I had the pleasure along with my husband, and our yorkie Bailey, of visiting Catalina State Park in Tucson, Arizona this past weekend, and I was pleasantly amazed at it's beauty. I had heard about this place courtesy of my sister Jennifer who visited there last weekend. This park is nestled in the Coronado National Forest just minutes from a major city, and you would not have even known it. There is so much to talk about, so I will just get right down to it. The park itself offers so many adventures like hiking, bird watching, and camping.
The park is equipped with four major camping areas. The group camp area, (2 group sites) is the only area that will take reservations. You must have a minimum of 20 people and no more than 200. Each site has a 20x40 shade ramada, fire ring (bring your own wood) BBQ grill,and picnic tables. You can reserve up to 12 months in advance. The fees are $35 for the reservation, and $15 per vehicle per night.
The equestrian staging and camping area has 8 pens available. It is a first come first serve(no charge)area, which you can either use as a day trip which will cost you $6 or you can camp for $15, but there are no hookups. Horses cannot be ridden on some of the trails, so be sure to check ahead of time.
The next camp area (site B) allows RVs with no length restrictions. This area offers water and electric hookup and contains 95 sites. Here you will pay $25 a night with a 14 day maximum stay.
The last camp site which is (site A) has no hookups available. It has 25 sites available. all three of these campgrounds are all first come first serve only. The good news is that the campground facilities have bathrooms which are absolutely huge,clean,and have showers. The bad news is, since it is a first come first serve only, you may or may not find a site. They were full when we arrived, except by some miracle, there were 2 available sites in site B. One we got, and the other went to the people who were behind us. You can also take advantage of group day use as well. There are 2 day use group areas which are available also. It has a minimum of 20 people and a maximum of 200. It has the same amenities as the group campground and you can reserve this area as well. Good news about both group sites, they have flush restrooms and showers.
Camping is not the only thing available, you can also take advantage of some of the many wonderful hikes and site seeing as well. We arrived later than we expected so I was itching to do at least something before sun down, so I decided to take off walking towards the Romero Ruins with Bailey. Derek stayed behind and napped a little. I was so amazed to find a wash just before the trail head. It was so refreshing to walk barefoot in the sand. The Ruins were amazing to see. The scenery of the mountains and all the wonderful cacti and flowers were so breathtaking. The saguaro's were so abundant as well. I was able to capture some amazing pictures also. I am not a fan of camping around a lot of people, but I have to say the sites were spaced enough apart for complete privacy. It was very quiet and relaxing. I have had so many experiences where we have been kept up half of the night with other drunk campers in the area. You could have heard a pin drop that night. All in all, I would recommend this park not just for it's great camping, scenery, hiking, but for it's cleanliness, and hospitality it's employees have provided. A personal camp host takes you right to your camp spot. What other camp ground does that? Happy Camping everyone. http://azstateparks.com/Parks/CATA/index.html
