Phantom Canyon Road BLM Sites

This is one of the best dispersed places I've found! No phone service but right in a beautiful canyon. I drove a bit (between the metal bridge and the tunnel) and found a great, large spot. No bugs, and a bighorn sheep loved the stream.

Stunning views of the canyon and great star gazing. Just get there on a weekday or all of the off the road spots will be taken up.

Stopped in Cañon City then drove out to phantom canyon gold belt tour. The coordinates will take you to where the paved road turns to dirt. You need to go a few more miles and you will see signs for BLM land. The farther you go the better the sites. We camped next to Eight Mile Creek and the tunnel. The flies and mosquitos were bad but our bug screens did their job until dark then we had to close up the van. It was an amazing experience being in the canyon. Starlink worked great as there is no Verizon cellular for miles. It took us three attempts to get our overweight 2-wheel drive van up the hill and back onto the road. There are a lot of loose rocks. We are planning to head back down and drive the whole byway this fall.

Stayed for the weekend, found a place tucked back away from the road and felt completely secluded from the world. No service, no noise, just the sound of the creek and an occasional car driving by. There is a lot of biting flies so bring bug spray if you plan to camp! Gets warm during the day but it does get pretty cold at night

This is a fun spot to camp. Theres no good logs around for firewood but good twigs for kindle. Theres a cool tunnel to drive through too. Will definitely come back.

Camped along this canyon road a few time and will never forget it. It is magical, always visit during the week, weekends spots are gone.

The road is a well maintained gravel road. There are quite a few available spots for folks with 4x4 drive or tent camping. I would NOT suggest this for larger rvs. I travel in a camper van and the spots I could use were more limited but still a few available.

Honestly, just the drive is worth it. The scenery is amazing. You’re winding down the road next to a creek (was dry when I was there) in between mountains. It’s absolutely amazing.

Zero signal. Like absolutely none.

There is a rest stop a few miles in with basic toilets. Nothing special but really nice option to have.

Pretty smooth mountain road, lots of site options. We found one that was down back from the main road and near the creek. Needed 4WD to get down there, but other sites 2WD would be fine. Appears to be a local cow wandering around, she approached our campsite but went the other way.

probably one of my favorite spots along the road trip. multiple really rad drive through tunnels and towering canyon walls that blew me away. got there after dark and took and it's definitely a popular place so I would recommend getting there with some day light left. a smidge chilly during the night but does heats up quick. would absolutely come back again!

We rode fully loaded motorcycles 2 up to our spot. Rode 5 or so miles in and passed 10 or so campers. We pulled off just before the turnaround for long trailers and camped on the other side of the creek near a towering wall that had a few climbing chains in it. No signal, no restroom, no water, no trash cans, no light, no noise, just nature and an occasional car. I splashed in the creek and caught crawdads. We scavenged plenty of wood for a fire - it’s recommended to burn dry down stuff. I saw a snake in the water and fish in the creek.

There are not as many sites as I thought or we just couldn't see them all, but we drove quite a ways into the canyon and found a beautiful spot by the creek with a fire pit and even handmade log benches. Plenty of cars driving by but no visible or audible neighbors. In June there were plenty of mosquitoes. There are signs clearly stating where BLM land stops and starts. Plenty of narrow, winding roads, so watch for speeding cars. Please pick up your trash and leave your site better than you found it.

We arrived late and made camp, had some rain the first day but it cleared up enough for the family to do some top roping with the kids. Awesome little stream that follows the sites, depending on how far up the road will determine the difficulty of the access. The higher up sites by the tunnel looked really swampy.

Our site was perfect! It had kind of a driveway to a large and cleared area/loop - plenty of room for our F150. There was a fire ring available also. You could walk down to the creek to explore and look for cool rocks. Phantom Canyon Road is smooth and well-maintained.

Site Coordinates: 38°33'17.3"N 105°05'31.3"W

Also, it's where we got engaged so it's extra special :)

We adore camping here! It’s secluded, it’s free, very little tourists. It’s rad. Just drive up the gravel road and find your spot. While it is cooler on the canyon than outside of it, it is still miserably hot in the summer though.

This was a neat little camping area. Campsites are on the side of the road and a few are on a small branch of road down to the creek. We only stayed one night as a layover but made sure to explore the creek a little bit in the morning. Water is cold and clear with tons of area to explore. The drive out also has two really neat tunnels that you drive through on your way out. The BLM land ends abruptly and turns to private land but the drive appears to continue on through the mountains to the north. We definitely plan to come back and explore the rest of it.

Amazing for BLM land!! Gorgeous scenery and spread out camp sites, would recommend driving in pretty far to find the coolest spots. There are two pit toilets further in. Loved this area.

The canon was beautiful. I had brought my twin 3 year old twins. They really had a blast exploring. Only downfall was TRASH left behind. I filled up a trash bag before I made camp. People need to respect the nature and pack in pack out

The actual Phantom Canyon ranch dispersed camping was beautiful! However, the current coordinates listed on here are NOT correct. We unfortunately drove around for an hour only to find the coordinates weren’t correct and we had to backtrack to the actual Phantom Canyon road using coordinates from Free Roam.

This is a great spot with very dispersed camping spots. Breathtaking views. I’ve driven it plenty of times, but this was my first stay.

Your altitude has a big impact on the weather conditions; especially at night. The beginning of the road will be much more trafficked than the end. Look for the off-trail spots to find a more private campsite.

Wow! Just wow! My fav spot now! Stunning views, privacy and well worth the drive further into the mountain. We had all wheel drive, it was very cold at night (early sept) perfect day temperatures. This is my new favorite place.

Enjoy the pics! No GPS, no cellular (FYI)

I absolutely loved this spot. My boyfriend and live in our car and travel all over and this was a top notch car camping spot with endless beautiful views. Plenty of spots for everyone, super quite with the occasional car passing.

The drive to the campsites was amazing. We got there around 6:30 so the sun was coming through the trees and creating a warm golden light, which was also amazing! But not when your trying not to drive off the side of a mountain. People afraid of Heights beware! BATHROOMS are pit toilets that are located around at sight (18) and I believe (8) the sights are relatively easy to find. And there are green mile markers all the way through. The tunnels were also super cool to go under. I highly recommend this sight to everyone! Especially families!

The road through the land had just been graded so it was an easy drive through. Arrived an hour before dark and the first handful of sites were taken but we had an easy time finding a nice spot. It was SO cold at night. Saw bear scat near our site the next day but never saw any bears. Unfortunately, we only stayed one night as we passed through. There’s so much area to explore! Will definitely come back if we’re in the area!

Easy to find a spot even on a Saturday afternoon. We did end up leaving as a bear was breaking into campers cars and kept coming back day after day.

We arrived the Phantom Creek Road around 4:30pm. 10miles and 30 minutes later we found our spot.

We had 4 cars with us and were able to find two spots right next to each other so our large group could share one space. The spots were tucked in a little canyon about 5 minutes after the second tunnel and probably a 300 yards to the next closest site. We couldn’t see those spots nor hear anyone else. Travel on the road by our site was minimal and sites were abundant and often available while we were selecting our own place to stay.

Sites had fire rings built by campers and a toilet a few miles up Phantom Canyon Rd. Amenities end there, which I liked.

Our site was certainly used quite a bit but maybe not so much to ruin the outdoor charm. The road was in surprisingly good shape too allowing pretty much any vehicle access to the sites.

Watch out for wildlife. Their droppings a are everywhere.

I highly recommend if you want quite secluded car or backpack camping.

Over all pretty nice spot. Even for a day trip. When the water is flowing it is packed.

We packed up the truck and headed out on our first camping trip of 2021 with our new 6month pup, Luna. It was a wonderful Easter weekend. This is a great spot for good car camping. The dirt road took us up through the mountains with plenty of options to pull off and set up camp. Spots were already there to build a campfire. We didn't hear noise from other campers just the occasional bikers and cars driving up on the road. Wish it hadn't been dry because there wasn't any water nearby. Other than that it was a beautiful weekend. We'll definitely be back.

I decided to stay here since the East Ridge Campground in Royal Gorge cost $20 a night. It is hidden and somewhat secluded, on my stay of Tuesday March 2nd, 2021 I saw less than 10 vehicles come and go. The road is loose gravel, long and winds through large cliff rock faces on both sides, which block out the sun so your daylight is limited. The drive is nice and sometimes iffy, 4WD not necessary but always recommended in Colorado. My little Toyota did just fine, there was snow in the areas which was shaded but tires did not slide. There is a bathroom near the entrance stocked with TP and sanitizer at the time I was there. There is no signal so get your communication out of the way before entering. I found no running water, had to melt snow. Pack in your stuff and pack it out!

This is such an awesome drive. A solid 3 hours from Denver. No service as soon as you get to the dirt part of the road, so its best to have your whole crew riding behind you in a line. A little anxiety when it comes to finding a spot, everyone is right when they say, have someone get there thursday to get a choice spot. But few people know if you keep driving up the canyon, there are more public lands spots you can claim as your site. 

Being there isnt a whole lot to choose from after the place fills up, we had some people literally show up Saturday on Memorial Day weekend, and camp right on top of our campsite, which was pretty annoying, but thats the price you pay at free public land dispersed camping. 

Awesome drive up the canyon to the small mining town of "Victor" which is just an awesome time capsule town, i highly recomend swooping through.