Reef Townsite Group Area
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
This high-mountain group campground and day use area is located on a site that was once occupied by the old mining town of Reef. Many relics of Reef's mining history, including the remains of the town's old water system, are still visible in and around the campground. Groups of up to 50 people can enjoy walking an interpretive history trail, hiking, horseback riding and watching wildlife in this cool mountain setting. Keep reading
Recreation
Reef Townsite Loop Trail, an interpretive trail that highlights the mining history of this area and showcases beautiful views, begins and ends at the northeastern edge of the campground. The national forest has a variety of hiking and mountain biking trails for those who wish to leave the facility for a day trip.
Facilities
Reef Townsite can accommodate one group of up to 50 people at a time. Facilities include a picnic shelter that contains six picnic tables, two large group barbecue grills and two food preparation tables, as well as toilets, a parking area and a large shaded area for tents.
Natural Features
This site rests on the "Reef" rock formations in the in the Huachuca Mountains. At an elevation of 7,200 feet, it provides a cool respite from the heat of surrounding lower deserts in summer. The Coronado National Forest covers 1.78 million acres of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. Elevations range from 3,000 to 10,720 feet in 12 widely scattered mountain ranges, or "sky islands," that rise dramatically from the desert floor, supporting biologically diverse plant communities.
What the agency tells you
Group site is locked when not in use
No drinking water available at this site; visitors must bring their own drinking water; nearest drinking water is in Sierra Vista
Tents and trailers under 12 ft. are permitted; longer trailers and motor homes cannot negotiate the switchbacks on Carr Canyon Road
Everything else this campground posts · 7
No utility hookups
Pack and saddle stock are not permitted in campground or picnic area
Only collect dead firewood
This is a high elevation facility; use caution when traveling from lower elevations
Bears and other animals live in the area; all food must be secured and trash disposed in the trash cans provided on-site
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
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
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.
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
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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 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.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| REEF TOWNSITE GROUP AREA | 1 | group standard area nonelectric | 2.8 mi | 163 ft | $45 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Ramsey Vista CampgroundCoronado National Forest · 0.8 miLakeview CampgroundCoronado National Forest · 9.5 mi
Rock Bluff Group SiteCoronado National Forest · 9.6 mi
Canelo Ranger OfficeCoronado National Forest · 16 mi
Canelo Ranger ResidenceCoronado National Forest · 16 miRoad Canyon Camp AreaLas Cienegas National Conservation Area · 28 miFrom Tucson, Arizona, drive east on I-10 to exit 302 to State Route 90. Drive south 25 miles through Sierra Vista. Proceed 8 miles south of Sierra Vista on State Route 92 and turn west onto Carr Canyon Road/Forest Road 368.
Forest Road 368 is a narrow gravel road with steep mountain grades, tight switchbacks and recomended for vehicles with good clearance. Contact Sierra Vista Ranger District Office if you have questions or want to know current conditions.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Sierra Vista Southeast, AZ
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
Reef Townsite Group Area 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 →