Cave Spring

Poison ivy everywhere. Skip the bad (7 $) firewood– it doesn’t burn well even when dry. Good showers (for 4 $), pretty public sites. Clean and relatively clean pit toilets. Nice staff. 20 $ camping.

Amazing campgrounds and extremely beautiful. This campground is very clean and maintained very well. The bathrooms could use a little work, but what do you expect? The staff at the check in booth are extremely courteous as well, offering lots of info about activities in the area.

Really felt dirty and unwelcome at this campsite. Nobody around to tell you where everything is. There were controlled fires in the area so campgrounds were smokey. Nobody gets warned as there are all types of people breathing in heavy smoke. I was completely unsure what was going on until I got up and left the campsite in the wee hours because I was feeling like beef jerky and felt ill. Then what I thought was late night fog turned out to be a fire as I drove through plumes of smoke. It all made sense that smoke was dropping into the canyon. People were lighting campfires and I thought wow these are some potent campfires. I looked up and could barely see the stars from all of the smoke. No one was warned about this health hazard.
Nevertheless, it was noisy and crowded. Lack of concern for others and heavily touristed areas make me want to stay away.

An amazing campsite for first time campers. This camp is perfect families, couples, and lone wolves. My family and I booked a spot during fall break. It was a little cold but not extremely cold, so if you book a spot during this time bring appropriate clothing for the cold night and be aware of the warm days. I have this campsite a 4 star is because the toilets were smelly and don’t flush, but the camp host bleach the toilets everyday. The showers were a amazing, but for a 8 minute shower it cost $ 4 (it’s coined operated– you purchase a token from the camp store). The small creek near the site is clear and beautiful. Be aware that the road near the site is a little noisy, but didn’t affect our sleep. The camp Rangers were all nice people. They always had a smile on their face whenever I saw them. I recommend this campsite for everyone.

Stayed at Cave Creek Springs 3 nights in an RV. Wonderful area with woods, pine trees, & The Oak Creek waters rippling. Picnic tables available with beautiful scenery of the red rocks of Sedona. The camping areas all had the fire pits to use as well as tables to enjoy outdoor eating. Fishing allowed. Tent campers were plentiful and certain their stay was as wonderful as ours. I gave it 5 stars as it was extremely a great place to go ! The only down-​side was no full hook-​ups for RV campers. Thankfully there were coin-​operated showers & many public potties to use — — all facilities were very clean, clean, clean ! A big plus, which added to our stay, was the cool, cool weather. A wonderful escape from the hot weather in the Phoenix Area where we vacationed from. It was a very pleasant trip & enjoyable as without «electricity» we escaped all the electronic nonsense like computers, telephones, T.V., etc… Nature At It’s Best was what we could hear ! Another PLUS is that this campground is located between Sedona & Flagstaff & we visited both towns, as well. I would go to this camping site again !

My grandparents took me to this spot when I was very young. I have camped at Cave Springs ever since over the summers.
Not happy they took the pay phone out (since there is no cell service). Elderly folks to keep in contact with and the pay phone was fine to do that. I don’t need a cell while camping (that’s the whole reason to «get away from it all», but the option to use a coin phone was nice while it lasted).
The campground has deteriorated over the years by so much use. The creek wall at the front had to be reinforced. It’s still a gorgeous spot. Days can still get warm (high 80’s-low 90s) but the evenings are low 50’s. The campground is full all summer. Reserving a site is best, then you are not sitting in line early in the morning just to get a spot (if one is even open-​taking a chance).
Good drinking water on site and there are vault out hoses.
The check in area is staffed by slower moving, older employees who tend not to be in a hurry (need patience there). They just need to realize when they have many waiting to pick up the pace or ask for help.
The little store is expensive, but convenient for items you may need.
We enjoyed an ice cream on occasion.
Creek is stocked with rainbow trout. but definitely over fished by many campers.
Quiet time worked well for our stay-​at 10pm it was nice and quiet.
We appreciate that there is no music allowed, simply because everyone has different tastes and ideas of what level they should be allowed to play music at. I don’t want to hear others music. I want to hear the creek and nature.
If you reserve a spot (loop A), realize that many campers do not have manners to walk on the road to get to the creek and may walk right through the campsite you reserved (shorter distance to the creek) without any concern over others privacy. This can get old quickly especially if it goes on a lot.
There is Blue Heron at the creek — we enjoyed watching them.

There is a lot of bad and some good, I gave it at least two stars because it is a great little campground.
If you’re going to go, arrive early (0700) to wait in line to get a «walk up» spot. There is a sign that says «Do not park on the side of the road». You’ll see cars parked there waiting to pay, even though the sign says «don’t», you have to «do».
I didn’t want to break the rules so I drove ahead and parked inside, about 100 feet away from the gate. I let my kids out and my dogs to go to picnic area and stretch their legs. I walked up and met two men that said they would say I was the seventh car that arrived, so we waited. Talking about hiking etc.
At about 0740, an older gentleman told another camper that I wasn’t getting a spot because I didn’t park my car in the line. That camper thankfully told me and I asked him «who said that?»; he pointed at this old man who was laughing at me. He was an employee and I asked him about the sign and that I had two witnesses there. He said «I’ve had people try to bribe me and if you’re not in that line, you are not getting a spot». I then said «I’m not trying to bribe you, you have no sign that says that BUT you do have a sign that says not to park there». He then pointed out the printed off a computer on regular white paper that was being blocked by the first car in line. I thought he was joking… He wasn’t and wasn’t nice either. So I moved my car, now being thirteenth in line.
So I finally got to the front after the other twelve cars had their name written down, backed out and left. Gave Nancy my name and was ready to go, but drove forward to the picnic area to grab my kids. This is when I met the second rude staff member who screamed at me. When I say screamed, I mean screamed at me to stop. I did this, rolled down my window and he said «where do you think you’re going? You need to leave!» I then said «I’m not trying to break in, I just need to pick up me kids». He then said «Well where are your kids?», I pointed and said I was leaving as soon as I loaded them up, received a dirty look and he walked off. This too, was an employee of the camp site.
So, won’t let it ruin my day, go into Sedona and get some breakfast. Returned at noon like I was suppose to, got my truck and camp site tickets. Drove to my spot.
My friend met us up there and she said she drove right through. That is weird, no one stopped her and she needs her ticket too.
So I took her daughter and we went to collect fire wood off camp because they sell about 4 – 5 small logs for $ 7!
Returned and told the front gate, my friend had arrived and asked if we could have her truck ticket. Was told she needed to come up herself, okay, I didn’t get it but I’ll do it.
When I got back my friend said that the guy who had screamed at me had come by three times to harass her about her truck sticker with in the hour. Not wanting to leave the kids alone as the only adult she told him she would as soon as she could. So she went and when she arrived they handed it right over. No license plate info, no proof, nothing saying where she was… Why again couldn’t I have saved her a trip?
Then my friend goes to the bathroom with her ten pound dog. She is holding him and has the leash, screaming guy also has a small dog that sits on the seat next to him in the golf cart– no leash. He then yells at her «where’s your leash?»
She had it!
Next day, we are burning a log greater then 24 inches, it hung out of the pit and we where going to break it down as it burned. Screaming guy drives by in his golf cart, to one again scream, about the log. I explained the situation and he said «you can’t chop any of the wood here». I said we didn’t, we collected it yesterday and he could even look at the back of my truck. He insisted we pull the log out so he could pour water on it. I thought, well okay, weird but okay. He then poured water and called for another guy to come out; guess who? Weird old guy from the gate who thought I wanted to bribe him. They loaded up my log to take it. I asked «what are you doing?» They said «we are taking this, you can’t have it and have to buy the wood we sell». I said «You’re monopolizing the wood at a National Park?» They said «yup! And this is my name if you want to complain» I said «I understand I broke the rules but where does it say you take our wood away?» They both then said «it doesn’t, it’s implied!» I couldn’t believe this and asked for the paper with the rules. The old weird guy handed it over and then said «you must be smoking weed».
My jaw dropped. I had it. I went to their manger to tell them I was being harassed. The manager, Tammy & Stuart put a stop to them harassing us for our last night BUT screaming guy drove by slowly to stare at us a few more times. They also informed us we could get wood from anywhere, not just them.
As soon as we woke up, we packed and left.
The two stars are for the scenery and the managers, but the other two RUINED a weekend we planned for month!

The campgrounds themselves were lush and pleasant, and the overall location worked well for our purposes. The downside, unfortunately, were the inconvenient rules (no doubt the product of years of the attending rangers’ experience in dealing with various issues).
Rule 1: no music. This is a big one for my wife and I because we enjoy listening to music (at low volumes) while cooking and chilling by the fire. I understand it can be difficult to adjudicate conflicts based on unreasonable expectations of campers on either side of the argument, but that’s what quiet time curfews are for. How about this as a rule: if your music can be heard clearly in another campsite during non-​quiet hours, it’s too loud.
Rule 2: no washing clothes or dishes by the camp provided spigots. Not sure I understand the rational here, but we were caught unprepared… Specifically, we didn’t bring a bucket or container to carry the water back to camp with us where it’s permitted to do dishes. We eventually adjusted when we emptied one of our drinking water containers, but we were forced to break the rules by cover of darkness at least once.
Incidentally, one of the nights that we camped there, a group of twenty-​somethings were being loudly vulgar well into the night and nothing was done about it as far as I can tell.

Caaaaaaaaaaave Spring. Wow. What a spot. Probably one of the most beautiful camp sites I’ve ever had the pleasure of staying at.
Our two night stay was slightly marred by the rain, but we made the most of it.
The bench at the site was made of concrete, not wood like most, which I’m assuming is friendlier to the likes of children who won’t be reading the carvings of «who was there» and «for a good time call…». The fire pit was not only awesomely taken care of, but functional with the grill on a swivel.
Scenery is great. Surrounded by high rising rock pillars and mountains.
I highly recommend this place to anyone between Flagstaff and Sedona.

I came to Cave Springs Campground for a spiritual retreat away from home. I wanted someplace quiet where I could journal, meditate and that had access to hiking trails nearby. It was all of that. I stayed for 10 days and didn’t want to go anywhere else! Tammy, Danny (the camp host) and all of the other staff welcomed me and made sure that my stay was wonderful. I felt looked after. The facilities were kept clean, the showers were nice and hot, the well water delicious, and the grounds were exactly as I had hoped for. I couldn’t have asked for a better camping experience. It was so quiet and serene.

Just got back from a 2 night stay at cave springs. Very nice campsite, Staff were very friendly & super helpful to all of our needs. Near a great lake not stocked with many fish but still pretty. The campsite was very clean and very well looked after; the staff were always keeping busy at work and talking to campers. Will 100% be returning, this is one of the better campsites i have been to & i will hopefully be back in a few weeks!

Gorgeous place to camp. Staff is very friendly and helpful. We’ll be back to camp if in the area again.

A few years ago, at about age 30, I decided to learn to camp on my own. I’d always wanted to, but never had experienced camping before. I brought gear, set off on a trip through AZ. This was the first campsite I ever visited. Since then, I’ve been to tons, it’s become an amazingly fulfilling hobby. Anywhoo, this is a perfect spot for first-​timers. You feel safe since there are lots of families, it’s stunningly beautiful, showers are clean and easy, and the staff are warm and friendly! I keep dreaming of my repeat trip through AZ, and returning to where my camping adventures began:-)

My Boyfriend and I traveled up over Easter weekend and it was incredibly beautiful. We reserved the sport A12 for 3 nights. Our spot was privet and although during the day people walked around at night most people went to bed early (10 pm) and it was never very loud. The staff where very kind and helpful and the bathrooms and showers where clean. Over all had an amazing time and I can’t wait to return!

Looking forward to a beautiful weekend getaway, we arrived at the campground and were told by a not-​so-​stable-​on-​her-​feet campground attendant to take a drive around and pick 2 – 3 sites we might be interested in (we were told that they had no idea which sites were available because people inside the campground were changing sites at their leisure and not informing management). So we drove around, picked 3 desirable sites (about 60% of the sites were empty), and returned to the check-​in to secure our spot.
We were told promptly, with attitude, that the very three sites we picked had just been taken (in the last 5 minutes that we circled around), and that their new policy that they were instituting immediately, was to assign campsites instead of letting people pick their own. We tried to ask for available sites, having just driven around the whole place and seeing most of it open. Alas, the management saw it fit to tell us to «stop playing games» and just stick with the site we were assigned as there was nothing else they could (would) do. YIKES!!!
Having paid for the site (E5), we drove to the designated spot only to discover that this «great, great campsite» was right next to the bathroom and two giant, smelly trash cans. Not to mention, at least 60% of the campground was still empty. A little too late (but still only 5 minutes after paying), we decided to better not subject ourselves to this place and ask for a refund and find accommodations elsewhere. The management had apparently downed another bottle of whiskey by this point, and with even more attitude-​turning-​psychosis than before, informed us that there will be no refund offered.
Needless to say, this place has by far the most inappropriate customer service. The sites aren’t that great either — very close together, loud, smelly toilets, and close to the main road.

When we first showed up, the friendly woman ranger spoke to us about getting a «reservation» later in the day if we showed up at 12 noon. She also said we were unlikely to get into any other campsites near Sedona because of how small the rest of them are and how busy the area was.
When we returned, our «chosen by them and with no consideration to us» spot was C9. On the map it looked great, not by any other campsites and with a water spigot close by. We picked up trash at our site for 10 – 15 minutes until we felt it looked nicer, and there was a stone table, fire pit, and a few trees around, but in a mostly barren and higher on the hill spot.
It was only a few minutes before we noticed the stench of the outhouse. We were disgusted by the smell of it wafting up from below every few minutes. A truck even came to pump the outhouse while we were there, making the smell worse during and after the whole operation.
We paid for two nights and only spent one. We were glad to be rid of the place.
We also noticed the «Campground FULL» sign was up at Cave Springs during our entire stay in the area. In reality, only 60%-70% of the sites were full. We would have loved to drive or walk around the campsite first to check out which one we wanted, but they choose for you and there’s no getting around it. No requesting spots, no changes after they choose a spot for you, and no refunds. The folks up at the front desk site are extremely nice and extremely slow.
We thought the prices were expensive for everything as well. $ 18 a night for one spot and one car, $ 7 for a bundle of wood with 4 – 5 chopped pieces in it, and $ 4 per person per showers. We didn’t use any of the services because we planned to be dirty, but they did have a store with fishing gear, drinks, ice creams and Popsicle, a few baking goods, and a few candies.
If you’re going to stay here, definitely stay in LOOP A or LOOP F. Loop A is reserve-​only sites, and they’re closest to the river. Loop F is also close but first-​come first-​serve. I reccomend to only stay in these two loops if you’re going to Cave Springs.
Good luck!

We spend an afternoon and stayed overnight. The surroundings are beautiful. The camp is very clean and generally well taken care off. We like the fact that noisy behavior, such as loud music, are not allowed. I would give the camp a five star rating if the camp was little farther from the main highway: the traffic noise subsides after about 9 pm and starts with sunrise. Operation of generators is prohibited from 10 pm to 6 am. I would prefer restriction from 9 pm to 7 am (we are from a big city and enjoy listening to birds, trees and stream).

We had a total of 11 people, 4 adults and 7 children ranging from the ages of 14 to 4, 2 families and out to have a great camping experience for 3 night and 2 days, 2 campground sites and $ 108.00. Ended up at Cave Springs campgrounds on a Thursday and by that Thursday night it was downhill with issues at this sight… A campground guest came to our site and complained for us using a pump to blow up a mattress for our children asking us if «we were going to run that all night long», the very next morning we had a campground HOST come to our location and reprimand us for disturbing the other guest. Friday we went to go get more firewood for our camping experience and went to get our own instead of paying $ 7 a bundle, when we arrived back at the campground the HOST stopped up on the way to our site and told us that we weren’t allowed to have firewood longer than 2 ft and that we needed to go outside the campground and chop it down before coming back in. Come Saturday Morning we were confronted with a Forrest ranger, He came up to our site YELLING at us adults telling us that he needed ID’s from us and 2 responsible adults from both campsite and to STEP to his truck to talk to us… MIND you, he YELLED at us acting completely rude and uncalled for in front of all of our children, scaring them and making them completely uncomfortable, Then proceeded to tell us that we are disturbing the guest, telling us that after 10 pm we are NOT ALLOWED TO LAUGH, TALK, NOTHING and be COMPLETELY SILENT AFTER 10pm, He YELLED some more telling us that if he had to come to our site one more time he would give us all tickets and kick us off the campsite, he was asked 3 times before answering «what other rules we needed to be aware of»? We are non drinkers and we just taking our children together on a camping trip and have lots of fun with the children– THIS site completely RUINED that experience for us as far as site wise is concerned. We still had a wonderful time together laughing and cooking and playing games and having fun, HOWEVER after 10 PM, we were scared to sneeze to loud in fear of being kicked out! We will NEVER come back to this campground again NOR recommend this campground.

Beautiful setting along 89, right by Oak Creek. Large, quiet sites. Showers are clean, staff is friendly, firewood is a bit pricey but available. We come here every time we stay in Sedona and love it all the time. Only gripe is the toilets are pretty old and can get dirty. The staff tries to keep up with it, but they can only do so much. I’d suggest a site as far away from them as possible, or you might catch a whiff of them from time to time. Wish Cave Springs would upgrade those things. All in all, this is an awesome place to camp. Sites along the creek can be reserved through
.

If you find yourself driving on HWY 89A without campground reservations don’t be hasty and pick the first one you come to with open sites. Drive a little further until you reach Cave Springs. I almost made the mistake of doing just that. We would have been in a site smaller than my garage and driveway with our neighbor less than five feet away.
When we pulled into Cave Spring we couldn’t believe it was over 75% empty. There is a little store with various and sundry items priced way lower than you would expect. You can also get ice and firewood. There are even showers available which are coin operated. Only of a handful of the sites, right along the creek, are site specific reservations. All others are assigned by the host or upon arrival. The sites here are large and have a table and firepit.
The creek separates you from the road so the sound of cars was slightly muffled and not too bad. The bathrooms are all pit but very clean and didn’t reek… except for just this one. Also, this place is very quiet at night and we didn’t encounter anyone who was louder than we were. I think everyone here is tired from the days adventure up the road a bit at Slide Rock.
Be sure to bring your pets but do keep them on a leash and out of those lush berry bushes. There are skunks here. Not just one or two but a whole surfeit. One tried to get Maggie but missed and sprayed the FJ. The next night Maggie wasn’t so lucky and took it right in the face. Ohhhhh… what fresh hell did we fall into? I’d rather worry about Yogi and Boo Boo stealing my ice chest than have Pepe Le Pew paying a night time visit! So pack the dawn dish washing liquid and some hydrogen peroxide and head up to Skunkville… I mean Cave Springs!