Riverside Campground (AZ)
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $16From, per site
- Sites
- 41 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
Riverside Campground offers more peace and tranquility than the busier recreation sites at Bartlett Lake. With the campground’s proximity to water, fisherman and avid water recreationalists enjoy this spot all year long. There are designated grills, fire rings and picnic tables where families can enjoy the day together along the river, not far from the dam. Keep a look out for fish jumping along the river! 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
Camping Fishing Non-Motorized Boating River Access Birding Facilities 12 Campsites First-Come, First Serve only. No reservations. 14 day stay limit. Maximum occupancy per individual campsite is 10 people. 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. No motor boats allowed. Trailers under 16 feet. Glass containers prohibted. No potable water services available. Quiet hours 10:00 pm to 6:00 am (running generators are not permitted during quiet hours).
Natural Features
Plenty of trees provide ample shade and the calming sound of the river flowing makes Riverside Campground a great place to relax and enjoy nature. Keep a lookout for wildlife!
What the agency tells you
-12 Campsites -First-Come, First Serve only. No reservations. -14 day stay limit. -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. -Maximum occupancy per individual campsite is 10 people. -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. -No motor boats allowed. -Trailers under 16 feet. -Glass containers prohibted. -No potable water services available. -Quiet hours 10:00 pm to 6:00 am (running generators are not permitted during quiet hours).
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 4
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…16 feet. Glass containers prohibted. No potable water services available. Quiet hours 10:00 pm to 6:00 am…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Birding
- Canoeing
- Non-Motorized Boating
- Wildlife viewing
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 1 of the 4 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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 · 20
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($16), 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
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 | 345 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 · 17 mi
Larry Forbis Overnight Group SiteTonto National Forest · 18 miThis site is 23 miles east of Carefree. Take Cave Creek Road for 7 miles then turn right on Bartlett Dam Road and continue for 13 miles. Just before reaching the Jojoba Boating site, FR 19 becomes a maintained gravel road that turns south (right). Follow it for another 3 miles to Riverside.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Rio Verde, 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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Riverside Campground (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 →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
Inside the Riverside Fire perimeter, 2024, 178 acres. Tree cover here read 25% in the 2021 product and 0% in the 2024 one.