Phantom Canyon Road BLM Sites
Crystal C.The Dyrt PRO User
Reviewed Aug. 8, 2018

Narrow Roads To Big Sites

I was nervous about going here in my Nissan Versa because I had read it was a 4 wheel drive road on several sites, however I was also optimistic after speaking to someone at Canon City because they mentioned I would have no issue.

Driving down to this campsite I was happy to have a small car because the road is very narrow to say the least. I cannot imagine the feeling of driving a large rig here. Just before you enter the camping area you encounter an old rail style tunnel cut right out of the mountain and it is one of those things you just have to get a picture of because it is so cool, but on the same token you kind of hold your breathe while navigating through because you can reach out and touch the sides almost.

I did notice there were a few sections that had I have not been going very slowly could have ended very badly for my small car, dips that appear out of nowhere if you are going to fast.

By the time I arrived at the camping location I was looking for, I noticed that other campers had built rocky fire rings so I found one of those and set up so I could begin to explore the area. The ground was not super even but also not something I couldn’t overcome with a little quick clearing. My site was in a full sun area, it looked like most of the other sites were similar.

This area is so interesting to explore there are a few signs about the railroad tunnels a lot of desert like mountain terrain. I found it interesting to hike around this area and saw that there had been several different animals to which I didn’t have the knowledge of the scat to know what they were.

When hiking I did notice that there is a restroom about 3 miles into the BLM area, I wasn’t aware the campsite had access to a toilet of any kind so this was a pleasant surprise and though it was a vault toilet it was a great find on my little hike.

I did notice there were just beyond the restrooms more camping sites and also what looked to be an area which people probably do a little recreational 4 wheeling. Deep ruts were in these areas and I was very happy that up higher where I had set up this was not the condition of the camp.

I made it back to my camp and settled in making sure to not leave any food items out in the open overnight because I wasn’t trying to welcome animals into my camp. By nightfall it was quiet with only some animal noises in the distance sounding like coyotes. It was a bit surreal how silent it was here.