Sycamore Cabin
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 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:24 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Sycamore Cabin provides a unique recreation opportunity and lodging experience for visitors to Prescott National Forest. In 1938, the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed the cabin, which served as a residence for the district ranger and later, as housing for fire crews during fire season. The cabin's capacity is up to eight people, however sleeping accommodations within the cabin are for six. A Recreational Vehicle (RV) is permitted for the additional two people. An extra vehicle fee will be charged for the RV. The cabin is available for reservation year round for guests seeking relaxation and recreation in central Arizona by making reservation on this site or calling 1 (877) 444-6777. For general cabin question contact the Verde Ranger District at 1 (928) 567-4121. Keep reading
Recreation
Anglers will appreciate the streams and rivers near Sycamore Cabin. Many offer seasonal fishing with rainbow trout, channel catfish and bullhead. Hikers have plenty of opportunities to explore the area on several local trails. A section of The Great Western Trail is nearby as well. The area is rich in history, including that of several Native American tribes and the mining industry.
Facilities
Sycamore Cabin is enclosed by a fenced yard and is equipped with running water, electricity, a wood stove, gas heating and air-conditioning. The cabin has a maximum capacity of up to eight people, however it is only furnished with beds for up to six, including one double bed and four twin bunk beds. The additional two people are permitted only if a Recreational Vehicle (RV) is used.There is an additional fee for the RV. The kitchen has basic amenities including a sink, electric range, refrigerator, some cooking gear and a table with chairs. The bathroom has a flush toilet and shower. Although the cabin has several amenities, guests must provide a few of their own supplies, including food, sleeping bags, linens, towels, dish soap, matches, a first aid kit, toilet paper and garbage bags. It is recommended that guests bring an additional light source in case of emergencies. There is room for up to four horses permitted on-site. A corral area and open space to tether or hobble horses is available. The renter must supply the certified weed-free feed for the horses and clean up after the horses.
Natural Features
Sycamore Cabin is located at an elevation of 4,000 feet and enjoys moderate climate and temperatures year round. The cabin sits on the edge of Sycamore Creek, providing an opportunity to explore a unique riparian area just outside the back door. Dense populations of mule deer and javelina inhabit this area, along with a few mountain lions, bobcats, black bears, coyotes, rabbits, foxes, skunks, and badgers. Snakes and lizards live here, and numerous birds soar overhead, including doves, quail, hawks, owls, ravens, jays, and many smaller species.
What the agency tells you
Check In Time is 2pm and Check out Time is 10am to allow for cleaning in between reservations
There is a 6 person Maximum Capacity in the Cabin. 2 additonal people are permitted if they are staying in an RV.
This cabin has contracted janitorial services once per week. Be a good steward of this Historical Cabin. Please clean up after your stay and leave the cabin in better condition that you found it. Thank you.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Pets are not permitted in the cabin; the renter is responsible for any and all damages caused by animals. Please be respectfull of this rule so others can enjoy their stay.
Access to the cabin is via a lock box that contains the cabin key; the lock combination will be included in the confirmation letter
Cell phone coverage is unreliable at this facility, and there is no phone at the cabin
Reservation dates subject to weather conditions
In wet weather the road may become impassable
Please remember this is an historic building in a desert environment; be aware that scorpions, snakes and other insects may be present at any time
Pack out all food and garbage and clean the facility before you leave
The cabin is a no-smoking facility. Obey seasonal fire restrictions on smoking outdoors.
Off-highway vehicles are only allowed on designated roads and trails
Learn more about Prescott 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.
A propane BBQ is provided but you must bring your own propane tank.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- 1 electric, 1 water, 1 sewer
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- “…a table with chairs. The bathroom has a flush toilet and shower. Although the cabin has several…”
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- Shower/Bath Type states a shower on all 1 of this campground's campsite records
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Wildlife viewing
Full this Saturdayread 16:24 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday, and on four midweek nights after it as well. read 16:24 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 · 11
What you actually pay
“An extra vehicle fee of $25 will be charged for an RV.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
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 16:24 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
| SYCAMORE | 001 | cabin electric | 118 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
Clear Creek Campground (AZ)Coconino National Forest · 16 miPowell Springs CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 17 mi
Turney Gulch GroupPrescott National Forest · 22 miHazlett Hollow CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 22 mi
Horsethief CabinPrescott National Forest · 23 miSheep BridgeTonto National Forest · 24 miFrom Phoenix, take I-17 north about 80 miles to Exit 268, the Dugas/Orme Road exit. Go east toward Dugas. You will be on Forest Service Road 68. Travel east 8 miles continuing past Dugas for half a mile and then turn right (south) at the "Sycamore A.S." (Forest Service Road 68F) road sign. Continue 1 mile to the cabin.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Cordes Lakes, AZ
Typical weather
Typical October night 49°F, day 79°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 33°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
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
Sycamore Cabin is in Arizona’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Eli Crane (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 moneyElijah CraneU.S. Representative · Arizona’s 2nd 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 Sycamore Cabin, Prescott National Forest, Arizona
Dear Elijah Crane, I’m a constituent in Arizona’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Sycamore Cabin, Prescott National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Sycamore Cabin 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. Sycamore Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Sycamore Cabin. 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 Sycamore Cabin (Prescott 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 Sycamore Cabin, Prescott National Forest, Arizona
Dear Mark Kelly, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Sycamore Cabin, Prescott National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Sycamore Cabin 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. Sycamore Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Sycamore Cabin. 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 Sycamore Cabin (Prescott 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 Sycamore Cabin, Prescott National Forest, Arizona
Dear Ruben Gallego, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Sycamore Cabin, Prescott National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Sycamore Cabin 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. Sycamore Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Sycamore Cabin. 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 Sycamore Cabin (Prescott National Forest, Arizona) via campanac.com