Bonito Campground closed today, and the Sunset Crater road shuts tomorrow until October 21

Bonito Campground closed today. If you were counting on one of its 44 sites tonight, on the loop road between Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki north of Flagstaff, pick something else.

The notice is on the Recreation.gov listing, which the Coconino National Forest runs: “Campground will be closing on Sunday, 9/20/2026 due to roadwork scheduled to begin on Monday, 9/21/2026.” A second line on the same page says the campground is closing early this season for the same reason. We read both on September 20, 2026. Bonito has 44 sites, 22 of them reservable and 22 first come first served, with drinking water and no hookups.

The roadwork is the bigger story, and it runs a month.

What closes, and for how long

The National Park Service released the schedule on August 24 and updated it on August 26. “Forest Road 545 will close to all vehicle traffic starting near the intersection with Highway 89A to the park entrance kiosk near Bonito Campground.” The closure begins September 21 and the road is expected to reopen October 22. The work is culvert installation, addressing flooding and drainage problems on the road after the Tunnel Fire.

Sunset Crater Volcano itself stays open. The visitor center and trails stay open. You just reach them from the other end, on Forest Road 545 through Wupatki National Monument, which the park calls a 19-mile, or 30-minute drive between the two visitor centers.

The part that catches rigs

There is a second detour, and it is not for you if you are towing. In the park’s words: “Forest Road 776 detour is an unpaved road, and high clearance vehicles are recommended. Forest Road 776 is not suitable for RVs and trailers.”

That is unambiguous, and it is the sentence to plan around. If your rig is long, heavy, or low, treat 776 as closed to you and go the Wupatki way. A month of construction traffic on an unpaved forest road is not the place to discover your departure angle.

We also cannot tell you where the Bonito crowd goes instead. The Coconino National Forest publishes its dispersed camping rules on pages our automated fetches cannot read, so we are not going to name a substitute site or a stay limit we have not confirmed. Call the Flagstaff Ranger District and ask, or read the board at the trailhead. The posted sign and the current word from the district beat this page or any other website.

What to do

If you hold a Bonito reservation for tonight or later, check your Recreation.gov account now rather than at the gate. We have not read a refund policy for this particular closure, so ask Recreation.gov rather than assume one way or the other.

If you are routing through northern Arizona in the next month, build the Wupatki approach into the plan and add the 30 minutes. And if you are looking for free ground nearby instead, start with our Arizona free camping page and the motor vehicle use map guide, then confirm anything you find against the forest’s own current guidance.

October 22 is the date to write down. Confirm it before you drive it: the park says the road reopens then, and construction dates move.