Perfect example of “this is why we can’t have nice things!”

Super easy access and amazing to have free camping just outside of Sedona. We were there on a Friday night and within the first two miles on the dirt road, there were approx 20-30 sites filled to 75%.

The camp sites were gigantic!

Lots of trees. Pretty views. Most sites had premade fire rings.

No bathrooms. No water. No electric. No problem!

The downside: there is no rule enforcement. You can tell that people are just doing what they want.

Most of the sites have trash, some of it big and obnoxious like the filled makeshift 5 gallon bucket camping toilet in the bushes at our camp site. Beer cans everywhere. Just nowhere near pristine.

It’s noisy. There are a lot of trailers, dirt bikes, trucks etc coming and going. People playing loud music until 3am, the dude across from us had a generator running allll night (until he got all huffy puffy with me when I woke him up and “encouraged” him to turn it off at 1:30am.

There’s just no respect. It’s sad to see. It’s such a great spot. I hope the forest service takes it over, charges a fee, and makes it a proper staffed campsite.

Not sure it exists. It’s a little area with some private roads or it looks like you might be able to get there by pulling through some business parking lots. It was 9pm. After ten minutes of looking we gave up.

Volume: Zero Site Availability: Plenty Stars: Plentiful Cows: Definitely!

We pulled in at midnight not knowing what we were getting ourselves into. It’s about a 15 min drive down a dark but very smooth gravel road. When we arrived it was clean, there were plenty of sites available, it was super quiet (there’s no artificial lighting visible from anywhere), there ARE toilets. The site we chose didn’t have a GREAT spot for a tent so we set up on the concrete pad next to the picnic table.

Seriously the best night sleep we’ve had in a long time. The stars were amazing!

For a bonus learn about the World Human Powered Speed Challenge while you’re driving down the oddly flat and smooth Hwy 305 to get to Mill Creek!

I would definitely come here again. 15 min to Yellowstone NP entrance. Nice dark quiet spots. ZERO amenities for ZERO dollars. We were driving a minivan and tent camping. The dirt roads were easily passable. A small RV would be able to find a spot here. It’s bear country and you’re on your OWN. You can indeed tell folks like to party here. There’s graffiti on some of the rocks. Our camp site had toilet paper and garbage all over it. We had to take ten minutes to pick up all the garbage before we could enjoy it…but once we did we had an AMAZING view and the whole place to ourselves! Highly recommend….but make sure you arrive with daylight so you can actually FIND a spot (nothing is marked…it’s sort of DIY camping).

Looked to be 1-2 dozen sites there. We didn’t scope the WHOLE place out…but the first site is WOW AWESOME looking. We saw it, loved it, scoped out the rest for 10 minutes than came back to that first campsite to set up and look down and the minions below!

We were tent camping. Keep that in mind.

First the bad: There’s a train that passes by about 5 times throughout the night. It’s about 6 blocks away- but still very noticeable. However- this is a problem for almost every campground in the area. Also theres a ton of GIANT dead cottonwood branches overhead EVERYWHERE. They need to send a crew out to clean that up. Someone is going to get hurt one of these days (I’m an arborist! LOL)

The good: They have trees. Big ones. It’s pretty. There’s a big river a 30 second’s walk from the campground. There’s pit toilets. They stink, but they’re clean and stocked. There is running water and it tastes good! Each campsite has a picnic table. The campsites are not crammed one on top of eachother. You can come in late- they don’t lock the gates at night BUT YOU DO HAVE TO OPEN THE GATE YOURSELF. Minus the train, it’s SUPER quiet and dark.

There are signs that say NO CAMPING ALLOWED. It’s a parking lot for a day use area. I’m sure you could park and sleep for the night no problem- but 5 min away is Rosebud EAST which is indeed a campground, so just go there.

We were noticing all the campgrounds around seemed to NOT have trees. We are tent camping, so shade is of utmost importance. Reuter did not let us down! Surrounded by big pines and aspen trees, it was a diamond in the rough for sure. Big pines all over. Our campsite had a good level spot for the tent. IT was DEAD quiet at night. We got an amazing night sleep. Bathrooms were clean. No running water because it’s technically the off season…but no complaints from us!