Roper Lake State Park Campground

We were surprised with how much we liked it here! We stayed in the dry camping loop because 1) it was only $15/night instead of $25, and 2) it was way less crowded. There were a few people that came and went overnight, but we mostly had the place to ourselves.

The small lake is beautiful, and our kids had a great time watching the ducks. We also did a walk from our site all the way around the lake in a large loop. The hot tub is clean, although not crazy warm. There's also a nice nature trail from the hot tub up on top of the small mesa and back down that had some great views of the area.

Our kids earned their Jr. Ranger Badge and we mostly just relaxed and enjoyed the scenery!

2nd time here for us. We stayed in the hookup loop and were very happy with the site. Park is laid out well and the bonus is a small warm spring hot tub/spa. Back in town of Safford is a GREAT Mexican restaurant, Casa Manana.

We opted for the dry camping loop (Gila Loop) because we didn't need to hook up. There are water spigots located throughout the loop. Each site has a picnic table or two, and all are paved and level. It looks like they've raised the rates to $18 (dry) and $28 (full hookup) since the original listing. We visited February 21 and 22, 2016.

Sites closest to the lake are cabins with porch swings, outdoor barbeques and sinks. Two new vault toilets are in this loop, but it's a short walk across a footbridge to the next loop with hot showers and flush toilets, all of which are spotless.

The park staff only puts dry campers in every other spot on the inside loop of Gila so that each visitor has more space (even-numbered sites only), but I be in a pinch they'd fill it up more tightly.

The whole park is furnished with thoughtful touches— hand-washing soap and sinks by the vault toilets, a natural hot spring for soaking up on the mesa, and several miles of walking paths around the lake. Volunteers were busy re-painting some ramadas and picnic tables.

Bird life abounds— we saw vermilion fly-catchers, loons, coots and thousands of yellow-headed blackbirds. Plus many other bird species we could not name. The paths and road around the park are great for bicycling, too.

After the first night, we spent about 5 hours driving up the amazing Highway 366 to the top of Mt. Graham that we decided to spend another night at Roper Lake SP. There were several campgrounds high up there (at 6, 7, and 8,000 feet) but the temp would drop pretty low overnight. So we returned to Roper for another very pleasant night. Highly recommend, and close to spectacular hiking up in the Pinalenos Mountains.

We had 2 bars of Verizon LTE, both at Roper Lake SP and up on the mountain.

Summer fun swimming and hot mineral springs on cool days. Nearby spas and the farming town of Safford. Park is clean and well maintained. Great for the RV crowd. Sites are level and have electric and water. Dump station at park entrance.

Hot tub has lots of kids during the day, go at dinner time. Or visit nearby Essence of Tranquility http://www.azhotmineralspring.com/ for hotter tubs and maybe a massage.

Easy hiking trails, fishing pier, nice grassy picnic area.

Our spot was easy to back in to and very level. We got in after hours (but before the gate closed at 10 pm) and picked up our vehicle tag the next morning. We had water and electricity and were able to dump the tanks on our way out.

The folks at the visitor's center were friendly and able to tell us about a few things to do in the area. There's a hot tub, dog run, fishing, and swimming in the lake although we didn't use any of these amenities. The showers were warm immediately and automatically shut off after about 30 seconds to help conserve water. I thought this convenient but others might find it annoying.

I'd love to come again in the summer for some hiking and swimming.

This is another nice Arizona State Park. It’s well-maintained and clean. It’s along the shore of small Roper Lake. There are lots of birds to see and mountains on both sides of the campground. Mt. Graham and the adjacent National Forest area are well worth the drive for an illustration of the effects of elevation on vegetation.

Very peaceful and well maintained. We were there for New Years weekend. The Park Rangers made their rounds enough to be sure everything was going well, but were always friendly and unobtrusive. Site 36 is a “backwards” site ... we weren’t supposed to but we went in the opposite direction so our campsite wouldn’t be on the road. This was apparently against the rules but the PR was polite, just asked us not to do that next time. I would not book that site again though. Site 40 was very nice, also a pull through, and very private.
36 is probably the only one I wouldn’t stay in again.
Lots of nice hikes in the area, bird watching and the little quails and roadrunners are better than TV!

Another nice Arizona state park. Highlights are the trails, small lake, a natural hot springs tub, mountain view, and well kept up campground.

Nearby in Safford and Thatcher there are several places to purchase groceries: Safeway, Bashas (Arizona-based, family-owned and -operated grocery chain), and Walmart.

Also, if you like good Mexican food, La Paloma Restaurant in nearby Solomon, AZ is worth the drive.

Cell and Wifi:
Verizon 2 bars LTE
3.3 Mb down 2.4 Mb up

AT&T 2 bars LTE
13.4 Mb down 7.4 Mb up

Sprint 2 bars Extended LTE
0.28 Mb down 0.28 Mb up

Roper Lake State Park WiFi
2.0 Mb down 1.3Mb up
(Closer you are to the bathrooms on the Cottonwood Loop, the better the reception.)

Date of visit: Dec. 12-16, 2018

The camp hosts, and there were more of them than campers at this time of year, said that December is a quietest month of the year here, and that proved to be very true for us. Site #15 faced the lake and offered great views through our windshield of all the birds. All the sites are very spacious and level.

The park was very well-maintained and clean. The showers were large, clean, and had plenty of hot water, but the shower building itself was not heated, and it was warmer outside a few times than inside.

The interior park trails are nicely kept, wide, with good walking surface (semi-packed sand) and pretty vegetation all around. The "island" area of the park is great, with a swimming beach area, though it was too cold for that during our stay, picnic ramadas, outdoor showers, horseshoe pits, and great views of the lake and surrounding mountains. There are several places to put in for boating/fishing. It was too chilly to kayak, but in warmer weather, I certainly would have.

The natural hot tub, however, is no longer hot. The VC volunteer said it stopped working sometime within the last year, and they have no idea when or even if it will ever be hot again.

Safford is a short drive from the park for all major amenities, and there is a large propane dealer along the way, as well. The lady working the office of the propane dealer sells her farm-fresh eggs, too!

The Coronado N.F. is close for some good hiking opportunities.

Inside the park we saw several water birds (blue heron, coots, egrets, ducks, mergansers), other birds (yellow-winged blackbirds, vermilion flycatcher, hawks), coyotes, and jackrabbits.

We got three OTA TV channels, the park has free wifi (spotty), and we had 2-3 reliable bars of Verizon 4GLTE (good enough to stream on my phone.)

Used this as a base camp to explore the region. Loved our day trips to old Ft Bowie and the top of Mt. Graham. The first night was Thursday before Easter. Campground mostly empty, could hear the birds and other animals around the lake. Then the campground filled up and it was party time. Quiet hours meant nothing, there were as many as 4 vehicles to a spot and you couldn't get away from the amplified musica. Campground hosts didn't even try to get things under control.