Tanque Road Dispersed Camping Near Safford

Wildflowers at their peak. a full on superbloom of California poppies amidst cacti greeted us at this BLM spot just southeast of Mt. Graham. Lots of places to pull over for a night or for a week or two along Tanque Road, and almost no road noise since the highway is far enough away. Tanque Road is dirt but was doable for our vintage trailer for the first mile or so, but we've heard it gets sandy and harder to navigate the further in you get.

Well-positioned in between the Coronado National Forest and the Hot Well Dunes area. No services, no water, no toilets, just beautiful open desert. Come prepared with drinking water and please Leave No Trace.

Closest town is Safford, AZ about 30 minutes away, and has all that you need.

Superbloom in the BLM:  Camping in a Natural Desert Garden

This is the first time I've ever stayed on BLM land. I parked at the 3rd spot in midday and stayed all night. I only saw about 6 vehicles go by the entire time I was here, but I couldn't see or hear anyone else aside from that. The view was nice from my spot. Had about 2 bars on average with AT&amp;T

Peaceful in December

Easy access off 191. Shot gun shells, bullet casings, cigarrette butts, broken bottles, mild trash, wide open desert terrain with panorimic Mountain views. BLM free. No services. If this is your thing, go for it. Spent one night. 

Not Much To Recommend

We stopped here on our way further west.  There were 2 other campers there, but we were able to find a great spot where they couldn’t be seen.

Plenty of sites, ours was 1.5 miles off 191.  Easy to get to in our 26’ bus.  Saw a handful of vehicles pass by, likely on there way to Hot Wells.


The Hot Wells Springs were closed due to Covid, so I assume that limited a lot of traffic through Tanque Road.

At times of the year, locals probably use this as their own shooting range, as I saw plenty of casings.  YMMV.  It was gorgeous and peaceful for our stay.

Accessible and Scenic

Very little traffic. Decent Verizon &amp; AT&amp;T cell service. Cleaned up some trash to leave it better than I found it. 