Rim Lake Dispersed Camping

We come to this campsite every year for our annual friend trip. We have a very large group that is often gets loud. We have always been able to find a site that is shaded that fits at least 15 tents. The rangers make their presence known and are always on top of trouble makers. The ground can be uneven and sometimes rocks pending which lot you get. If you go far back down the road is a wonderful meadow. There are no toilets or water. Please bring extra bags to collect your toilet paper and poop. It's yucky to see other peoples funk and trash. This is near a fish hatchers, and 3 lakes to fish and swim in. The dirt road is fine for normal cars if taken slow in some spots, not recommended for lowriders. Great for hiking, kids, wildlife, and quads.

Lots of camping in this Northern AZ area. They just cleared the area because of all the recent fires so it is not as wooded as it used to be, but still a great area to camp. Willow Springs lake is great for fishing, lots of trout, and one of our favorite lakes to kayak on. It has very easy access to the boat ramp, nice areas on the edge of the lake for picnics and there are 2 port a pottys.
https://www.arizonafishinginformation.com/willow-springs-lake.html

We were looking for a place to camp in March. All campgrounds are closed in this area, so we thought we would check out this Forest Road. It may be a FR, but it’s paved for 3 miles.

There were many areas to camp off the road for 3 miles, however in late March after a lot of snow this year, there were patches of snow and standing water and soft dirt. There are also short unnamed dirt roads with places to camp.

After 3 miles or so it turns into a wide, graded gravel road. We went another 3 miles or so and saw possible areas to camp, but it would be a dusty place to camp.

It’s a “busy” road, not sure where everyone was going. We saw utility trucks, all kinds of vehicles and a semi truck with a smaller sized trailer!

There are several one lane dirt roads running off of 512 that allow dispersed camping. About 1/3 of the sites were occupied when we were there but my guess is it’s crazy busy in the summer. We pull a 30ft camper and could have gotten into many of the sites.

Reading reviews from this site, I set off on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, arriving at 1PM. I took the first road to the left on FR512, and started looking. I had to drive 3-4 miles to find a suitable campsite. There were still many open, but too close to the road.

Finally the perfect spot revealed itself, and I claimed it. Soon the camp hosts came by and I was registered. This place has more dead wood on the ground than you could ever use. The fire pit was large and made for a very nice campfire every night. I really was there to rest and relax, so I was not upset that I had no rim views. Also a view in the rim meant the possibility of more wind, and I love my camp fires.

Lots of sites, lots of wood, oh… 7700 ft elev.