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5.0
1 votes

Picacho - Tucson NW KOA Journey

18428 S Picacho Hwy, Picacho, Arizona 85141-4141 USA

  • Chain
  • Credit Cards
    Accepted
  • Pet Friendly
  • Wheelchair
    Accessible
  • Public
    Restrooms
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“halfway between Phoenix and Tucson”

Premium Sites Available!Decks & Patios with polywood furniture, fire pit & charcoal grillAlso available with Paw Pen (private dog pen at your site) Enjoy warm days, mild nights, pink and orange sunsets, star-filled skies, and our pool heated to 85°F all winter!Drive south to explore the silver-filled hills of Ironwood Forest National Monument.Take a day trip to Boyce Thompson Arboretum outside Superior, Az. to sample the best-of Arizona's unique features.Go skydiving without the plane or chute at indoor SkyVenture Arizona just down the road.If that's too exciting, the Ostrich Ranch has every kind of critter to feed.Nearby Eloy, Az. offers    Eateries: Encore (burgers & shakes), Nico's Mexican (bring cash!), La Paloma    Shops: IGA Grocery, Eloy Home & Auto, Miller's Hardware, and NAPA Auto USE EXIT 211!          IF you are using Google Maps or GPS and have it set to 'no back-tracking',          coming from Tucson/New Mexico you will be directed to use exit 219          (a 7-mile drive on the frontage road to us - scenic but unnecessary)

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Reviews of Picacho - Tucson NW KOA Journey

20 people have reviewed this location

Ratings Summary

4.2 Access
3.6 Location
4.0 Cleanliness
3.8 Site Quality
2.8 Noise

Cell Coverage

Verizon 4G/5G

Confirmed by 8 users | Last reported on February 24, 2024

AT&T 4G/5G

Confirmed by 7 users | Last reported on February 24, 2024

T-Mobile 4G/5G

Confirmed by 4 users | Last reported on March 05, 2023
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Reviewed by
Campendium

April 20, 2021
Rated

My husband has been taking our boys to this KOA as it is conveniently near our home. This weekend my husband needed me to drop off some keys he left behind. I did so but didn’t get a chance to leave before an employee drove their golf cart up to my car and let me know to keep the speed to 5 mph. Honestly, I could have been going over that as I was looking for where my husband parked and wasn’t looking as closely to the dash as I should have been. Regardless, I wasn’t going an unsafe speed, but I accepted the admonition as I could have been going over.

The next day, I needed to drop off my son to join his dad. I was super careful to watch my speed and being careful to look for and follow any rules. As I was leaving, another employee huffed her way to my vehicle to make sure that I knew that I needed to stop off at the office to get permission to enter the park despite that this isn’t posted anywhere. She was clearly annoyed and wanted me to “put me in my place” by approaching me in an aggressive and angry manner. She even rolled her eyes at my husband who is the nicest person on the planet.

My husband’s co-worker (who is camping next to us) asked the woman if his wife needed to check in or needed to get a pass for his wife who had been coming and going several times that weekend. She replied, “No, she was simply making an example out of the ‘nice man’s wife.’” And that his wife was fine to come and go as she pleased.

My husband also let me know that he sees people regularly run around above the speed limit without issue, and this is the first time he has seen them have an issue with it or with people coming and going.

I’m completely baffled by the employees’ behavior and why one earth they decided to single me out for their little show of power. I was never disrespectful or attempting to do anything wrong. Clearly, they apply double standards and get off on making people feel like garbage for fun.

I have worked in customer service for 25 years. I am a polite and respectful person, and it takes a lot to ruffle my feathers. There was no reason that I wasn’t approached with a normal level of civility.

We will not be back and will recommend to our many colleagues who camp often to avoid this KOA.

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Nightly Rate: $50.00

Days Stayed: 1

Site Number: 55

1 Access
1 Location
1 Cleanliness
1 Site Quality
1 Noise
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Reviewed by
Campendium

April 26, 2021
Rated

Very clean campground. Site 30 was level, nicely shaded, a concrete patio and fire pit! Really enjoyed this after being in a few non-shaded campgrounds prior! There is road noise and a train you can hear, however we never heard a train horn after 9pm or before 7am so it did not really bother us! Great location to explore picacho mountain and other great hiking in the area!

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $50.00

Days Stayed: 4

Site Number: 30

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
4 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

June 13, 2021
Rated

This is a beautifully and lovingly cared for and updated KOA - my dog and I had a restful time here and could explore the surrounding area. The bathrooms were spotless, the pool was great for me and the dog park (agility course!) was great for my pup. Lots of games for kids, and a cool clubhouse for hot afternoons (a must because I was in a tent). The owners care very much about this place, and also about the campers' experiences there, and they've clearly made a number of upgrades. I loved that there's a horse farm and cows right nearby!

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $40.00

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: -

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

October 26, 2021
Rated

We stayed 5 nights at this campground.

1. I tried to see past the other poor review that I saw
2. Checkout is apparently 11:00am. I received a phone call at 11:03 from a rude lady(the owner) asking me if I was leaving because checkout was 11. We were a little behind getting out with 3 kids and some unexpected morning events. The same owner lady came over to our site at about 11:15 and told my kids(ages 7, 5, and 3) that checkout was 11 and we needed to get going. It was very clear we were almost finished as slides were pulled in and the truck was ready to hitch up.
3. Her son and our kids played together during our stay. Her son was a sweet kid.
4. I noticed when we got to our next destination after our travel day I was charged a $10 late checkout fee onto my card on file from my reservation. I never authorized or discussed the fee and the fee is nowhere in print.
5. We won’t be returning to this KOA again and unfortunately it hurts the reputation of the KOA brand. We have stayed at a lot of KOAs and have enjoyed all of them except this one.
6. Highway noise is really loud even through our fifth wheel walls.

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Nightly Rate: -

Days Stayed: 5

Site Number: -

1 Access
1 Location
1 Cleanliness
2 Site Quality
1 Noise
  • 30 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
November 09, 2021
Rated

We wanted a stop over for one night on our way to Big Bend NP. Wanted to have access to water so we weren't pulling all the way from LA with a full tank of water. Asked for a level site, pull-thru site with easy in and out - which we were assigned. It is a KOA Journey and have experience with this "franchise". Campground was quiet and clean - road noise from I 10 leveled off after dark so it was easy to sleep.

Restrooms and showers were clean and well kept. The owner called us about an hour before closing to make sure we would know how to check-in if the office was closed. We drove up right as she was locking up but went through all of the information and was very nice.

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roadtripper362598 would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $40.00

Days Stayed: 1

Site Number: -

4 Access
4 Location
4 Cleanliness
4 Site Quality
3 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

AT&T 4G

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Reviewed by
Campendium

February 27, 2022
Rated

We stayed here previously back in January of 2020, before I started making a habit of doing campground reviews. Almost all of the sites are pull-through sites. The two rows nearest the entrance are a bit more compact than the ones in the back of the campground, but can still fit large rigs. The surface of the entire campground is packed dirt under a layer of gravel, with the exception of the tent sites with have more of a dirt surface. All of the sites are level or close to it. Despite the desert setting, there are plenty of shade-producing trees growing between sites.

All of the amenities (except for the dump station) are located near the office: the pool, the laundry room, the playground, the fenced dog park, the propane refill station, and a common social room. The dog park is a good size, though neither of the two entrances were double-gated, so we had to keep watch to make sure no one opened a gate while our dogs were off-leash. The campground shares a fence line with a farm field containing cows, and the vegetation along the fence provided plenty of space for our dogs to take care of business while on-leash.

They were making improvements to individual sites during our stay, pouring concrete to create patio areas for sitting and putting up fencing between sites to create some privacy. One site at the end of a row had its own private dog run. So the owners are clearly interested in investing in the campground. And there are attractions in the area: Picacho Peak State Park - which has two hiking trails leading to the summit of Picacho Peak - is just 15 minutes down the road, and just beyond that is an ostrich farm where tourists can feed the huge birds as well as other critters.

The only negative about the campground is the road noise: it’s close enough to I-10 (and the railroad track on the opposite side of the interstate) that you can hear it inside the RV, even if you’re in the back row.

In terms of cell service, the best speed I got on my Verizon Jetpack with MIMO antenna during our stay was about 8.5Mbps down and 45Mbps up. The fast upload speed may be due to the cell tower on the other side of the farm. Other than the occasional buffering and pixelation we had no trouble steaming video during our stay. The one speed test I did with my AT&T phone showed 64Mbps down and 16 up. Although we didn’t use the campground WiFi (streaming was forbidden), I did do a speed test and got 10Mbps down and 4.5 up, which I thought was pretty good considering we were in the back of the campground.

We would stay here again, and recommend it to anyone traveling through this area.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $55.00

Days Stayed: 13

Site Number: 69

4 Access
4 Location
4 Cleanliness
4 Site Quality
3 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

AT&T 4G

  • 1 Review
  • 0 Helpful
March 14, 2022
Rated

We came in towards the evening wasn’t dark yet. We had been trying to get a reservation all day at places in the area. KOAs are usually good for evening checkin so we had this as our backup, in the afternoon we looked and there’s was 5-6 spots available.

When we arrived the office was closed no big deal we went to the overnight checkin box and there wasn’t anything updated. Sites available were blank. We called the after hours number nothing.

So because we needed place we decided to walk the park to see what was open. We normally don’t do that but just a few hours earlier it had availability and we didn’t have any other options. There was only one pending reservation so we were careful no to take that spot.

We found a handful of site just like the ones we seen online earlier. However as we were heading back someone stopped us and said she was the owner and there was nothing available. We asked about the sites we seen she said they won’t fit our rig. (Yes we’re 40ft but those sites had neighbors of 40foot class A with toads hooked up) so the was BS, then we said we can unhook and we should fit she said oh those are metered. (I also checked the reservations available for the next night just to be sure we didn’t have to do anything special or anything like that. And those sites came up.) She purely didn’t want to help she said she’s the owner and know what’s going. We only needed a place for the night. But we said fine and left.

This is the most unhelpful RV park we have ever been too and don’t recommend.

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Nightly Rate: -

Days Stayed: 0

Site Number: -

2 Access
2 Location
1 Cleanliness
1 Site Quality
1 Noise
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Reviewed by
Campendium

April 02, 2022
Rated

Very nice campground. Friendly staff escorted us to our site. Spacious sites are crushed stone with picnic table and fire ring. Some sites have concrete patios and even individual dog pens. We had no trouble getting level. All utilities worked as expected. Good WiFi signal. Good T-mobile signal. Wide roads are crushed stone and easy to navigate in any size rig. The park is nicely landscaped with trees, shrubs and cactus. Everything is very well maintained. Good signage from the highway. We were only here for one night, but would have been happy to stay longer.

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This reviewer would stay here again

Nightly Rate: $68.00

Days Stayed: 1

Site Number: 52

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
5 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

T-Mobile 4G

  • 8 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
April 10, 2022
Rated

I’ve stayed here several times and always enjoy it. Most recent trip there was no water available so I had to fill before entering. Dump station worked though. Sites are nicely spaced and the views are great. Only downside is there isn’t anything close for shopping or restaurants. Not the end of the world though, it’s a very peaceful campground.

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Nightly Rate: $30.00

Days Stayed: 2

Site Number: -

5 Access
4 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
5 Noise
  • 10 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
April 11, 2022
Rated

We’ve stayed at this KOA over the last 4 years a handful of times, and always had a great experience. Small, but clean, well kept level sites. Roomy for our 42’ 5th wheel. FHU and 50 amp. Easy in and out pull through a. Great little store on site. Eloy is close by for groceries and necessities. Pool is nice, and the sunsets are perfect!

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roadtripper8717362 would stay here again

Nightly Rate: -

Days Stayed: 3

Site Number: -

5 Access
5 Location
5 Cleanliness
5 Site Quality
3 Noise

Cell Coverage Rating

Verizon 4G

AT&T 4G

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Picacho - Tucson NW KOA Journey

18428 S Picacho Hwy
Picacho, Arizona
85141-4141 USA
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Hours

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  • Unavailable
    Parking
  • Check
    Pets Allowed
  • Check
    Restrooms
  • Unavailable
    Wifi
  • Check
    Wheelchair Accessible
  • Check
    Credit Cards Accepted
Affiliation
Kampgrounds of America (KOA)
Back In RV Sites Count
20
Last Nightly Rate
39.0
Longest Vehicle Length Reported
42.0
Lowest Nightly Rate
30.0
Max Length
60ft
Pull Through RV Sites Count
75
Season End
May 31
Season Start
September 1
Sites Count
84
  • Check
    Swimming Pool
  • Unavailable
    Paved Sites
  • Check
    Fifty Amp
  • Check
    Full Hookup
  • Check
    Rec Facilities
  • Check
    Pull Through
  • Check
    Tent Sites
  • Check
    Dump Station
  • Check
    Big Rigs
  • Check
    Open Seasonally
  • Unavailable
    Age Restricted
  • Check
    Back In RV Sites
  • Unavailable
    Boondock
  • Unavailable
    Cabin Sites
  • Unavailable
    Dispersed Sites
  • Check
    Firewood
  • Unavailable
    Fulltime Residents
  • Unavailable
    Group Tent Sites
  • Check
    Laundry
  • Unavailable
    Mobile Homes
  • Unavailable
    Permit Required
  • Check
    Potable Water
  • Check
    Propane
  • Check
    Public Water
  • Check
    Pull Through RV Sites
  • Check
    Reservations
  • Check
    RV Sites
  • Check
    Sewer Hookup
  • Check
    Showers
  • Check
    Sites
  • Check
    Standard Tent Sites
  • Unavailable
    Vehicle Wash Permitted
  • Check
    Water Hookup
  • Unavailable
    Adult Only
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