Head Of The Ditch Campground

Easy access with no off-roading. Loads of space between sites. Clean and maintained toilet vaults.

This small free campground is a gem in Gila National Forest.

Note: This campground is up against the San Francisco Creek and can flood. Be mindful of the weather and season when camping.

It consists of 2 loops. The front loop is up against the highway and does receive a bit of noise (I removed 1 star). The area is large enough for a big rig to enter and turn around. There are only 2 sites that a large rig can fit into, so keep that in mind. If the campground is full though, one would have no issues turning a large rig around.

The front loop is sunny and good for solar. Due to the placement of trees it is difficult to get an unobstructed Starlink signal.

The sites on the highway side have large picnic tables and fire rings. Most are pull through and well spaced. There is one vault toilet in this area. There is no trash pickup.

While we were here there was work to install a bridge over the creek to the back loop. The work was not too loud so it did not bother us. Hopefully once this bridge is installed a large rig or low clearance vehicle can access the back loop.

The back loop is accessed via a low creek crossing. This crossing would bottom out any low clearance vehicle and I would only attempt it with a short trailer, a pickup or a Jeep. Hopefully once the bridge is installed this crossing will not be needed. The back loop is shaded with tall trees. The trees are trimmed high and the sites are spaced well. Most are pull through and the road is well maintained. Fire rings mark the campsites. There is a single vault toilet for this area.

I had 3 bars of Verizon 4G with 49.5 megabit download and 5.13 megabit upload. I had no AT&T service. I had an obstructed Starlink view.

I spoke with the National Forest manager who told me this campground would receive a makeover and would soon be fee based in the next two years.

The area will be logged in 2024 and they were marking the trees while we were there.

It was also busier than before and the weekenders were not very good neighbors (loose dogs, loud generators and partying).

Hopefully when a camp host is present in the future it can be peaceful once more.

This is an older forest service campground, sites are not exactly well defined but most have burn rings. There is a lovely stream that runs through the campground and vault toilets which appear to be clean and looked after (no odor). The area seems to be mostly used as an overnight spot. We had such a good time exploring the forest and service roads that we stayed a bit longer! Our dogs loved being able to explore off leash. We saw mallard ducks in the stream, a flock of wild turkey came by one morning, and we were visited by elk twice at dusk and the third time they were actually within 10-15 feet of the camper grazing in the early morning sun. It must be said that US 180 is quite close so we did hear the occasional vehicle but unless it was a large truck (heard only one) the sound was minimal. The closest store/gas is in Alpine, AZ which is about a 17 minute drive west of the campground.