Rose Canyon
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 8 of the next 8 nights read 14:42 UTC
- A night
- $31–$51Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 7332 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Rose Canyon Campground is just 17 miles northeast of Tucson, Arizona, off the Catalina Highway Scenic Drive near the summit of Mt. Lemmon. This area is popular for day use as well as overnight camping. With a high elevation, forested setting, two group picnic areas and opportunities for hiking, wildlife viewing and fishing, Rose Canyon offers a great summer respite from the city. Keep reading
Recreation
The lake is sheltered by trees and offers a pleasant setting for a walk in the woods, relaxing on the shore or spending an afternoon fishing for stocked trout. A one-mile trail around the lake is convenient for anglers and hikers. The trail is accessible from the lower parking area to a floating dock near a dam. The surrounding national forest boasts a variety of hiking and mountain biking trails, including several that traverse the 9,157-foot Mt. Lemmon.
Facilities
The campground offers spacious, single-family campsites, as well as two group day use areas with picnic shelters, which can be reserved for up to 120 guests. The campground is equipped with picnic tables, campfire rings with grills and vault toilets.
Natural Features
The campground sits high on the slopes of the Santa Catalina Mountains, at an elevation of 7,000 feet. Because of its elevation, it can be much cooler than the lower-elevation campgrounds in the area. The campsites are spacious and spread out among stands of large ponderosa pines and clusters of Gambel oak. During the summer rainy season, Rose Creek meanders through the area to the six-acre Rose Canyon Lake at the lower end of the campground. 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. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (520) 576-1325.
Nearby Attractions
Catalina Highway, also known as General Hitchcock Highway and Sky Island Scenic Byway, is the only paved road that leads to the upper reaches of Mt. Lemmon and the Santa Catalina Range. It is one of the most scenic highways in the southwest and is a popular day trip. Other notable attractions include Saguaro National Park, Sabino Canyon and Colossal Cave.
What the agency tells you
No hookups. Campground has 6 dedicated RV only sites. No tents are allowed on these RV sites.
Swimming and boats are not permitted in the lake
Pack and saddle stock not permitted in campground or picnic area
Everything else this campground posts · 12
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
The camp store is located south of campsite #73.
Credit cards are not accepted. Only cash and Arizona checks are accepted.
The Amphitheater has limited parking. Up to 50 persons - 4 vehicles. 51 to 90 persons - 8 vehicles. 91 to 120 persons - 12 vehicles are allowed.
Please Note: One RV with tow vehicle per single site or one vehicle per tent site. Any extra vehicle is not included with the reservation fee. Extra vehicle will be charged a per night fee and collected at the campground.
Fire Restrictions: Fire restrictions may be imposed at any time due to hot, dry weather conditions, at which time campfires and charcoal fires may not be allowed
Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (NOON) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests. Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
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 to learn more about Coronado National Forest
Maximum trailer length is 22 feet.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 73 · 24 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Paved pads
- 30 of 73
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…tables, campfire rings with grills and vault toilets. Natural Features The campground sits high on the…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Fishing
Full this Saturdayread 14:42 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
3 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:17 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 22 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 20 are free on Wed, Oct 21. read 14:42 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 · 18
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $31–$51 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
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 3
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:17 UTC
- Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 2Coronado National Forest · 9.0 mi · 1 of 1 site-night open
- Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 1Coronado National Forest · 9.0 mi · 1 of 1 site-night open
- Saguaro National Park Wilderness PermitsSaguaro National Park · 16 mi · 22 of 40 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 14:42 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
77 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 30 mapped sitesAll 77 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 74 of the 77 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. 73 of the 77 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.
| Barnum | 001 | tent only nonelectric | 160 ft | 1.1 mi | 61 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Barnum | 002 | tent only nonelectric | 195 ft | 1.1 mi | 209 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Barnum | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 127 ft | 1.1 mi | 99 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Barnum | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 156 ft | 1.1 mi | 303 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Barnum | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 127 ft | 1.1 mi | 217 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Black Bear Flats | 069 | tent only nonelectric | 64 ft | 1,338 ft | 163 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Black Bear Flats | 070 | tent only nonelectric | 64 ft | 1,294 ft | 105 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Black Bear Flats | 071 | tent only nonelectric | 81 ft | 1,244 ft | 219 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Black Bear Flats | 072 | tent only nonelectric | 81 ft | 1,164 ft | 201 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Black Bear Flats | 073 | tent only nonelectric | 93 ft | 1,193 ft | 113 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Green Mt. Loop | 011 | tent only nonelectric | 301 ft | 1.1 mi | 373 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Green Mt. Loop | 014 | tent only nonelectric | 56 ft | 1.0 mi | 136 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Green Mt. Loop | 015 | tent only nonelectric | 56 ft | 1.0 mi | 82 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Green Mt. Loop | 023 | tent only nonelectric | 91 ft | 4,610 ft | 214 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Green Mt. Loop | 024 | tent only nonelectric | 91 ft | 4,595 ft | 300 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Green Mt. Loop | 025 | tent only nonelectric | 199 ft | 4,469 ft | 378 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Group | Rose Canyon Amphitheater | day use | |||||
| Lizard Rock | 1 | day use | yes | 1.1 mi | 116 ft | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 006 | type not stated | 5,098 ft | 160 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 007 | type not stated | 5,066 ft | 155 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 008 | type not stated | 5,244 ft | 171 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 009 | type not stated | 1.0 mi | 128 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 010 | type not stated | 1.0 mi | 182 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 012 | type not stated | 1.0 mi | 156 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 013 | type not stated | 1.0 mi | 210 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 016 | type not stated | 1.0 mi | 120 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 017 | type not stated | 5,068 ft | 236 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 018 | type not stated | 5,105 ft | 152 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 019 | type not stated | 4,994 ft | 263 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 020 | type not stated | 4,865 ft | 113 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 021 | type not stated | 4,865 ft | 120 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 022 | type not stated | 4,623 ft | 72 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 026 | type not stated | 4,472 ft | 296 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 027 | type not stated | 4,420 ft | 200 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 028 | type not stated | 4,275 ft | 183 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 029 | type not stated | 4,186 ft | 248 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 030 | type not stated | 4,256 ft | 181 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 031 | type not stated | 3,939 ft | 327 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 034 | type not stated | 3,776 ft | 285 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 036 | type not stated | 3,785 ft | 152 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 037 | type not stated | 3,698 ft | 164 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 038 | type not stated | 3,671 ft | 202 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 040 | type not stated | 3,018 ft | 329 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 042 | type not stated | 2,913 ft | 339 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 043 | type not stated | 2,856 ft | 118 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 047 | type not stated | 2,447 ft | 152 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 049 | type not stated | 2,196 ft | 125 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 051 | type not stated | 2,012 ft | 251 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 052 | type not stated | 2,055 ft | 255 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 053 | type not stated | 2,189 ft | 446 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 054 | type not stated | 2,288 ft | 537 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 055 | type not stated | 1,981 ft | 584 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 056 | type not stated | 1,896 ft | 449 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 057 | type not stated | 2,023 ft | 441 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 058 | type not stated | 1,943 ft | 362 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 059 | type not stated | 1,982 ft | 302 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 064 | type not stated | 1,583 ft | 389 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 065 | type not stated | 1,504 ft | 310 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 066 | type not stated | 1,411 ft | 223 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 067 | type not stated | 1,529 ft | 328 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | 068 | type not stated | 1,477 ft | 347 ft | $31 | ||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 1 | XXX | unnamed record | $31 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES 2 | XXX | day use | $31 | ||||
| Red Tail | 048 | rv nonelectric | 135 ft | 2,325 ft | 83 ft | $31 | |
| Red Tail | 050 | rv nonelectric | 135 ft | 2,255 ft | 67 ft | $31 | |
| Rose Peak | 060 | tent only nonelectric | 165 ft | 1,821 ft | 184 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Rose Peak | 061 | tent only nonelectric | 122 ft | 1,807 ft | 22 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Rose Peak | 062 | tent only nonelectric | 135 ft | 1,745 ft | 147 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Rose Peak | 063 | tent only nonelectric | 122 ft | 1,871 ft | 100 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Sycamore | 032 | tent only nonelectric | 182 ft | 3,925 ft | 337 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Sycamore | 033 | tent only nonelectric | 182 ft | 3,757 ft | 405 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Sycamore | 035 | tent only nonelectric | 289 ft | 3,913 ft | 61 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Sycamore | 039 | tent only nonelectric | 223 ft | 3,705 ft | 230 ft | $31–$51 | |
| Willow Canyon | 041 | rv nonelectric | 402 ft | 3,073 ft | 454 ft | $31 | |
| Willow edge | 044 | rv nonelectric | 156 ft | 2,842 ft | 85 ft | $31 | |
| Willow edge | 045 | rv nonelectric | 62 ft | 2,928 ft | 77 ft | $31 | |
| Willow edge | 046 | rv nonelectric | 62 ft | 2,969 ft | 92 ft | $31 |
The agency files 4 more records here that aren’t sites for the night: 3 it files as day use and 1 it types MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
25 of 77 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Rose Canyon CampgroundCoronado National Forest · 0.8 mi
General Hitchcock CampgroundCoronado National Forest · 1.2 mi
Sollers Cabin (AZ)Coronado National Forest · 1.3 mi
Palisades Ranger Residence CabinCoronado National Forest · 1.7 mi
Showers Point Group SiteCoronado National Forest · 2.0 mi
Whitetail CampgroundCoronado National Forest · 2.7 miFrom Tucson, Arizona, take Catalina Highway/Arizona Route 39 northeast. The campground is located between mile markers 17 and 18 on the Catalina Highway.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Willow Canyon, AZ
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
Rose Canyon 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 Rose Canyon, Coronado National Forest, Arizona
Dear Juan Ciscomani, I’m a constituent in Arizona’s 6th district. I tried to camp at Rose Canyon, Coronado National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 32 of the 73 campsites the agency files at Rose Canyon, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 22 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. Rose Canyon keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Rose Canyon. 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 Rose Canyon (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 Rose Canyon, Coronado National Forest, Arizona
Dear Mark Kelly, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Rose Canyon, Coronado National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 32 of the 73 campsites the agency files at Rose Canyon, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 22 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. Rose Canyon keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Rose Canyon. 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 Rose Canyon (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 Rose Canyon, Coronado National Forest, Arizona
Dear Ruben Gallego, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Rose Canyon, Coronado National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. recreation.gov lists 32 of the 73 campsites the agency files at Rose Canyon, and every one of them is booked ahead, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 22 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. Rose Canyon keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Rose Canyon. 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 Rose Canyon (Coronado National Forest, Arizona) via campanac.com