Pack Camping - Whitetail Campground, Mt. Lemmon

http://www.astronomycamp.org/pages/bigelow.htmlOne of the things I'm planning on posting about is the places available for camping with cubs in the Tucson area. The Guide to Safe Scouting (hereafter known as G2SS) allows pack overnighters, which our pack usually does on the weekends a couple times a year.

Since it's a weekend thing, we usually don't want to go too far away. About 2 hours of driving seems to be a reasonable limit, so most of the areas I'm interested in covering will be within that radius from southeast Tucson.

We are planning a trip up to Whitetail Campground on Mt. Lemmon. There are 5 group sites, they require a reservation in advance. It is a fairly new site and nice, with paved parking and concrete walkways. They have a large firepit, and a ramada with several picnic tables. There are also bear boxes and bear-safe trash cans, and a few large charcoal grills. There are a couple pit toilets for each campsite and water available with a spigot at the ramada. I'd recommend bringing a large jug unless you want soggy kids every time they go to wash something or get a drink, the spigots are not easy to control! There is also no water at the restroom, so you may want to set up a hand-washing jug there as well.

The campground is on one side of a large ravine. Up the hill on the other side is a fairly large fall of trees, the kids like to use these to make forts and shelters (supervised of course). The site in the back is the largest, there are several pads for tents but you can't drive your car up to the tent site--you have to do some hauling.
There is power but only at the ramada, so to inflate your air mattresses you'll have to haul them around too.

There is some room with a sort-of flat area for games and activities, but I wouldn't really count on playing kickball or football here. The campground is across from the trailhead that leads up to the (lower) observatory, which makes a nice hike but be careful crossing the highway.

The campground hosts are very careful about their campground and will enforce the rules about parking, not using chalk on the ground, fire building, and noise. Which, overall, makes it nicer for everyone.

I've camped here with other groups as well, and it seems that a lot of cub packs use this campground. Last time I think I saw the cubs from St. Cyril's!

Another note: you don't have to buy a Mt. Lemmon pass if you are only going to Whitetail. If you are going to stop somewhere else on the way up or down you should have one, but whitetail-only doesn't require one.