A shade ramada, a fire ring, and Roosevelt Lake spread out below the campground make up the whole view from the pad, and by dark the water has gone quiet. The boat launch and the courtesy dock are down the shore, with the no-wake coves beyond them, where an afternoon drifts by with nowhere to be. The lake lies out in the Tonto National Forest, and the Forest Service runs two big campgrounds on its shore off AZ-188, Cholla and Windy Hill.
Families come up from Queen Creek and the southeast Valley for the full week and leave the rig where they parked it, awning out and chairs facing the water. Everyone settles into the site on the first afternoon, and the rig doesn't move again until the drive home.
Summer in the basin is fierce, so the lake runs as a trip from fall through spring. Cholla closes from the start of June to the start of October, per the Forest Service's Cholla page as of September 2026. Windy Hill stays open year round, which makes it the pad for a late-spring or early-fall week.
Cholla and Windy Hill on the lakeshore
Both campgrounds spread their loops along the shore above the water, close enough that the lake is the view from most sites. Windy Hill sits 8 miles south of Cholla on AZ-188, so a group split between the two can still meet up for dinner.
Lock the site first and rent the rig second, because the pad sets the size. The Forest Service limits trailers to under 32 feet at Cholla and Windy Hill, and Windy Hill's Coati loop tops out at 20 feet, small enough that a couple headed there is better off in a smaller rental. For a motorhome near 30 feet, check the length listed on the specific site before you book the rig.
The road up, US-60 and AZ-188
The drive from Queen Creek heads east on US-60 into the mountains at Superior, where the Boyce Thompson Arboretum's desert garden paths wind under the cliffs. It's worth a stop on the way up, before the climb toward Globe. Past Globe, AZ-188 runs 27 miles northwest to the lake.
The same highway passes Tonto National Monument, whose cliff dwelling rooms are tucked into a hillside alcove above the water, and it's the one outing worth a morning away from camp. The Upper Cliff Dwelling is seen only on a reserved guided tour, offered on weekends from November through April as of September 2026, per the Park Service.
Queen Creek's other nearby trips point back toward the Superstitions. The foothills and the winter resort week are on the Mesa RV page, and Lost Dutchman State Park and the Apache Trail are on the Phoenix page. Canyon Lake, the water along that trail, has its recreation sites closed by a drawdown as of September 2026, according to the Tonto National Forest alerts.