If your trip on the Apache-Sitgreaves ran down Forest Service Road 276 from Buffalo Crossing, that road and seven campgrounds along it are closed. The forest posted Forest Order 03-01-26-004 on November 6, 2026, after what it calls “record flooding,” and the order can stay in place until December 31, 2027. We read it on November 7.
What the order closes
The order prohibits being in its described area and being on its listed roads and trails. The list:
- FSR 276, from the FSR 24 intersection at Buffalo Crossing to the FSR 37 intersection. The described area includes Diamond Rock, Aspen, Deer Creek, Racoon, Horse Springs, West Fork and Buffalo Crossing campgrounds.
- FSR 116, from FSR 249E to FSR 72, including Thompson Trailhead #629. The stretch from AZ 273 to FSR 249E stays open.
- FSR 504, from mile marker 18 to mile marker 20, including Mormon Crossing.
- FSR 140, from mile marker 2 south about 2 miles to FSR 300.
- Two single crossings: Hart Canyon Crossing on FSR 75 and Morgan Wash Crossing on FSR 22. The rest of FSR 75 and FSR 22 stays open.
The exemptions are narrow: people with Forest Service Permit FS-7700-48 or a written determination that they don’t need one, and officers, rescue crews and firefighters on duty. Nobody else is exempt, campers and hunters included. A violation can mean a fine of up to $5,000 for an individual, up to six months in jail, or both.
The catch
December 31, 2027 is when the order expires if nobody rescinds it first. It isn’t a reopening date, and the forest hasn’t given one. The alert says staff are still assessing “several hundred miles of roads” and that conditions “remain unstable in many areas and roads may continue to deteriorate.”
Two things we couldn’t pin down. The order’s own implementation line reads “November XX, 2026,” with the day left blank, while the alert lists a start date of November 6. Treat it as in force now. And we couldn’t read the Exhibit A map, so this list is the order text, not the map.
The list is also not every bad road. A separate alert, posted November 2, warns that many Forest Service roads were hit by the rain and tells you not to drive a road covered in water. A road missing from the order isn’t necessarily safe to drive.
Nothing else changes forest-wide. The alerts page still lists the 14-days-in-30 camping limit (Order 03-01-26-002) and no fire restrictions.
What to do
- Call before you drive in. Supervisor’s Office in Springerville, 928-333-6280. Ask about the specific road, not just the district.
- Believe the barrier. If a road is signed or blocked, it’s closed, whatever any website says, ours included. The posted sign and the district’s current word come first.
- If you left a vehicle or gear behind when the water came up, the forest is taking reports by email to [email protected] with the subject line “Personal Property,” per its release. Include your name, phone, plates, a description and the location.
- Report damage that isn’t signed yet to the same Springerville number.
This is the second Arizona forest closing campgrounds to flooding this month: the Coconino’s Oak Creek Canyon closure took out all four campgrounds the Sedona camping ban exempts. Our Arizona free camping page covers the land managers across the state if you need to rebuild a route.
Sources
- Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, Temporary Emergency Closure (Forest Order 03-01-26-004, last updated November 6, 2026), read November 7, 2026
- Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, Alerts, read November 7, 2026
- Arizona Emergency Information Network, Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests implements Temporary Emergency Closure due to record flooding (November 6, 2026), read November 7, 2026