Harshaw Road Dispersed Camping - San Rafael Canyon

Awesome spots along the roads in this area. We had to leave our very private site one day and left a few things behind — sadly it was all gone when we came back. Lesson learned, but a big bummer.

I was looking for camping on Harshaw Rd and mistakenly took the primitive rd San Rafael Valley Rd and found some great large campsites and group sites along this road. We were able to tow our 36’ fifth wheel up here with no problem as this road seems to be regularly maintained. A couple times while here in January we had hunters or trail riders with their horses park in our group site for a few hours, but they were always polite and we are in a group site so it’s fair game to others. Otherwise, we were alone here in a large site. We are near a ranch so sometimes we hear dogs barking there and truck noise, but not bad. There’s a wash behind our site that I walk the dogs in. The road does have traffic but it rarely bothered us. You also see a lot of mountain bikers up and down the road. We are 8 miles or about 20 minutes from downtown Patagonia which has a few little shops and restaurants as well as gas and propane though things seem to be a bit more expensive here. If you drive to the top of the hill you will be rewarded with great 360 views and if you hang a right at the top there are more campsites up there. I had one bar with Verizon and AT&T coverage is also decent. Not the fastest for internet, but it works. A very small amount of trash around and we felt safe. You will see cows and a bull wandering through your campsite so watch your pets.

First time taking our 30’ travel trailer out. Selected Patagonia because it’s close to home base and there was dispersed camping available. Traveled on a weekday and arrived early. Found a site tucked back enough from the road so road noise wasn’t a issue. After we unhooked we explored further down the road. Hook a right and drive all the way to the mine entrance. You’ll pass numerous campsites along both sides of the road to pick from. Total dry camping but wooded and peaceful. We enjoyed hiking and exploring the charming town of Patagonia. Returning on Saturday we noticed lots of traffic headed to Patagonia (boats, off road vehicles, rvs, etc). Patagonia is popular with Tucson residents for recreation.

We visited again in April and stayed in a larger site on the road closer to the mine entrance. Liked our larger site an had it to ourselves for a night. During a hike went up a well worn path to discover an area campers had been using as their bathroom. Lots of wipes with rocks placed on top. Yuck! Later a big group of campers arrived pulling a pop up. The next morning we saw some of them trooping up the hill to the “bathroom” spot. Not much to say except pack it out people or dig a hole and bury.