Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 1
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 29 of the next 30 nights read 16:10 UTC
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Cactus Ramada 1 is a reservable group picnic site within the extremely popular Sabino Canyon Recreation Area at the edge of Tucson, Arizona. The facility is accessible and can accommodate up to 45 people. Groups can picnic, hike and ride horseback in this desert oasis of Coronado National Forest. Keep reading
Recreation
Hikers are drawn to Sabino Canyon for its beauty, scenery and challenge. Three popular trails begin at the recreation area and offer access to the dramatic landscape of the Santa Catalina Front Range, famous for its deep canyons and soaring ridges. A sunset hike reveals the lights of Tucson framed by the black silhouette of surrounding mountains. The self-guided Desert Nature Trail at the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center provides an excellent way to get to know the plants that have adapted to living in this demanding environment. Several area trails can also be used for mountain biking and horseback riding.
Facilities
The group site can accommodate up to 45 people. Amenities include a vault restroom, picnic shelter, four accessible picnic tables, one serving table, two bear-proof trash cans, two grills and a campfire circle. Access to Cactus Ramada 1 is through the use of the Sabino Canyon shuttle service or by foot travel 1/3-mile to the Cactus Picnic Area from the parking area. There are also many individual first-come, first-served picnic sites scattered throughout area. A visitor center and bookstore are nearby.
Natural Features
The recreation area is located along Sabino Creek at an elevation of 2,800 feet in the foot of the Santa Catalina Mountains. For many who come to visit the Southwest, this area provides their first close encounter with the Sonoran Desert and the fascinating variety of plants and animals that make it their home. Winter temperatures are pleasant, and springtime brings the desert to life with numerous flowering cacti and desert wildflowers.
Nearby Attractions
The recreation area or visitor center can be used as a home base for exploring scenic and natural areas of Sabino Canyon. The city of Tucson is just a short drive away and has many attractions and amenities. Other notable places nearby include Saguaro National Park and Colossal Cave.
What the agency tells you
Parking is in the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area and Visitor Center parking lot; visitors using Cactus Ramada 1 must use a shuttle bus (additional fee) or walk a short distance to the site.
This site is for day use only; no overnight camping; day use hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
All funds will be forfeited if contact is not made with the Santa Catalina Ranger District prior to 12 hours before the reservation period; call 520-749-8700
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Only one vehicle is allowed inside the group site to carry supplies in and out
This is mountain lion and bear habitat; be aware of your surroundings, secure all food and make sure all trash is properly disposed in provided trash cans
Pets are not allowed in portion of the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area
Bicycles are not permitted in Sabino Canyon on Saturdays and Wednesdays; all other days, they are permitted before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m.
Charcoal not provided; please bring your own
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.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…up to 45 people. Amenities include a vault restroom, picnic shelter, four accessible picnic tables, one…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Biking
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Ranger programs
- Picnicking
- Visitor center
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 260th darkest of 262 in AZ
- Bortle 5
1 of 1 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:10 UTC
The agency files 1 record here and marks it day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
OpenBookedNot reservable
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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:10 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 records · the site map
All 1 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| SABINO CANYON RECREATION AREA CACTUS RAMADA 1 | SABINO CANYON RECREATION AREA (Cactus Ramada 1) | day use | 22 ft | yes | 1.3 mi | 219 ft | $75 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 2Coronado National Forest · 0.0 mi
Gordon Hirabayashi CampgroundCoronado National Forest · 5.9 mi
MolinoCoronado National Forest · 7.1 miMolino Basin CampgroundCoronado National Forest · 7.4 mi
Whitetail CampgroundCoronado National Forest · 8.1 mi
Spencer Canyon CampgroundCoronado National Forest · 8.2 miFrom I-10, take exit 250 for Orange Grove Road. Go east on Orange Grove Road and proceed about 6.5 miles. Turn right on Skyline Drive. After about 1 mile, continue right onto Sunrise Drive. Follow for 6.3 miles and turn onto Sabino Canyon Road. Continue to the entrance just north of Sunrise Drive.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Catalina Foothills, AZ
Typical weather
Typical October night 55°F, day 88°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 36°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 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
Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 1 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
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- 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
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 1 has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Juan Ciscomani, I’m a constituent in Arizona’s 6th district. Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 1, Coronado National Forest, Arizona carries 1 record on the U.S. Forest Service’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 1 (Coronado National Forest, Arizona) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 1 has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Mark Kelly, I’m a constituent in Arizona. Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 1, Coronado National Forest, Arizona carries 1 record on the U.S. Forest Service’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 1 (Coronado National Forest, Arizona) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 1 has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Ruben Gallego, I’m a constituent in Arizona. Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 1, Coronado National Forest, Arizona carries 1 record on the U.S. Forest Service’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Sabino Canyon Recreation Area Cactus Ramada 1 (Coronado National Forest, Arizona) via campanac.com