Overall: Phantom Canyon Road is a beautiful, peaceful location, but a bear came directly into our campsite!
Directions: Very easy to find and clearly marked. There are several signs warning you not to continue on if your vehicle is longer than 25 feet. The dirt road is twisty with several washboard sections, but it's not severely rutted up. I kept it around 20 mph the whole time and was pretty shocked at how fast some people were driving. There are a lot of blind corners and narrow roads, so be careful!
Camping: We found a pull-off on the left hand side pretty soon after the second tunnel. It was a pretty deep pull-off, enough that you could see the front of our truck but not our campsite from the road. Very private and quiet! Nice and level too, with two fire pits. Super sunny and not well shaded- it was lovely in April, but I bet it gets incredibly hot in the summer. Unfortunately, there was a lot of trash when we arrived, which I did clean up. We found some bullet shells and pieces of bright orange clay, which makes me think people were shooting back there. We arrived Friday night around 6:30pm and had to drive pretty far back to find a spot, there were a lot of people camping already. I think the road went on much further too, so don't get discouraged about finding a place! As someone mentioned, there is a pit toilet, but we didn't park anywhere near enough to use it. We got NO wifi or cell service back there either (Verizon).
THE BEAR: Our campsite was backed up right next to a dried out wash. Saturday morning, we decided to explore it a little (mistake #1 - we've explored washes before but not that far into the backcountry). We didn't go back super far, just followed the rocky path. At one point we noticed A LOT, and I mean A LOT of bear scat and turned around. Our dog started barking like crazy and when we looked up, there was a giant black bear high above us on a ridge. It was turning around and clearly uninterested in us, but we hurried back to our campsite - the bear was probably less than a quarter mile away from it. A few hours later when we were hanging out at the campsite just reading (we should've left immediately), our dog started growling. We looked up and there was the bear, standing at the edge of the wash. O_O We didn't have any food or trash out (we ALWAYS keep all of that locked away in our truck unless we are actively cooking/eating). The bear wasn't acting aggressively, but it wasn't leaving either. I kept talking to it, making myself appear larger, moving slowly as we packed up and got the heck out of there (we had to take our giant awning apart while the bear watched us curiously the whole time, omg).
Just be aware if you camp here that there are bears around! Not only is it their home, but all of the trash we picked up from that campsite upon arrival makes me think that they're starting to become habituated to the area since people are so trashy (a few other reviews mention finding trash at their sites as well). I will DEFINITELY be picking up some bear spray and bringing it with me from now on. Be safe and PACK YOUR TRASH OUT!!!
