Pine Flat Campground

Near the far northern end of the Oak Creek Canyon north of Sedona, Arizona, is the Pine Flat Campground. One of the larger campgrounds in the area, all of the sites in Pine Flat offer stellar views of the sandstone walls that tower above the western side of the campground, and 18 of the 60 sites back up to Oak Creek itself. While the creek is generally too wooded and narrow at this point to swim (unlike Bootlegger day use area and Manzanita campgrounds), the campground does carry a lot of appeal for campers who want a closer proximity to Flagstaff, being less than 30 minutes away from either Flagstaff or Sedona; however, the road to Flagstaff does involve a notoriously windy and steep mile of Highway 89A that begins just north of the campground.

Pine Flat Campground feels more like two campgrounds than one, with Highway 89A running right through the middle of the campground. There are four loops in total. The western entrance leads to two loops, one for sites 1 through 19 and another for 20 through 38, and the eastern entrance serves loops for sites 39 through 50 and for 51 through 60. The sites on the west side of the road are reserveable in advance, and they are often booked well in advance on weekends all through summer by visitors escaping the Phoenix heat. The handful of first-come, first-served sites on the east side are generally pretty easy to get on any weekday, including on Friday if you make it up to Pine Flat in the early afternoon before most of the Phoenix crowd arrives.