Skyline Regional Park Campground

Skyline Regional Park is located just 2.5 miles north of Buckeye, AZ and about 25 miles from Phoenix. There is camping, hiking, mountain biking and horse riding. There is a fee for camping. Sites can accommodate large RV's. This is dry camping. There are restrooms onsite. This is a relatively new park and part of the BLM White Tank Mountain reserve area now under a lease with Buckeye Parks & Recreation. See my video at: https://youtu.be/AlL25nPkyv0

This place seems to be off the radar as there are only 7 sites and no more than 3 were being used at any one time. The sites are large enough to accommodate our 40' 5th wheel and tow vehicle. Each site has a picnic table, fire pit, and charcoal grill but are otherwise fairly rustic. There is a consistent flow of day use/hiking traffic but most of the sites are far enough from the parking lot so noise is not an issue. Site G may be the exception as it is just off the main parking lot and trailhead. There is no dump station or potable water fill, otherwise this could be 5 stars. The location in the foothills of the White Tank mountains feels remote and spacious but groceries, gas, restaurants, and shopping are only a few miles away.
There are a number of hiking trails for all levels, many of which provide amazing views of the valley. Because of the mountains the cell signal was a little sketchy. For the most part we had 4G but occasionally wold drop to 1x. Boosted signal was strong and very reliable.
Reservations are manual and a bit quirky here but they were very friendly and helpful over the phone. There is also a self pay station for same day reservations if there are open sites.

Only 7 sites and not one taken when we arrived. Nestled into the desert and hills this adorable park is fairly new and the sites well maintained. Outside Phoenix off I-10 , convenient to airport and the small town of Buckeye .
Cell phone service is decent. Nice layover.

I stayed here for 2 nights with 2 dogs. 24 ft class C and towing small suv. Called to double check before I arrived, you either have to book 72 hours in advance over the phone or take your chances by just showing up. I spent a Friday and Saturday night here at the end of January and only 4 out of the 7 spots were occupied all weekend! No hook ups. Bathrooms and trash close. Camping spots are a little distance from trails so you can see people but the noise doesn’t bother you. Free park so lots of families, busy hours with foot traffic are 7:00 AM TO 2:00 PM. But everyone is quiet. 6 minute drive to Walmart or city but no light pollution at night. This was a wonderful location were we rested, sunbathed, and hiked! Decent cell reception.

Our 44 foot motor home fit nicely in site G. Very clean and flat campsite. Lots of hikers coming and going, even at night and early morning. Beautiful place, but Verizon is unusable at the site. This is a great overnight spot right off I-10, just west of Phoenix. It is first come first serve or by reservation, so if you are traveling through it is easy to get to. Just one mile north off I-10 in Buckeye Arizona. I believe the park closes at 10pm.

CALL THE PARK AHEAD AND RESERVE if you want to stay on a weekend. We arrived on a Thursday mid-day and the campground was empty so we chose a site (no reservation tags were on any sites). At the self-register kiosk (no attendant at gate) it said to call and make sure site was available so I did. Unfortunately 6 of the 7 sites were booked starting Friday for the weekend except G, which is adjacent to the trail head. Park rep on the phone said there should have been reservation tags on the sites, which did finally happen...Friday at 12:30 pm. We spent Thursday night in site C then moved to site G on Friday and the trail got VERY busy early early (6 am) Saturday morning. It was busy all day but we were in and out and then it was VERY quiet at night. The person who had reserved site C never showed up all weekend (frustrating).

This park was stunning in late February and so peaceful during the week (except for the occasional jets from Luke which my husband enjoys) and at night. There are lots of hiking trails, birds, and flowers in late February. We had 2 bars of Verizon at site C (good enough for emails) but only 1 bar at all the other sites and basically nothing at site G. Sites are level and gravel with concrete tables, a fire pit, and BBQ.

Would definitely come back with a reservation or mid-week!! The campground was built in 2015 and is about 3 miles from I-10 and most major shopping (i.e., Walmart). Restrooms are onsite but no hook-ups or water available so come prepared.

I stayed here the second week in December 2918 for one night. Stumbled on it when I stopped for lunch/gas in town. It was completely empty and no one else came into the camping area. There were lots of local people enjoying the paths; I think there may have been a scouting event of some kind, people dropped kids off then picked them up later. Clean facilities, nice views, level back-in sites on a steep hillside.

This place accepts BOTH online AND walk-up (first come, first served) reservations. Problem is, that method DOESNT work! Conflicting online reservations Made today can “overlap” with a walk-in reservation Made yesterday (they allow a stay of up to 7 days at a site), creating conflicts!

I spoke to a “ranger” about the obvious conflict that exists with reserving sites and he informed me that he DOESN’T have access to the “pay box” and so has no idea what may be reserved by walk-up’s; only the reservations that get made on-line.

They have a cash “pay box” with instructions for paying $20/night for up to 7 nights but someone can reserve the SAME site ONLINE that you already paid for as a “walk-up”; thereby creating a conflict.

With just 7 Camping spaces total, this place can NOT effectively operate with the dual-reservation process they have.

Too bad, as it really is a nice location with lots of hiking trails starting right from the campground.

Stayed here 2/23/20 to 3/1/20. The previous reviewer is correct that the reservation system is a disaster. Making a reservation online is almost impossible to figure out without calling them. And unfortunately when you call them they can't do it over the phone so you still have to go through the website anyway. However, they are very friendly and will instruct you on how to get through the online reservation system. It's really tedious and annoying but I managed to book a week on the website and it all worked out. I will say though that no one came and put a sign or anything on my site saying that I had reserved it, and I never once saw anyone working out at the park so I think someone easily could have hopped in my spot not knowing it was reserved. So yeah, this system is kind of a mess, but the girl I talked to said they were working on improving it.

This park is dry camping only and doesn't have a dump station or any water available. I had filled up with water at my previous campground, and then used the dump station at the Love's a couple miles down I-10.

One thing that I found kind of strange about this park is that it's right off the parking lot at an extremely popular trailhead. So if you're looking for peace and quiet this isn't the place. This does give you fantastic access to all the hiking trails and the restrooms though.

Another important thing I have to mention is the cell service... people are reporting 1 or 2 bars of verizon LTE, but in the week I was there the service was so spotty that it was pretty much unusable. Occasionally I'd get a bar of LTE, but it would be so short lived that I couldn't really make phone calls or do any work. It seemed to work better in the morning and at night, but during the day you can count on pretty much no service at all. If you need cell service to work like I do, definitely look elsewhere.

Overall this is a beautiful park and I'm saying that I would camp here again because it was affordable and close to some nice trails, but for a full-timer like myself that likes to stay for a week and still works, it's not the best option.

It seems there are issues using the reservation system so I did my best to list out each step of the process under the NOTES tab. The system is not user-friendly, so I hope the steps will prove helpful. I've stayed here on 3 different occasions over the past 2 years and have really enjoyed Skyline each time. I don't recall the reservation process being that big if of an issue. BUT that said, this last visit on the weekend of February 21st was the first time my site was not labeled with my reservation. I saw the review noting the issue with the reservation system - when I called Buckeye Rec Dept to extend my stay by one day (to see if the site was available) I mentioned that no one was updating sites with reservation tags. The attendant said they were having an issue with the system not forwarding the information to the "3rd party" who was responsible for posting reservations. Therefore, reserved sites were not being tagged in a timely manner. This is the first time this has occurred during my stays and yes, it can certainly mess up one's plans. She said they were going to address it but in the meantime, it might be a good idea to call the office to confirm your site or if you find someone occupying it. Now as far as camping itself, it is dry camping but there are lots of services nearby. And yes, this is a very popular recreational park for the community but the trailhead and parking area, while close, are completely separate from the camping area. And the trails are great, for dog walking, hiking, and some biking. I was able to work using my ATT hotspot though I didn't save my connection speeds.