Rock Bluff Group Site
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- 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 · 14 notices
In the agency’s own words
Rock Bluff Group Site is just a short distance from Parker Canyon Lake in a remote and scenic region of the Coronado National Forest in southeastern Arizona. The site is open to groups of up to 50 people to enjoy camping and picnicking, as well as fishing and boating at the lake. Keep reading
Recreation
Campers can enjoy an interpretive trail around the lake that begins a quarter-mile walk from Rock Bluff. Trailside benches are located at some of the best wildlife viewing areas. Bald eagles are regularly sighted during the winter, and osprey are sometimes seen migrating through the area in the fall. For those who like to fish, Parker Canyon Lake offers both cold and warm water species, including stocked rainbow trout and resident bass, sunfish and catfish. Boating is available with a limit of one 10-horsepower motor or less. Day use fee $8/day or $10/week Facilities The camping area consists of three sites with two tables and two campfire rings each. Tables and grills are clustered on small, walled patios. The facility provides trash collection and toilets.
Natural Features
The group camping area sits at an elevation of 5,400 feet in a small, rocky canyon dotted with oaks and junipers. Animals unique to the southwest, such as coatimundi, javelina and roadrunners, occasionally make appearances around the lake. 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.
Nearby Attractions
A lakeside developed recreation site, including a boat ramp, fishing pier, general store and boat rentals, is located just a short drive from the group area. Day use fee $8/day or $10/week per vehicle (pay on site with exact amount) or pay online ahead of time at https://www.recreation.gov/sitepass/74388 We also honor all America The Beautiful national passes for day use. Passes must be clearly displayed when in Day Use Areas.
What the agency tells you
This facility is open year-round
No drinking water available; campers must bring their own
No cell service
Everything else this campground posts · 11
Gate is locked at all times
No utility hookups
Pack and saddle stock are not permitted in day use area
Off-road vehicles may be used only for entering and leaving campgrounds
Be sure your fire is completely extinguished before leaving; do not leave fires unattended; visitors are responsible for keeping their fires under control
Firewood is not available at this site; please bring your own firewood or charcoal; tree-cutting is prohibited
Bears and other animals live in the area; all food must be secured and trash disposed in the trash cans provided on-site
Day use fees at Marina area are not covered by this reservation. Day use fee $8/day or $10/week per vehicle (pay on site with exact amount) or pay online ahead of time at https://www.recreation.gov/sitepass/74388 We also honor all America The Beautiful national passes for day use. Passes must be clearly displayed when in Day Use Areas.
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.
Check in time: 2pm, Check out time: 12 (noon)
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Store
- Nearby
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Paddle Boating
- Ranger Station
- Wildlife viewing
Full this Saturdayread 16:14 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedNot on the booking system
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Tue, Oct 20. read 16:14 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.
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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:14 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 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. 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.
| ROCK BLUFF GROUP SITE | 1 | group standard area nonelectric | 752 ft | $45 |
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
Where it is
Ramsey Vista CampgroundCoronado National Forest · 8.8 mi
Canelo Ranger OfficeCoronado National Forest · 8.9 mi
Canelo Ranger ResidenceCoronado National Forest · 9.0 mi
Reef Townsite Group AreaCoronado National Forest · 9.6 miRoad Canyon Camp AreaLas Cienegas National Conservation Area · 23 miFrom Tucson, drive east on I-10 to the Arizona Route 83 exit. Drive south to Sonoita, and then continue on 83 for approximately 25 miles to Parker Canyon Lake.
From Sierra Vista, travel through Fort Huachuca's west gate to State Route 83. Turn south and travel 10 miles to Parker Canyon Lake.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Sierra Vista, AZ
Typical weather
Typical October night 44°F, day 77°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 28°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 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 · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Rock Bluff Group Site 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 →
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 moneyJuan CiscomaniU.S. Representative · Arizona’s 6th 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 Rock Bluff Group Site, Coronado National Forest, Arizona
Dear Juan Ciscomani, I’m a constituent in Arizona’s 6th district. I tried to camp at Rock Bluff Group Site, Coronado National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Rock Bluff Group Site are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Rock Bluff Group Site keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Rock Bluff Group Site. 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 Rock Bluff Group Site (Coronado 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 Rock Bluff Group Site, Coronado National Forest, Arizona
Dear Mark Kelly, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Rock Bluff Group Site, Coronado National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Rock Bluff Group Site are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Rock Bluff Group Site keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Rock Bluff Group Site. 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 Rock Bluff Group Site (Coronado 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 Rock Bluff Group Site, Coronado National Forest, Arizona
Dear Ruben Gallego, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Rock Bluff Group Site, Coronado National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Rock Bluff Group Site are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Rock Bluff Group Site keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Rock Bluff Group Site. 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 Rock Bluff Group Site (Coronado National Forest, Arizona) via campanac.com