Pulled in after 10:30 pm and could tell right away the area was quiet, likely because there’s no highway signage, making it a not-so-obvious place to camp.
Didn’t make it to the canyon overlook due to the road being a bit rutted out by water. The road is perfectly described by other reviewers. Wouldn’t recommend for super long wheel-bases that don’t have added ground clearance. Our Ford 350 Transit Extended van could handle the roughness of the road, however the long wheelbase nearly high centered us on the humps and dips a few times.
We ended up pulling a few hundred yards from the highway in and found multiple spots to sleep with no one else around. We were surprised how quiet it was for nearly being a Saturday in mid-May and being so close to Phoenix. And it’s true what they say about the elk, take it easy if you’re driving the highway after dark.
Could slightly hear cars drive by on the highway, but the wind blowing thru the ponderosas downed that out pretty well. Slept great!