Mescal Road Dispersed Camping

I’ll skip the reasons why we were looking for an overnight parking after sunset... Anyway, we found this location (thanks Campendium). It was very dark when we arrived, but we easily found a level spot. Quiet night, pretty landscapes at wake up. But nothing to do here, it’s just for an overnight.

We stopped here because we wanted to see the ATV trails - we have a RZR. (Trails are OK. Some pretty things to see)

We pulled into the first part of Mescal Road - we have a 42ft fifth wheel - the big ruts in the road wasn't too fun for us. You can go farther down the dirt road if you wish but if you have a big rig I wouldn't recommend it. The spot we picked was pretty level also.

It's super close to town, only a few minutes drive.

While we were here we didn't see hardly anyone. A few people drove by - I believe they were hunting.

Cell signal was fantastic, especially Verizon!
Verizon: 60 down / 54 up
AT&T: 42 down / 2 up

Overall, we liked it. It's really quiet, at least while we were there.

Stayed here one night. East access about 3.5 miles from I10, short stretch of dirt road. 2 very level campsites just off the road with fire pits, possibly more but I did not look around. Minimal traffic.

Very beautiful, quiet spot with campfire rings. I only saw 2-3 spots that would fit our 34ft fifth wheel. We share the area with 1 other family. Would definitely camp here again. Very minimal traffic. Very quiet.

You can basically park your rig wherever you find a pull off. The first few sites you see are not numbered. Once you hit the State Land and Trust Area about 3 miles in you need a $20 yearly permit for camping and there are signs notating that. Within 10 minutes of pulling in we were approached by the rancher of the land inquiring about our permit. The sites we saw were 35A thru K..The road is passable but can get a little bumpy and narrow, and you will need to cross a few streams the further down the road you go. You are allowed to ride OHV vehicles with an AZ registration sticker. Riding the first few miles in from I-10 is ok just more of access paths for the Ranchers to check on their cattle. If you want the good stuff that will take you up into the mountains you need to follow Mescal Road as far back as you can.

I travelled down Mescal rd for about 7 miles and there were only a couple of spots to pull into and almost all the land was posted private. So I turned around and drove back to around mile post 5. There was a fairly good size area to the left(as your driving in)that i could have stayed, but there is a road that went alot further into the area. So i took the second spot in, if i was sure i wouldn't get stuck i would have tried to go further, but there was no one within a mile of me and I figured this was level and it was good enough for me. And boy was I right. Pure silence at night, great stargazing.
And I woke to the sound of hundreds of song birds singing their morning tune! Spectacular.!
Now I want to mention that if it's raining or going to rain, you might want to skip this spot. It rained late night and the road was pretty muddy and messy! You'll have to get a wash after leaving.
2 bars on Verizon at most. Reception in and out.

We stayed at one of the sites not far from where the pavement ends. And we finally found out the trick for washboard - you have to go 40mph for it to smooth out! The road is very washboard. But the site we stayed at was very open and others could have joined us. We could see a few others farther down the road. There is a train crossing right before the pavement ends, and from where we were you could hear the rumble of it when outside. It was peaceful.

Nice view of the sky as well! It’s amazing how much the stars twinkle out here.

The site was mostly clean. And the ground was hard. Very easy for our shuttle bus.

We only saw one spot, and it was occupied. A bunch of people were driving around, but as we drove down the not so great road, there were only no trespassing signs. Waste of time and gas, will not be back.

We had a great start here. Going to give a lot of info for those with larger rigs. Arizona trust land ($20/yr pass) begins just after the railroad tracks at the cattle grate. Logical places to put a big rig: corner of Mescal and Salcido (rutted, can get very must with rain, and sometimes used as staging area for OHVs), the beginning of the dirt trail on the right about 500 feet before pavement ends (we stayed at the beginning, but a few more spots could accommodate large rigs down the dirt path before it gets dicey, flat, a bit of train noise), the location marked by this entry (two connected and level loops with one more somewhat trickier spot down the dirt path before the going gets too bad), just over the next cattle grate at a pull off on the right (large, but not so level, the rancher who has the party after the cattle grate will definitely check your permit), about another mile down on the left are a couple of decent spaces (around mile 4.5, seem flat, but may take a bit of maneuvering for large rigs), and then a long stretch with the road starting to deteriorate into a nice spot by a creek around mile 7 and a nice spot on the right around mile 7.5 or 8 (could definitely fit multiples). Would urge against taking a big rig any farther as the road gets fairly bad. If everything was full (we only saw a few other rigs in our 10 days, so seems unlikely), we would have pulled into the flat open desert just to the right of the road shortly after it becomes dirt and just checked for cacti first.

No one ever asked about our pass, but it was taped to our window, so may have not bothered us. A few OHVs came by, but never bothered us. Nice and quiet at night other than occasional train rumbling. Beautiful night skies. Easy access to lots of beautiful places. Benson (15 minutes away) has a Walmart, local propane place (slightly cheaper than the Love's), and a good ice cream place.

Some trash around, but we've seen worse. Always try to pick up some of it.

Great Verizon, decent T-Mobile.

We have a Class C Motorhome and had no trouble getting in or out of the campsite, although we did have to be slow and careful!

The further down Mescal Road, the less cell service you get. We had no service at all (both Verizon and AT&T).

There are lots of open sites and only a few tree covered. We picked a tree covered site and the site itself was quiet, but there were a few ATVs driving by a several times a day and night.

This site was beautiful, on a dry wash. The portion of the wash we were near was not conducive to hiking as it was mostly rocks. I would suggest Miller Creek or Turkey Creek Trails.

As others have stated, once the pavement ends on Mescal Rd, it's all washboard from there. Be sure to go faster, rather than slower, to minimize the bumps and save your shocks a bit!