prescott National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 41 sites at Potato Patch Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 36 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Potato Patch Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Potato Patch Campground. 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 Potato Patch Campground (Prescott 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 Potato Patch Campground, Prescott National Forest, Arizona
Dear Mark Kelly, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Potato Patch Campground, Prescott National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 41 sites at Potato Patch Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 36 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Potato Patch Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Potato Patch Campground. 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 Potato Patch Campground (Prescott 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 Potato Patch Campground, Prescott National Forest, Arizona
Dear Ruben Gallego, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Potato Patch Campground, Prescott National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 41 sites at Potato Patch Campground are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 36 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Potato Patch Campground keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Potato Patch Campground. 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 Potato Patch Campground (Prescott National Forest, Arizona) via campanac.com