Turney Gulch Group
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 15 of the next 15 nights read 14:40 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 14 notices
In the agency’s own words
Turney Gulch is a remote, scenic location for groups of up to 100 people to rest under the stars and towering pines of Prescott National Forest. Site accomodates 30 vehicles or less. The site lies near Horse Thief Lake and is seven miles southeast of the small town of Crown King, Arizona, a former ghost town. Campers can enjoy hunting, fishing, hiking, wildlife viewing and visiting historic sites in the area. To make reservations click on the availability button to the right to book this site or call 1 (877) 444-6777. For general campground questions contact the Bradshaw Ranger District at 1 (928) 443-8000. Keep reading
Recreation
Campers have no shortage of activities both in and around the campground. The shade of the ponderosas invites guests to picnic and relax at the facility, while the nearby Horsethief Lake allows fishing and boating (electric motors and oars only). Anglers cast for largemouth bass, channel catfish and sunfish. Hunting is available in the surrounding forest, and the nearby Castle Creek Wilderness provides numerous trails for hikers to explore.
Facilities
Turney Gulch is the only group campground near Horse Thief Lake and is close to one family campground. The facility has a rustic mountain feel with a picnic shelter, 15 picnic tables, fire grills and an accessible vault toilet. Trash service is provided for your convenience. Water is available via standpipe in front of the Horesthief Cabin approximately 1 mile down the road at the junction of FSR52 and FSR 52G. The site lies on an unimproved dirt road and the drive can be challenging; campers should use high clearance 4 x4 vehicles to get there.
Natural Features
The facility is situated in a ponderosa pine forest at an elevation of 6,000 feet in the Bradshaw Mountains of north-central Arizona. The forest is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including deer, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, fox, rabbits, lizards, snakes, bald eagles and other species of birds. Summer temperatures offer a pleasant relief from the heat of nearby deserts, and winter is cool to cold with occasional snow. Afternoon thunderstorms are possible from late June through mid-September.
Nearby Attractions
The small town of Crown King has a general store with basic supplies.
What the agency tells you
High-clearance vehicles are highly recommended; roads to the cabin are narrow and winding
Please respect the check-in and check-out times of 2:00 P.M. and 11:00 A.M., respectively. This three hour window allows for reoccurring maintenance to be performed
A four-digit combination lock code included in the confirmation letter will gain access to the entrance gate
Everything else this campground posts · 11
Please keep the entrance gate closed during your stay; when you leave, secure the gate with the combination lock
Cell phone coverage is poor to limited
Reservation dates may be subject to weather conditions
Bears are present; do not leave food unprotected; dispose garbage in plastic bags in bear-proof trash bin on-site
Do a final sweep of the facility to ensure the facility is clean before you leave
Know current fire restrictions; chainsaw use is prohibited between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Fireworks and sparklers are prohibited on all national forest lands
Off-highway vehicles are only allowed on designated roads and trails
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.
Maximum stay limit is 14 days within 30 consecutive days in Prescott National Forest including stays at dispersed sites.
Bring your own water.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 35 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…tables, fire grills and an accessible vault toilet. Trash service is provided for your convenience.…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…is provided for your convenience. Water is available via standpipe in front of the Horesthief Cabin…”
- Store
- Nearby
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Night sky · 209th darkest of 262 in AZ
- Bortle 4
Full this Saturdayread 14:40 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 14:40 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 · 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
recreation.gov availability, read 14:40 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
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.
| TURN | 1 | group standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 2,987 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
Horsethief CabinPrescott National Forest · 1.0 mi
Upper Wolf Creek GroupPrescott National Forest · 22 mi
Lower Wolf Creek CampgroundPrescott National Forest · 22 mi
Sycamore CabinPrescott National Forest · 22 mi
Groom Creek Horse CampPrescott National Forest · 22 miFrom Phoenix, Arizona: When traveling Northbound on I-17 take the Bumble Bee Exit 248 and continue North on the dirt road, taking Forest Road (FR) 259 to Crown King. From Crown King, take (FR) 259A south for 0.5 mile to the junction of 52. Take FR 52 southeast for about 6 miles to the Horse Thief Basin Recreation Area. Turney Gulch is approximately one mile past Horse Thief Lake.
Alternate route from Flagstaff, Arizona: Traveling Southbound on I-17 take Exit 263, turn right and proceed towards a roundabout and merge onto Hwy 69 North towards Prescott for 2.4 miles until turning left on to Spring Ln. in Spring Valley. Continue down Spring Ln. for 0.7 Miles until you get to Duffers Dr. turn right onto Duffers Dr. The road will become unpaved, continue to travel for 1.4 miles until you get to the intersection of Duffers Dr. and S. Antelope Creek Rd. and turn left and drive for 23 miles until arriving to Crown King, Arizona. From Crown King, take (Forest Rd) 259A south for 0.5 mile to a junction with 52. Take FR 52 southeast for about 6 miles to the Horse Thief Basin Recreation Area. Turney Gulch is about one mile past Horse Thief Lake.
From Prescott, Arizona: From Downtown Prescott travel South on State Route 69 for 31 miles until you arive to Spring Valley, Arizona and turn right onto Spring Ln. Continue down Spring Ln. for 0.7 Miles until you get to Duffers Dr. turn right onto Duffers Dr. The road will become unpaved at this point, continue to travel for 1.4 miles until you get to the intersection of Duffers Dr. and S. Antelope Creek Rd. and turn left and drive for 23 miles until arriving to Crown King, Arizona From Crown King, take 259A south for 0.5 mile to a junction with 52. Take FR 52 southeast for about 6 miles to the Horse Thief Basin Recreation Area. Turney Gulch is about one mile past Horse Thief Lake.
The facility is located on an unimproved dirt road; high clearance vehicles are highly recommended only.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Black Canyon City, AZ
Typical weather
Typical October night 40°F, day 73°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 24°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 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
Turney Gulch Group 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 Turney Gulch Group, Prescott National Forest, Arizona
Dear Elijah Crane, I’m a constituent in Arizona’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Turney Gulch Group, Prescott National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Turney Gulch Group 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. Turney Gulch Group keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Turney Gulch Group. 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 Turney Gulch Group (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 Turney Gulch Group, Prescott National Forest, Arizona
Dear Mark Kelly, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Turney Gulch Group, Prescott National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Turney Gulch Group 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. Turney Gulch Group keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Turney Gulch Group. 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 Turney Gulch Group (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 Turney Gulch Group, Prescott National Forest, Arizona
Dear Ruben Gallego, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Turney Gulch Group, Prescott National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Turney Gulch Group 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. Turney Gulch Group keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Turney Gulch Group. 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 Turney Gulch Group (Prescott National Forest, Arizona) via campanac.com