Picacho / Tucson NW KOA Journey — Hotel in Four Corners States

I waited quite a few months to write this review as I didn't want to rate this campground out of anger. Bottom line up front : we packed up and left mid stay as we felt very unsafe here with our children. The check in lady (sister of the owner who helps them out seasonally) was extremely nice. She was kind, accommodating, and friendly. We stayed a few nights in the spring to visit local national parks. It wasn't too full - location is near the roadway and a horse paddock so one side of the campground gets a smell from horse manure. Not anything they can control, but see where your site is before parking. It's an older park, but they maintain it well. There is a playground and a pool. We used only the playground as my kids can play easily without an adult needing to control their every move. The internet is fine, but we need a secure network so we used our own network for work purposes. Unfortunately, one afternoon as our kids played at the playground, and as I was outside cleaning, kids came back saying the owner told them they could not be at the playground without an adult sitting there too. The campground is dead and we can see and hear them from the site, but fine. Okay, no problem... So husband takes a chair over to have eyes on and still work on his laptop as kids play. The host in the golf cart then proceeds to whip around the campground and an older man a few sites down comes to our site with his dog and tells me my kids are alone and need supervision at the playground. He had gone over and talked to my kids privately about this, but as my husband (watching them) couldn't hear his words he thought he was being friendly to the kids. I tell the man my husband is over watching them and he tells me no he's not and I'm shook he's fighting me when I know my husband is there watching. The man is allowing his dog to jump all over our front bumper which got scratched up and I told him to get his dog off the new truck that was only 2 months old (which we had to get buffed out). He told me he knew the owner and I knew then the owner had talked privately with him to complain about our kids and this man took it upon himself to unjustly harass us. The owner then comes over in her golf cart to tell my husband he can't sit where he is sitting because the grass edge is near a campsite. I explain we can't use our internet any farther away and we needed to sit here to watch the kids on the swings as she requested. She was upset, but left. We immediately packed up and left as we felt it was a very unsafe environment for kids. We full time travel and love KOA campgrounds for their family atmosphere, but this place is down right scary. Moved down the road to another place for...

We stayed here previously back in January of 2020, before I started making a habit of doing campground reviews. Almost all of the sites are pull-through sites. The two rows nearest the entrance are a bit more compact than the ones in the back of the campground, but can still fit large rigs. The surface of the entire campground is packed dirt under a layer of gravel, with the exception of the tent sites with have more of a dirt surface. All of the sites are level or close to it. Despite the desert setting, there are plenty of shade-producing trees growing between sites.

All of the amenities (except for the dump station) are located near the office: the pool, the laundry room, the playground, the fenced dog park, the propane refill station, and a common social room. The dog park is a good size, though neither of the two entrances were double-gated, so we had to keep watch to make sure no one opened a gate while our dogs were off-leash. The campground shares a fence line with a farm field containing cows, and the vegetation along the fence provided plenty of space for our dogs to take care of business while on-leash.

They were making improvements to individual sites during our stay, pouring concrete to create patio areas for sitting and putting up fencing between sites to create some privacy. One site at the end of a row had its own private dog run. So the owners are clearly interested in investing in the campground. And there are attractions in the area: Picacho Peak State Park - which has two hiking trails leading to the summit of Picacho Peak - is just 15 minutes down the road, and just beyond that is an ostrich farm where tourists can feed the huge birds as well as other critters.

The only negative about the campground is the road noise: it’s close enough to I-10 (and the railroad track on the opposite side of the interstate) that you can hear it inside the RV, even if you’re in the back row.

In terms of cell service, the best speed I got on my Verizon Jetpack with MIMO antenna during our stay was about 8.5Mbps down and 45Mbps up. The fast upload speed may be due to the cell tower on the other side of the farm. Other than the occasional buffering and pixelation we had no trouble steaming video during our stay. The one speed test I did with my AT&T phone showed 64Mbps down and 16 up. Although we didn’t use the campground WiFi (streaming was forbidden), I did do a speed test and got 10Mbps down and 4.5 up, which I thought was pretty good considering we were in the back of the campground.

We would stay here again, and recommend it to anyone traveling...

My husband has been taking our boys to this KOA as it is conveniently near our home. This weekend my husband needed me to drop off some keys he left behind. I did so but didn’t get a chance to leave before an employee drove their golf cart up to my car and let me know to keep the speed to 5 mph. Honestly, I could have been going over that as I was looking for where my husband parked and wasn’t looking as closely to the dash as I should have been. Regardless, I wasn’t going an unsafe speed, but I accepted the admonition as I could have been going over. ||||The next day, I needed to drop off my son to join his dad. I was super careful to watch my speed and being careful to look for and follow any rules. As I was leaving, another employee huffed her way to my vehicle to make sure that I knew that I needed to stop off at the office to get permission to enter the park despite that this isn’t posted anywhere. She was clearly annoyed and wanted me to “put me in my place”. She even rolled her eyes at my husband who is the nicest person on the planet. ||||My husband’s co-worker (who is camping next to us) asked the woman if his wife needed to check in or needed to get a pass for his wife who had been coming and going several times that weekend. She replied, “No, she was simply making an example out of the ‘nice man’s wife.’” And that his wife was fine to come and go as she pleased. ||||My husband also let me know that he sees people regularly run around above the speed limit without issue, and this is the first time he has seen them have an issue with it or with people coming and going. ||||I’m completely baffled by the employees’ behavior and why one earth they decided to single me out for their little show of power. I was never disrespectful or attempting to do anything wrong. Clearly, they apply double standards and get off on making people feel like garbage for fun. ||||I have worked in customer service for 25 years. I am a polite and respectful person. But I am not willing to be treated as a doormat for no good reason. No one should be mistreated like this. ||||We will not be back and will recommend to our many colleagues who camp often to...