roadtripper8847063

After you've turned off NF 053 and onto Henry's Access rd you'll be heading towards the lake on the gravel road. Before you reach the boat launch there is a fork in the road. Head left to go down to the boat launch -- continue past the ramp/day use parking and you'll find 3 spacious sites (each one can fit a few rigs) on the left side of the road (I posted photos) and at the dead end is a somewhat small turnaround loop.
If you go right at the fork in the road, this is the upper camping area and be warned that this road is incredibly rough, uneven, and deeply rutted in parts. We saw a large 5th wheel in the very first spot as you head down this 'upper road' and it is by far the only decent spot up there, especially for a larger rig. We took our 24' trailer a 1/2 mile down the road and it felt like a mistake. There are no turn arounds and only two decent (still unlevel) camping spots, and again, the road is terrible. We ended up going up a tiny road to the top of a hill and managed to turn around up there and after much difficulty we got level, so we stayed up there. The views of the lake are gorgeous which made this a worthwhile spot but even with a nice breeze the mosquitoes were pretty terrible after about 10am. We stayed at 44.615960, -111.405931 (not even sure if it was a legit place to stay but no one bothered us over our 5 days here).
If you're in a AWD vehicle (not towing), you could probably continue past where we went uphill and there are 3 more campsites (one down a rutted hill putting you closer to the water, and 2 next to each other just beyond that). Then the road gets even worse and there aren't any more campsites, that we saw.
We had rain, hail, and heavy wind on our last night which left several large puddles in the road. With 4x4 we were fine but it was stressful and a less capable rig might have gotten stuck.
If we ever return, we would camp down the boat launch road (if that first large spot on the upper road is taken). We were here the weekend before 4th of July 2023 and worried that the boat launch area would be packed and noisy -- in hindsight there was hardly anyone there and it would have been the better place to be (albeit full of mosquitoes).

Very hilly terrain so having blocks will be helpful but there are flat spots to be found. If possible, sending a scout vehicle in first is a good idea. There is a bump out right when you pull in so we unhooked our toad there and did a quick loop through the area (but people will camp in this bump out, so it might not be available). Even though it was very busy, we thought there were at least three different places we could have stayed in our 33' motorhome. There were probably about 15 rigs while we were here and a fair amount of 'turnover'. Consistently busy area with campers and horse trailers. Some people running loud generators late into the night, but most campers were using solar while we were there.

There are some nice trails right out of this boondocking spot or Lost Dutchman State Park is just 2 miles up the road. Lots of cacti (cholla and saguaro), many evenings with coyotes howling nearby, and unfortunately a fair amount of trash left by campers.

We ended up in a great spot, able to make our patio area private and have unobstructed views of the Superstitions. We were very close to the road though, so there was a fair amount of traffic noise.
Had an awesome moonrise with silhouettes of the saguaro on the hill in front of it. So incredible.

As you head NW from Apache Junction, just beyond Lost Dutchman State Park, the turn into this boondocking spot is 0.9 miles past Mile marker 202 on Apache Trail Rd.

We came on a Monday evening in August and had the site to ourselves. The entry wasn’t too bad, we pull a travel trailer and had no issue. Not nearly as steep as the Waddington Creek site across the river.
We had 6.6Mbps down, 2.6Mbps up on AT&T (unboosted) which was perfectly fine for streaming videos and our work needs.
The road in is dirt and the site is grassy, if it was raining we’d probably hesitate to come here.
We had hot weather but a nice breeze and we got up super early to check out the hot springs.
There’s also some really interesting historical plaques about Dugout Dick and you can check out the home he built into the hillside (from the outside, anyway). Cool slice of history, for sure.
There is a shooting range directly across the river. Heard a lot of gun fire when we first arrived at 6pm but it stopped about 30 minutes later.

There are a few different access points to reach this area. When we followed Google maps to the above listed GPS it took us to a very narrow, rutted dirt road (off Hwy 341) that we ultimately decided was too sketchy. We turned around in a big parking lot just beyond the dirt road and headed back towards Hwy 50 (the main highway to this area). There are three more entry points directly off Hwy 50 that are better -- this one probably being best 39.222720,-119.638577.
There is a center turn lane on Hwy 50 so turning left into it is easy.
After you turn at our GPS, head towards the GPS that Campendium has listed. It's kind of a maze of roads (check out the satellite view on maps). It was fairly busy when we visited over Memorial Weekend 2020 but we found a spot and if we hadn't we would've parked under the power lines like a previous reviewer suggested.
There are definitely a handful of full-time camps and broken down RVs here but it was quiet, fairly easy access, pretty level sites, solid AT&T and we were just staying for one night.
The plus side, fuel (specifically diesel) is significantly cheaper here in Nevada than in California.

We ended up staying at the GPS provided by Campendium -- the site was occupied when we scouted but open the following day when we returned. It's really just one spot right next to the road, but two or three rigs could fit... We were the only ones using for the time we were there but several vehicles pulled in and used it to turn around. Lots of cyclists on this road. If this spot is occupied, continue just a little further to Forest Service Road 184. There's a site at the junction with Mount Hopkins Rd and a few more as you continue on the gravel. We didn't scout beyond the site that's at the windmill (hard to tell if that one is a legit spot but there's a campfire ring).
Not sure where the previous reviewer camped (which looks gorgeous!) but the sites we saw were all pretty exposed and not too close to the hills.
Decent AT&T service made it a totally suitable place for the work week.

Easy access right off the highway into an open gravel lot. Room for maybe a dozen rigs or so.
Quiet even though it's right next to the highway with little more than a few bushes as buffer.
Not the best boondocking ever but a really nice and easy option and the distant hills are scenic.

We stayed here as a homebase for visiting Mt. St. Helens -- it was still about a 50 minute drive to get to the monument. There was a camp host here which made it feel safe and secure.
Our site had water and electric and there's a central dump station.

We had pretty strong AT&T, which was a nice surprise -- when we showed up we weren't sure if we'd have any connectivity.
Unboosted: download 19.3 Mbps, upload 0.25 Mbps
Using our Mimo: download 10.9 Mbps, upload 3.46 Mbps

The Toutle River runs near the edge of the park but there wasn't a clear cut path or specific beach, although it wasn't hard to get to it. Fairly low water levels in mid July.
We didn't notice the loud road noise that some others mentioned. Maybe we just got lucky. It was very quiet during the week but did get mostly full on the weekend. We booked online ahead of time.

We didn’t stay here but scouted it. There’s a decent sized pull-off by the highway so you can park up there and take a walk down to see what you think of this site (check satellite view and you’ll see what I mean).
It’s a really steep, rocky road to get down by the river. We were slightly worried about our tires slipping trying to get out but also it would have been really difficult to get our truck and 25’ trailer turned around down there. A shorter set up or 4x4 van should have no issue. Didn’t do a speed test there but my phone showed 3 bars of LTE on AT&T. We ended up going over to the Dicks Dugout site across the river (the bridge to it is just barely north of this site, the first bridge you encounter — the next one looks like a train bridge). Very interesting historical spot at Dicks Dugout. Both sites have good river access and there were some awesome giant boulders off shore at this Waddington site.
This site is really close to a shooting range so you might hear gun fire during your stay.

This area was perfect. Just 4 miles from the entrance to Bryce Canyon.
From highway 89: head east on Hwy 12 for about 13.5 miles then, instead of turning right into the Bryce Canyon NP, you'll turn left onto John's Valley Rd.
Go on John's Valley Rd about 4 miles and the turn into the camping spot will be immediately after the 3rd cattle grate, on the left hand side, it's a little dirt road. You don't have to go in very far. The road is pretty rocky but we went slowly and did just fine in our 33' Class A pulling our tow car. We saw two fire pits and parked at the one farthest in. Pretty well hidden from John's Valley Rd but there is very little traffic anyway. We had gorgeous sunsets, saw lots of roaming cattle, and pretty much had this whole area to ourselves.
Dry camping.
Verizon coverage waivered between 3-4 bars of LTE (4G) and T-Mobile wavered between 3-4 bars of 3G
Incredible spot!

We stayed here in late February 2019 and had just absolutely insane wind the entire time. The forecast we saw showed it only being 15mph (that was for the nearest town), so I don't know that you can find reliable info for it. Regardless we loved staying here because the area is so huge, the patterns in the dry crackled ground are awesome and we loved riding our bikes around on it. The dogs loved running out here too -- and I think there's something about the wind that get's them all jazzed up. Too cute.
We plugged in the given GPS and ended up passing it by about 1/3 a mile and found some tracks that others had used to enter the lake bed. The shoulder on the highway was nice and wide so we pulled over and walked just a short ways to make sure of our entry point.
Due to the wind we ended up keeping both slides in and we learned to point the nose of the RV towards the wind so it didn't directly hit the bedroom, and we angled slightly to try to protect the door because the first day the wind was ripping the door out of our hands!
There's some free natural hot springs in the nearby town of Tecopa but we wouldn't recommend them (tepid water with a film on it, and your feet sink over a foot into the mucky bottom) -- I'm sure the paid ones in town are much better. Looks like it gets super hot in the summer here, FYI. Hope you don't have the crazy wind like we did, but it made for an unforgettable time and we'd definitely come back.