Remember that first time camping? If you're from Tucson, chances are that first trip was to Mount Lemmon. Mom and Dad had sweltered enough in the summer heat, so they tossed the kids in the car, along with the cheap Coleman sleeping bags, hot dogs, marshmallows and a few cervezas for Dad. It was fun and scary out there with the bears and gawd knows what else. Perhaps you were a UA jock, out carousing with your buds, and one night real late, you all drove up the mountain and threw your sleeping bags under a random tree somewhere in the dark. Or maybe you went up there with your date once, hoping for a little nookie. Camping on Mount Lemmon is our own humble rite of passage.

Runners up:

2. Rose Canyon, Rose Canyon Web site

3. Catalina State Park, Catalina State Park Web site