Best Dispersed Camping near Cortaro, AZ

40 mile scenic drive on a 4x4 road, dispersed camping along the way. Extremely popular view to park off the road in the saguaros. But I’d recommend cactus forest north of Tucson in blm land if you want that. Farther in you hit the mountains. We stayed off an off roading rock crawler trail. Def the path less taken. Super quiet and relaxing.

This seems to be the popular dispersed camping area along North Pump Station Road within the BLM Ironwood Forest National Monument. Numerous dispersed sites along a two track dirt road on both sides of the main gravel road. Free dispersed, 14D limit. No water, trash, toilets or designated spots. Cell signal is very good and OTA tv is also very good. Last mile or so from end of pavement is a wide graded dirt road accessing the dispersed sites from either direction, however the Silverbell road access seems to have a narrow bridge with a 6k weight limit?, So access to this site is from the south on gravel west El Tiro Rd for larger rigs?

(Note that State land is adjacent and also offers dispersed camping sites but an AZ state lands permit would be required on State lands.)

One negative issue is the constant target shooting from adjacent State lands.

We were surprised on the number of people who ventured out to this BLM spot off Park Link Road in the Cactus Forest over a rainy weekend in Tucson.

The first dozen dispersed spots were full with camper vans, small trailers and trucks. We continued to drive down the gravel dirt road to a more secluded spot. We didn’t see anyone in our one-night stay beside a mountain biker in the morning.

Even though It was raining in the area for about 24 hours before we travelled to the campsite, we didn’t have any issues navigating the 1.5 miles down to the site we chose. The truck has some mud in it and the 4x4 wasn’t needed (but made it easier). I would recommend a high clearance vehicle to reach the further back spots. Also, the road was narrow, our F250 brushed a few bushes on the way.

Most dispersed sites had a fire ring (check locally fire conditions first). I’d suggest bringing in fire wood unless you just want to burn the few fallen twig and limbs. It’s a cactus forest- so the terrain is mostly saguaros, chollas, Palo verde trees and shrubs.

Our site had a beautiful view of the sunset and a view of Picacho Peak in the distance. We visited in February and the weather was nice (on the chilly side) for our roof top tent. I wouldn’t come here in the summer unless we had a rig with air conditioning. Impressive view of the stars at night. Some traffic noise from I-10.

No water, toilets, or trash. So be prepared to take out what you bring in. We had 2 bars of LTE slcell service with T-Mobile.

It’s BLM land close to Tucson, so locals use the area for gun target practice. We heard gun shots until the sunset and starting again the morning. It was basically non-stop. If you want a place to shoot, this would be a good spot to camp.

🌵 Saguaro Facts: Saguaros can live to be 150-200 years old and grow as tall at 40 feet. A 10 year old saguaro Is about 1.5 inches tall (please watch where you drive, park and step). At 80 years old, it’s around 6 feet tall and starts to bloom. The best time to see saguaro blooms is mid-May through mid-June. At age 95-100, it’s around 15 feet tall and starts to grow it’s first arm. 🌵

This area is a short distance from the other Snyder Hill blm area and although closer to the hwy noise, this area is flat and more open for TTs and RVs. Great cell signal, not too trashy and seems BLM rangers patrol weekly. Dispersed camping, no water, no designated sites, no toilets, however a trash dumpster is now at the other Snyder Hill area.

AZ State trust lands adjacent to BLM Ironwood Forest National Monument. I noticed the state lands seem to have more trash than the adjacent BLM, hence the two stars. Note that AZ State Trust Lands require a permit to camp on, this permit is online and costs around $20 good for a year. Dispersed camping. No water, toilets or trash dumpsters. Cell signal is very good however.

This BLM dispersed camping area is along a two-track dirt road that follows a buried pipeline. The start of the pipeline rdo from Avra road is .6 tens mile from the cattleguard on Avra Road and Pump Station road jct. There is no BLM sign or other signage on Avra road for the pipeline road turnoff and the entrance is somewhat obscured by the dense palo verde trees. There was some pink flagging marking the entrance to pipeline road 01.2022. Pipeline road is a lumpy bumpy two track that looks dicey but larger class As and 5th wheels RVs seem to get into this area ok.

The dispersed camping is only for about the first 1/2 mile as the two-track road crosses a deep wash (TTs will drag bumper!) past the 1/2 mile or so and then goes onto State Lands. Access to the paved road and access back into Marana or Tucson Estates area shopping makes this site more useful than other dispersed sites in the BLM Ironwood Forest monument. No toilets, water, tables or trash, however cell signal is very good. Sites are easy to get to and good flat areas are available. Only issue to note as a warning is the exit from the dirt camping road back onto the paved Avra Road is obscured by dense shrubs/trees and make it a bit dicey..the paved road does have truck traffic from the active Silver Bell copper mine at the end of the road. Three stars due to truck noise from the mine that seems to start at dawn..and the recent pipeline construction. In addition the target shooters are constant all around, even though it is illegal to target shoot on the Ironwood Monument and the State Trust lands...the local sheriff and BLM cops do not seem to be able to stop the shooters.

It has what's seems like endless road of dispersed camp sites with endless cacti of any/ every kind... It is no cost and forthe ones who have animals it has a fence yard in the first and second spots for public use...BY FAR ME AND MINES favorite place thus far... Four thumbs up

Dispersed camping. No amenities. The spots at the cieneguita camp are full Everytime we have camped at the preserve but there is plenty of open area to pick a spot. We camped just past the cieneguita sites tucked back in the mesquite thicket. The dirt at the spot we camped at was so fine it was like talcum powder so everything was covered in dirt in no time BUT it’s camping. You can hear periodic gunfire as this is BLM but people appear to be shooting in areas that are away from campers and towards hillsides. Super quiet otherwise and great skies without light pollution for looking at stars. Pretty cool spot.

Entire area is fenced off and appears to be closed to dispersed camping. The larger area to the west is still available.

Great spots along this road for dispersed camping. Saw some wild life like deer and turkey. Only downside is that the road is narrow so if your pulling anything wide just be cautious. Other than that I highly recommend camping here when your at Mt. Lemmon.

This area is also called Empire Ranch. The ranch is 44,000 acres boastes lots of wildlife elk, antelope, coyotes, kangaroo rats, and roadrunners. The ranch house can be toured along with several bunkhouse and barns. Several western movies have been shot on the ranch and lots of the scenery looks familiar from these said movies. John Wayne Frank, Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sam Elliott are some of the actors in these movies. Water can be acquired at the camp host and gift shop area at the ranch house. The ranch has an airport which all the large Class A Class Cs and goose neck campers usually camp because the campsites are on the air strip area and requires very little backing. A true gem of a dispersed camping area.

We’ve just begun our dispersed camping adventures but out of the places we’ve been, this has been the coolest! There was a good number of people out there in all sorts of rigs, but there was still plenty of space! We couldn’t see or hear anyone else. There were a lot of pull offs, which gives plenty of options to find a favorite spot. We turned left right before the dried up river bed & went down a bit from there.

Wide open BLM dispersed camping area near Saguaro National Monument outside Marana, AZ.

The road to the site is paved until you leave Avra Valley Rd on Pipeline, which is a very good dirt road. Our site was as far from the pavement as you can get and we had no problems getting in with our 41’ fifth wheel. There are a few short areas on the road that are a bit bumpy, but nothing that can’t be handled easily by simply driving very slowly over the bumps. Most of the road is smooth, and wasn’t even washboarded while we were there (March, 2021).

There are many sites in the area and most are very suitable for even the largest rigs. I’d guess that fewer than a third of the sites were occupied while we were there, and our nearest neighbor was maybe a quarter mile away.

ATT and Verizon had decent cell signal and internet speeds were sufficient for streaming. My Verizon hotspot typically gave me 20-30 Mbps and my ATT phone was in the same range or faster.

We saw no trash and the area is well maintained. We stayed a full two weeks, left for a week, and returned for another 5 nights. During that time we saw one ranger who was very friendly. He mentioned that they came through to pick up garbage from time to time.

Lots of Saguaro around all the sites. Nice dark skies, and quiet. We had to drive 20 minutes or so for shopping and gas, but that’s a price I’m very willing to pay to camp in a place like this.