Roper Lake State Park Campground

3 nights; Sun/Mon/Tue in early May. This is a very private site with a big ramada covering a picnic table along with electric and potable water hookups. This Campground also has flush toilets, sinks and showers and a dump station. This site has a partial view of the lake, dependent upon how well they maintain/manage the reeds that can get out of control and block the view. When I was here this time, they seem to have been better managing the reeds than in past visits. There is also a fire ring at each site. This site was double wide so you could park your truck right next to your trailer and still have plenty of room because the site is also long. This site is level and paved. The bathrooms/showers are clean. I did not see any campground hosts during my visit. The campground was not busy. There is a gift store at the entrance and a dollar store just down the road (less than a mile). It was easy access for me to launch my inflatable kayak just a few steps from my campsite. There is very little shade at these campsites, except for the shaded picnic table under the ramada, so it gets hot. Even early May was in the low 90s, although it was nice out on the water. There is not much to do at this campground except enjoy the water or fish (no one was catching much when I was there). There is a fenced dog area and a couple of easy hikes, but unless it is winter it is too hot to hike the trails because there is no shade and it is hot desert. Patagonia State Park is a better option for summer because it has more shade and a bigger lake. Roper is nice for winter and early spring (November through April)

Stayed in site 46 at Gila Campground. Backed our 19’ er/w Chevy Silverado in and was able to stay hooked up for the night. This site is right on lake with a beautiful sunrise. Feels secluded even though a large motor home is in the next site.

No one was in the group site in the center ~ if that was full, it may impact your experience.

Nice, short trails in Park.
Push button showers in bath houses.
This site water only but used our generator as did the campers next door. White noise quiet enough for a short time.

Paved, level sites, water and electric only. Nice and quiet in the winter, probably more day use in the summer. Not a lot of tree cover, probably hot in the summer, 60’s down to 30 in February. Large off leash dog park, lots of hiking trails. Good space between sites, each has a covered picnic table. Easy access off I-10, 30 minutes north off the freeway.

Campground was immaculate and our site was sizeable. There were other sections of the loop that looked like there was less privacy and space. The other loops looked pretty similar. We watched them come clean up the site next to us and they were very thorough and paid close attention to detail. The fenced dog run was also VERY well maintained. The views of Mount Graham (with snow) were beautiful. I wish we could have stayed longer. The "lake" is small, but peace and quiet was amazing (much prefer the layout of this campground over Patagonia Lake SP). My phone doesn't have 5G service and we didn't notice if my hubs was picking up 5G, but we were able to stream shows without issue using our cell hot spots to our roku TV.

We stayed here 10 years ago and enjoyed it. So when we knew we were coming back through the area it was a no brainer we would stay again.

Stayed 7 days and enjoyed it. Great quiet campground. Sites are well spaced out. Water/electric with a dump station.

Hiking trails plus free entry to the other park down the road.

Propane couple miles to the north and only a short drive to the city of Safford.

We will stay here anytime we are coming through the area.

The one negative. Mens showers were kinda crappy. The water shoots out at weird angles. Wish they would replace the shower heads.

***on our morning walk through the park we were going through a wooded area and came across a guy in Dept. Of Corrections jumpsuit. Little startled at first but quickly remembered Arizona uses prisoners for labor.

No sign of cockroaches so far - compared to last reviewer :)

Park WiFi is decent, but varies dramatically from time to time.
Speeds @ 6pm local on a Tuesday with roof omnidirectional:

Verizon: 34/18
https://www.speedtest.net/result/12500419993

T-Mobile: 19/14
https://www.speedtest.net/result/12500414375

AT&T: 28/4
https://www.speedtest.net/result/12500392699

My first visit here was a solo weekend trip with my 16’ travel trailer. I mainly used Roper Lake as my base camp for a trip to Chiricahua National Monument. I was able to reserve a spot that backs up to the lake on the west side. (Gila Loop spot #46)
Although the park is well maintained, my first impression was about a hundred cockroaches on the pad. Thankfully none ended up in the camper. I arrived after dark and was pleasantly surprised in the morning to witness a brilliant sunrise come up over to the east side of the lake. To the west the 10,000+ foot-high Mt Graham basked in the glow of the sunrise.
Although the campground is light on amenities, it is pretty quiet and all the campsites are well spaced.
Gila is the smallest off three loops. I pedaled my bike through the other two campgrounds and they were significantly more busy and crowded. Was happy to be in Gila. I also paddled my kayak around the lake and enjoyed the views.
One thing worth noting is that the water source at the campsite came out of the tap warm, presumably because of the underground artesian springs.
Speaking of Springs, one cool diversion in the area I would recommend is the Essence of Tranquility hot springs resort a couple of mile to the west. And of course, Chiricahua National Monument is amazing, even though it’s about 90 minutes away.