Schnebly Hill Dispersed Camping

We camped for three nights at a beautiful and secluded campsite on Schnebly Hill Road appoximately four miles from I-17. The best and safest way to access the more than 40 campsites along this maintained gravel and dirt road is from I-17. At I-17 exit 320 near Munds Park, Arizona, if exiting I-17 north bound turn left and go under the freeway, and if exiting south bound turn right. Then turn left before entering the highway maintenance building area. Yes, we counted 40 sites, some of the campsites could accomadate 2 or 3 RVs. We camped within a half-mile of the communication towers located just off Schnebly Hill Road at approximately 4 1/2 miles and enjoyed 4-bars on Verizon. Beyond mile 4 there are only five campsites, the road quickly becomes rocky at mile 5 and is best accessed with smaller rigs with 4wheel. Do NOT attempt to access Schnebly Hill Road from Sedona, Arizona.
Most campsites have stone fire rings and plenty of space to park an RV, the largest rig we saw was appoximately 35 feet. This is a Wildlife Area and is closed to motorized traffic beginning December 15th thru April 1st. The elevation is about 6,000 feet, so expect cool weather and a forest of Ponderosa Pines. We camped here at the end of April and enjoyed daytime temperatures of 75 F and nightime lows in the 40's. We hiked 1-mile down the road from our campsite to view the red rocks, WOW the views are majestic!

Agree with other observations. A couple of additional points.

The road is dusty! I went in 5 miles and then back and everything was covered in fine red dust.

Regarding cell - the closer you are to I17 the better it is for AT&T. 5 miles in May work well for Verizon but I got nothing on AT&T there.

Lots of ORV but they are courteous and leave late afternoon generally.

So prior to coming here, I was considering coming from the east side of Schnebly road but everything I read was to come from the west..so we did. After waking up in the morning we decided to go through the entire road west into Sedona. I drive a stock double cab long bed tacoma with a platform and bunch of weight, for reference. After the Schnebly overlook, the road is down hill from there, literally and figuratively. There is at least two or three "obstacles" that include small rock crawls and strategic driving. Other than that the road is very very rough and Rocky. Had I known, I would've turned around at the overlook but we got far in enough to a point of no return. You can make it unscathed in stock vehicles being cautious and going slow. I drove over one rock that stopped me on my front cross member but thankfully I was going slow and damage was minimal. Be aware that there are a ton jeep tours going on on the last 5 miles on the east sides and just traffic in general. It was fun for the most part but then it was just brutal on my stock suspension lmao.

This was a great place. We only drove in the first 2 miles but we’re able to find a great spot. No problem getting the skoolie in. The noise from the I17 wasn’t so loud you noticed it. The dust from the ATVs was more of a weekend annoyance and we didn’t have anyone tearing through camp, they mostly stuck to the main roads. Can fill up on the weekends and is almost empty during the week. Was a little bit of trash around mostly just beer caps. We did get to share the area with some cows, they came through in the morning and then back through in the evening. Would stay here again.

Beautiful National Forest area on Schnebly Hill Rd.
Easy access. I went east of I-17, about 1 mile. Why go further? Pulled in on a Friday night and only saw a few vehicles go by.
My 24’ Class C RV towed my car, hauling a mini-bike in without a problem.
Noise from I-17 is audible, but even though only a mile away, is not bad at all.
Lots of great wood on the ground for weeks of campfires. The site I pulled into had a nice fire ring and wood ready to go.
On StraightTalk Wireless (showing TracPhone, but using Verizon towers), my LTE signal was always 3 out of 4 bars on my phone.
My RV “jet pack” using a Verizon data card, pulled in all 4 bars, thanks to the Winegard 360* antenna on the roof.
Love this place.
70*F temps during the day in early November, with 40’s at night.
Beautiful tall trees and lots of trails and dirt roads off the main road, to explore.

So, I think the road gets closed during a certain time of year (December???), BUT, it opens back up on April 1 of each year.

So many awesome spots....lots and lots, and no need to be rubbin' up against any neighbor unless you like that sort of thing. Lovely and peaceful forest with red dirt. The road is a little rocky rough, but very manageable in my F-150 pulling my 20' Airstream Bambi.

The closer you are to the highway, the better your cell signal. I did go back far enough to not see or hear the highway, and my signal was 4 bars, 4g, AT&T. Was able to work remotely, no problem.

For those who tried these spots when the road was closed, TRY AGAIN after April 1, it won't disappoint.

This was a nice place to stay overall. There were a ton of recreational vehicles which was loud and very dusty. So I would not stay on the main road if you can avoid it.
You can hear expressway traffic the closer you are to it.
There are also a lot of cows that roam around which I enjoyed but my dog did not. Lol

Mixed reaction to boondocking here. Pine forest and open ground. Roaming cattle with their flies. Good Verizon cellular coverage. We only ventured about a mile along the road. At that distance the sites were limited in number, taken and/or challenging to negotiate with a 21 ft trailer, as a relative newcomer to towing. There may have been better choices further along the gravel road but as turning options were already very rare we didn't try. The biggest issue is the noise from I 17 less than half a mile away, all day and all night. So an acceptable stop-off as an overnight but not for a longer stay.

I had stayed here for a while without any issues. Definitely a lot of Off-road vehicles coming and going. However, I had a 2 very negative experiences and will never go back!!
A male that’s obviously living there started screaming and yelling and banging something making threats to someone. So I moved spots to have the second bad experience!!
I left to go to the store and came back with several things stolen from my site. I felt very violated and unsafe!! As this person must have been watching me to see that I left. I was really up in a spot that you couldn’t see me.