Dispersed camping
Dispersed camping in Arizona
Camping outside developed campgrounds is free on most national forest and BLM land — but every forest and field office writes its own rules for how long you can stay, how far from the water, and which roads you can camp along. Here they are for 6 national forests and 3 BLM field offices in Arizona, each read from that office's own orders and pages.
How long you can stay
Every forest and field office listed here caps a stay at 14 days — but each one counts those days its own way. Some count per location, some across the whole forest, some inside a radius, and the window the days sit in differs too. The counting rule is spelled out on each page below.
| Forest / office | Stay limit | Where you can camp |
|---|---|---|
| Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests | 14 days in any 30 | Allowed unless posted |
| BLM Arizona Strip Field Office | 14 days in any 28 | Designated sites in some areas |
| BLM Kingman Field Office | 14 days | Allowed unless posted |
| BLM Lake Havasu Field Office also in California | 14 days in any 28 | Designated sites in some areas |
| Coconino National Forest | 14 days in any 30 | Designated sites in some areas |
| Coronado National Forest | 14 days in any 60 | Allowed unless posted |
| Kaibab National Forest | 14 days in any 30 | Allowed unless posted |
| Prescott National Forest | 14 days in any 30 | Designated sites in some areas |
| Tonto National Forest | 14 days in any 30 | Allowed unless posted |
"Designated sites in some areas" means camping is generally allowed but certain corridors and high-use areas are limited to marked sites — each page names the orders that draw those lines. We don't list campsites or coordinates anywhere on this site: the rules are ours to summarize, the spot is yours to find.
Fires are a separate rule
None of the pages above says you can have a campfire — that answer changes with the weather. For 2 of the 9 pages above, the current fire order stage shows live on the camping page itself; every page says where to read the current order before you light anything, and the forests we watch have their stage on one list.
What stage 1 and stage 2 mean — and remember the county you drive through sets its own burn rules on private land.
Rules change by forest order and posted signage — confirm with the ranger district or field office before you go. Every page above names the office and, where published, the phone number.