This is a Tonto National Forest campground downstream from the Bartlett Dam/Reservoir on the Verde River. The closest town is Carefree, 23 miles to the west. The 3 mile road from the Bartlett Marina is maintained gravel. Sites are among large mesquite trees in a sandy, dry grass meadow. Each site has a metal picnic table and fire ring/grill combo. The sites are not numbered. You can position your vehicle any way you like around a site. There are no hookups, but there is a vault toilet. The river is just across the loop road. At some sites you can get a glimpse of the river. You can see the Bartlett Dam. We stayed here during the week. It was practically empty. Only one other camper was around. They were at a far site from ours and out of sight. Though this seemed like a great place to get away on your own, the litter problem was bad. That is why the rating is only a 6. At the sites and along the river, there were empty beer cans, broken bottles, and other litter. We spent an hour cleaning up around our site. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This is a dispersed camping area on a beach at Bartlett Reservoir. It’s managed by the Tonto National Forest. The closest town is Carefree, 20 miles to the west. All roads leading here are paved. It’s about 2 miles north of the Bartlett Marina. You drive down to the beach and find a spot you like. There a rock fire rings that other people have set up. There is a flush toilet where you enter the beach. Depending on where you set up camp, that toilet could be far away. The views of the water and surrounding mountains are great. Just south of this beach are good hiking trails with more views of Bartlett Lake. We stayed here during the week. It was practically empty. Weekends are probably much busier. Litter was a bit of a problem, but not as bad as we saw at Riverside Campground, just south of Bartlett Lake. That is why the rating is only a 7. We would come back here again and would probably stick to another weekday. We camped here in a Motorhome.