roadtripper1127922

I stayed at these coordinates: 36.547512, -105.715272 If you come in from the west side, it is not a bad drive. The road is rough and long, but anyone can make it. The camping spot listed, is about 1 mile farther down B007. That's steep and windy.
If you come in from the east, you can get to the actual bridge and river (it's beautiful) but you cannot camp overnight. And no matter how you try, Google Maps tries to take you up those switchbacks, and that road is blocked by cement barricades.

I stayed at my (above) coordinates one night. It was amazing up on the ridge. The view went on forever. It was level. Nobody else within a mile. I left the next morning for propane, and went into Questo. I plugged in the Campendium coordinates and it took me to the east side, and over the bridge, and tried to take me up the barricaded road. No matter what I did, Google would NOT let me go any other way.

So be forewarned...You cannot get to the camping spaces from the east. From the south and west, take 64 NW to John Dunn Bridge Road/Montosa Road. Stay on that (Montosa is long and slow). There is an excellent boondocking spot where Montosa makes a sharp left onto Cam de Lovato. If you want to get to the coordinates Campendium lists, then just continue straight down B007.

Road in is not passable without 4WD. The few spots early on (got there, with difficulty in my van) were totally trashed. Broken Glass, TV's dumped, burned out vehicles. Coud hear gunshots nearby. Totally ugly spot. Could be nicer farther back if you have 4WD.

Didn't stay.

I was at the place the other guy describes as being "the one without cliffs." I only stayed one night, but it seemed pretty apparent that most of the people there had moved in permanently. One guy was working on one of his 3 vehicles parked adjacent to his trailer. The trailer behind me had no vehicle near it, and I think no one was in it the night and day I stayed there. On the other side of me was a trailer with a pick up truck, lots of garbage, and other stuff outside covered with a tarp. The "tenant" came "home" about 8:30 at night, worked until 10:00 to get his generator working and it ran most of the night. He left before 9:00 in the morning in one of his trucks, I'm guessing to go to work.
No judgement here. People have to live somewhere.
There were lots of broken bottles, garbage, even old, stained mattresses along the edges of this place. Campendium says the 14 day rule was once again being enforced. I'm betting not. I got looks while walking my dog, as if I was an intruder. People were not friendly and I felt like an outsider.
Stay across the street at the place with "the cliffs and view of the river." This place was not welcoming.

It was safe and had easy access (no long, rutted road in.) But there was little else nice about it. It was basically a dirt lot, between two fairly busy frontage roads. It looked like a spot where a carnival would set up when it came to town, and many of the people already there looked like the carnival might have left them behind when it moved on. I suspect some of the people were homeless and will stay there until someone kicks them out for overstaying their welcome. There were some makeshift tents and my neighbors, very close, both front and back, ran generators all night long. The rig in front of me had a flashing bright light under his truck. I’ve been told that packrats are common in this region and opening your hood or putting a light under your vehicle at night deters them. This strobe light was overkill. I finally had to get up and cover my windshield. I could have tolerated a light under the vehicle, but the flashing was not going to be conducive to sleep. There was traffic noise on both sides. I can sometimes enjoy the white noise of traffic in the distance, lulling me to sleep, but this was close and apparently, in this part of Arizona, there is a requirement to have loud mufflers. The loud generators in front of and behind me helped dampen the sound of what felt like a Harley going by every few minutes.
This will do in a pinch. If you can, find another spot. This is just too sketchy.

First of all, let me point out that the small lot where there is sinage for Peterson Wildlife Management Area is NOT the scenic outlook. Maybe I'm just dense, but I parked there, and thought "Wow. This is ugly." After a couple minutes, I happened to look up the road to the left (not so much a road as the driveway to the scenic overlook) and the lightbulb went off. I drove up and there is a HUGE asphalt circular lot. I quickly found a level spot on the lowest side of the lot. From there I could not see the road, and vehicles passing by could not see me.

I was the only one there. Several other truck campers and small pull-behinds came in, but stayed only briefly. Locals pulled in to dump their trash (there is a dumpster on there), and of course, people pulled in to take photos at the Scenic Overlook. I was alone at bedtime. When I woke up, there was another guy in a truck at the far end. The weather was extremely hot the day I stayed, but the winds at night provided some relief. It is right next to a road, but there are very few vehicles coming by because this is WAY out in the middle of nowhere, and the road is below the overlook, so noise was not an issue.

I had 3 bars of Verizon, a great view, and an extremely pleasant stay.

First of all, let me point out that the small lot where there is sinage for Peterson Wildlife Management Area is NOT the scenic outlook. Maybe I'm just dense, but I parked there, and thought "Wow. This is ugly." After a couple minutes, I happened to look up the road to the left (not so much a road as the driveway to the scenic overlook) and the lightbulb went off. I drove up and there is a HUGE asphalt circular lot. I quickly found a level spot on the lowest side of the lot. From there I could not see the road, and vehicles passing by could not see me.

I was the only one there. Several other truck campers and small pull-behinds came in, but stayed only briefly. Locals pulled in to dump their trash (there is a dumpster on there), and of course, people pulled in to take photos at the Scenic Overlook. I was alone at bedtime. When I woke up, there was another guy in a truck at the far end. The weather was extremely hot the day I stayed, but the winds at night provided some relief. It is right next to a road, but there are very few vehicles coming by because this is WAY out in the middle of nowhere, and the road is below the overlook, so noise was not an issue.

I had 3 bars of Verizon, a great view, and an extremely pleasant stay.

When I arrived, the main gates were closed and locked with signs saying closure due to extreme fire danger. But just to the right (at the main gate) was a road that opened up to dozens of roads throughout a wide expanse of land. Very easy to get off by yourself, or stay closer to others and still have some privacy.
Not much there but dirt (boy was it dusty in early June) and some trash (cannot understand people thowing bottles and other trash onto the ground) but it was free, felt safe and was pretty easy to access.
One rude neighbor, but far enough away to only be a minor PITA.
Verizon cell service was 2 bars most of the time.

I parked in the back corner of the dirt lot. There were a couple of semis and one pull-behind that looked like he might be living there. In my corner, no lights shining through my windows. The "resident" waved and politely said "Good Morning" but other than that, everyone kept to themselves. The restaurant looks good. I'm fully self-contained so didn't use the restrooms. My spot was very close to level. It was quiet and I felt very safe.
While walking my dog on the perephery, I did come across quite a few piles of shit, both with and without TP on top of them. I'm guessing most were from dogs, but I've never seen a dog wipe himself and then put the TP on top of his pile. Geez people, you get a free place to stay. BE POLITE. Even a dog doesn't shit where it eats and sleeps.

I will definitely stay here again on my way back in the other direction. It was just too easy and peaceful to pass up.

Was very easy to find via Google Maps. Roads were good until the last mile. Lots of washboarding, but if you go slow, anyone can make it. Plenty of spots all around the entire reservoir. I stayed on the SW edge, about 50 feet from the water. Great breeze, plenty of shade from Cottonwood trees (I stayed in the sun because I'm solar powered). Saw blue herons (I think...some large, grey/blue stork looking birds--can you tell I'm not a wildlife specialist?)
There were a medium number of people there, but still plenty of places to park and other campers kept their distance.
Had 3 bars on Verizon wifi.

I have such mixed feelings about this site.
Pros: Excellent Verion Signal, Huge site, easy access to the water. Road in is gravel and any vehicle can make it. You can drive around to the day use area and dump trash and use the porta-potty. There are supplies (very expensive) about 6 miles up the main road. Scenery is breath-taking, night sky is stunning.

Cons: This seems to be a hot spot for young hooligans. People come in and dump bags of trash. The rocks are spray painted with graffitti. Nearly every evening of my stay, young people (mostly young men, late teens, early 20's) came barrelling through the site, and took one of the offshoot roads down to the water. They whooped and howled and swore and smashed liquor bottles. At an adjoining site was a man (I believe he is living here) with a Betsy Ross American Flag (13 stars in a circle) that has the second amendment printed on the white stripes. The flag is the size of a queen-size bed sheet and is flying from the bed of his truck. Although he could pull out of his site onto the main road, he takes the back road every day so he can drive through my site on the way out. He never looks up or waves. My final night, two men came through, and parked down by the river. They were drinking and swearing and hollering at the top of their lungs, just to make a ruckus. One man was clearly either very drunk or mentally ill, or both. The younger man left him with a sleeping bag and cooler and took off. The drunk wandered around talking loudly on his cell phone until he finally wore himself out and went to sleep. When I left mid-morning, he was still asleep on the ground.

There is a formal campground up the road a mile or two. It is $7 a night ($3.50 with an America the Beautiful Pass). If I came back, I'd stay there. They have water, trash, and a camp host.