Rose Canyon Lake Campground is the perfect place to camp during the Tucson summer heat. It's up on Mount Lemmon, where the air is cooler and access is easy to Rose Lake for family fishing, hiking, and picnicking.
Only 18.2 miles up the Mount Lemmon Scenic Highway, Rose Canyon is a large campground that offers lots of shade and camping options. RVs, walk-in tent camping, and day use areas are all viable options for this campground. They even have a small convenience store on location in case you're craving chocolate! The lake is ADA accessible with handicap parking just feet from the nearest side of the lake. Parking is up the hill and only about 200 yards away. Bring your rolling cooler and camp chairs! A small trail wraps around most of the lake. It's difficult to loop to take all the way around because of a small dam on the northeast side of the lake.
On your drive up the mountain, there are two stops that come highly recommended:
Gordan Hirabayashi Campground (Prison Camp) is a more historical stop. This area was used as a prison labor camp for convicts to build the road up through the Santa Catalina Mountains. Many of the convicts were of various religions that were prohibited from serving in the military during WWII. Some were of Japanese descent and protested the internment of Japanese-Americans; they were sent here as an alternative.
Take the opportunity to stop at Windy Point Lookout on your way. You won't be disappointed. The views are incredible any time of the day, but if you can time it for sunset, you'll be in for a huge treat.
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