Tortilla Campground
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 15:22 UTC
- A night
- $20When it reopens, per site
- Sites
- 76In the agency’s record
- Season
- October 1 – March 31Open October 1 through March 31, across the new year
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
Tortilla Campground is a winter campground just outside of the Phoenix metropolitan area. From October through April each year, urban dwellers take advantage of cooler temperatures and enjoy boating, fishing, hiking, rock climbing and scenic driving throughout the surrounding Tonto National Forest. Campers awake to a scenic backdrop of rugged bluffs, saguaro cactus and desert skies. The campground is located directly across from Tortilla Flat Restaruant and general store, which is just a short walk away. Keep reading
Recreation
The area is rich with human history, scenery and outdoor recreation. The campground lies along the Canyon Lake Apache Trail Scenic Byway, a former Apache Tribal route turned stagecoach road. Visitors may hear stories of lost cowboys and gold mining. The drive to the campground provides ample scenery and a vista point perfect for photography and wildlife viewing. The campground is just down the road from Canyon Lake which provides a number of recreational opportunites such as kayaking, fishing, and boating. The Superstition Wilderness has a well-developed trail system, and the western end of the wilderness receives heavy use during the cooler times of the year. Use caution as trail conditions can be fair or poor, and several are unsuitable for horses. Also make sure to check out many of the developed recreation sites along Canyon lake for shoreline and fishing dock access, but keep in mind these sites require a day pass not included in the camping fees.
Facilities
The campground is large yet compact, with campsites in close proximity of one another. Every campsite has a view of the surrounding desert, some with views of mountain peaks and cliffs. The facility accommodates RVs and has sewage hookups. Each campsite comes with a picnic table and a campfire ring with a cooking grate. Services at the end of Tortilla Flat include a post office, restaurant, gift shop and public cellular credit card phone (emergency 911). Canyon Lake and Marina is located two miles west and includes public boat launches and picnic/fishing sites, a restaurant, excursion boats and boat rentals.
Natural Features
The Superstition Wilderness Area is starkly beautiful and untamed. A series of dams has created numerous lakes along the Salt River. Blossoming plants bring the desert to life each spring with vibrant wildflowers. This area is a photographers dream with plenty of opportunities to capture Bighorn Sheep, Deer, and other desert widlife. The area can be harsh for travelers not equipped to meet nature on her own terms. Soaring temperatures and little water are typical conditions in the summer. In winter, temperatures are typically pleasant during the day but drop significantly at night. Visitors should come prepared for anything, even the occasional rain or snow.
Nearby Attractions
Fish Creek Vista Point is approx. 7 miles east on AZ-88, this area provides great views of the desert and an accessible interpretive trail great for learning about the history of the area.
What the agency tells you
Stay limit 14 days Max trailer length is 30' Rules and regulations are posted at all fee stations. Please read and observe Please use trash receptacles or Pack it in, Pack it out Sewage dump facilities are located on site
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 76
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 32 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- ACCESSIBLE FLUSH TOILETS on 56 of 76 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Store
- Nearby
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Wilderness access
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 258th darkest of 262 in AZ
- Bortle 4
Nothing to book until it reopensread 15:22 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 10
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 · 4
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Tortilla Campground closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 60 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- The Point Boat Dock, Campground and Picnic AreaTonto National Forest · 2.0 mi
- Bagley Flat Campground and Boat DockTonto National Forest · 5.7 mi
- Burnt Corral CampgroundTonto National Forest · 13 mi · 79 sites
- Cholla CampgroundTonto National Forest · 18 mi · 167 sites
recreation.gov availability, read 15:22 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
76 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 70 mapped sitesAll 76 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. 76 of the 76 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Main | 1 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 44 ft | 431 ft | $20 |
| Main | 10 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 59 ft | 309 ft | $20 |
| Main | 11 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 45 ft | 356 ft | $20 |
| Main | 12 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 45 ft | 376 ft | $20 |
| Main | 13 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 46 ft | 389 ft | $20 |
| Main | 14 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 46 ft | 407 ft | $20 |
| Main | 15 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 49 ft | 922 ft | $20 |
| Main | 16 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 45 ft | 971 ft | $20 |
| Main | 17 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 45 ft | 1,015 ft | $20 |
| Main | 18 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 46 ft | 1,062 ft | $20 |
| Main | 19 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 48 ft | 1,114 ft | $20 |
| Main | 2 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 44 ft | 412 ft | $20 |
| Main | 20 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 48 ft | 1,147 ft | $20 |
| Main | 21 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 56 ft | 1,180 ft | $20 |
| Main | 22 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 44 ft | 1,252 ft | $20 |
| Main | 23 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 44 ft | 1,284 ft | $20 |
| Main | 24 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 54 ft | 1,337 ft | $20 |
| Main | 25 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 54 ft | 1,373 ft | $20 |
| Main | 26 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 48 ft | 1,420 ft | $20 |
| Main | 27 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 48 ft | 1,464 ft | $20 |
| Main | 28 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 47 ft | 1,523 ft | $20 |
| Main | 29 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 47 ft | 1,569 ft | $20 |
| Main | 3 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 45 ft | 394 ft | $20 |
| Main | 30 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 55 ft | 1,378 ft | $20 |
| Main | 31 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 44 ft | 1,326 ft | $20 |
| Main | 32 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 44 ft | 1,284 ft | $20 |
| Main | 33 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 38 ft | 1,216 ft | $20 |
| Main | 34 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 38 ft | 1,178 ft | $20 |
| Main | 35 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 37 ft | 1,123 ft | $20 |
| Main | 36 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 37 ft | 1,090 ft | $20 |
| Main | 37 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 44 ft | 1,054 ft | $20 |
| Main | 38 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 54 ft | 1,058 ft | $20 |
| Main | 39 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 61 ft | 998 ft | $20 |
| Main | 4 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 45 ft | 371 ft | $20 |
| Main | 40 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 52 ft | 938 ft | $20 |
| Main | 41 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 34 ft | 888 ft | $20 |
| Main | 42 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 34 ft | 882 ft | $20 |
| Main | 43 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 35 ft | 849 ft | $20 |
| Main | 44 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 34 ft | 801 ft | $20 |
| Main | 45 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 32 ft | 771 ft | $20 |
| Main | 46 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 32 ft | 760 ft | $20 |
| Main | 47 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 45 ft | 724 ft | $20 |
| Main | 48 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 74 ft | 651 ft | $20 |
| Main | 49 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20 | ||
| Main | 5 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 52 ft | 350 ft | $20 |
| Main | 50 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20 | ||
| Main | 51 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20 | ||
| Main | 52 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20 | ||
| Main | 53 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20 | ||
| Main | 54 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | $20 | ||
| Main | 55 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 60 ft | 1,576 ft | $20 |
| Main | 56 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 53 ft | 1,517 ft | $20 |
| Main | 57 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 46 ft | 1,464 ft | $20 |
| Main | 58 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 46 ft | 1,419 ft | $20 |
| Main | 59 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 53 ft | 1,367 ft | $20 |
| Main | 6 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 49 ft | 333 ft | $20 |
| Main | 60 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 45 ft | 1,253 ft | $20 |
| Main | 61 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 45 ft | 1,210 ft | $20 |
| Main | 62 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 45 ft | 1,166 ft | $20 |
| Main | 63 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 48 ft | 1,120 ft | $20 |
| Main | 64 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 48 ft | 1,071 ft | $20 |
| Main | 65 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 48 ft | 1,025 ft | $20 |
| Main | 66 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 42 ft | 964 ft | $20 |
| Main | 67 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 42 ft | 930 ft | $20 |
| Main | 68 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 35 ft | 889 ft | $20 |
| Main | 69 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 35 ft | 856 ft | $20 |
| Main | 7 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 49 ft | 313 ft | $20 |
| Main | 70 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 41 ft | 808 ft | $20 |
| Main | 71 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 41 ft | 768 ft | $20 |
| Main | 72 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 44 ft | 731 ft | $20 |
| Main | 73 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 42 ft | 678 ft | $20 |
| Main | 74 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 42 ft | 636 ft | $20 |
| Main | 75 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 44 ft | 593 ft | $20 |
| Main | 76 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 102 ft | 495 ft | $20 |
| Main | 8 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 49 ft | 297 ft | $20 |
| Main | 9 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 49 ft | 298 ft | $20 |
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.
25 of 76 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Larry Forbis Overnight Group SiteTonto National Forest · 10 mi
Burnt Corral CampgroundTonto National Forest · 13 mi
Cholla CampgroundTonto National Forest · 18 mi
Frazier Horse CampgroundTonto National Forest · 18 miFrom Mesa, Arizona, take U.S. Highway 60 to the Idaho Road exit. Go north to State Route 88 (Apache Trail) and turn right. Continue for 18 miles on Route 88 to Tortilla Flat (the campground is two miles past Canyon Lake). Tortilla Campground is directly across from Tortilla Flat, on the left side of the road. The entire route is paved, narrow and has sharp curves; traffic can be heavy.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Apache Junction, AZ
Typical weather
Typical October night 60°F, day 88°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical December night 42°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Tortilla Campground 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 →