Cactus Forest Blm | Wild Camping

January 6th, 2024 by valeriemstephan

Super beautiful spot, quiet and safe. Arrived just before sunset so got to enjoy watching the sun go down among the cacti. Easily found a level spot for my 22 ft van that does not have four wheel drive. Passed a few other tent & van campers on the way in but didn't see or hear much from them as spaces are spread nicely. Heard the coyotes and a little bit of distant gunfire, but worth it to see the sunrise. 2 bars with t-mobile.

November 25th, 2023 by jayneamarsh

Absolutely beautiful! Lots of space, gorgeous scenery. 😍

March 17th, 2023 by vu.huy0

Epic spot! Sorry overlanders, I may have to spend the 14 days here. Amazing weather!

March 16th, 2023 by Mama_Oh

We chose to take the first spot on the left once you pass the spots on the right. We are a 26ft Class C. We weren't evenly parked, but we made it work.

February 15th, 2023 by heather.al.gray

Beautiful saguaro forest with lots of birds and wildlife. Sites well spaced. Highly recommend.

February 10th, 2023 by Williroad

Lightning passage .
We stopped in the 1st spot on the right.
Accessible path with large vehicles and possibility to turn around.
Several spots separated from each other along the way.
Surrounded by cacti.
Beautiful sunset and sunrise.
Very quiet.
Passage éclair .
nous nous sommes arrêtés dans le 1er spot sur la droite.
Chemin accessible avec gros véhicules et possibilité de faire demi-tour.
Plusieurs spots séparés les uns des autres le long du chemin.
Entourés de cactus.
Magnifique coucher et lever de soleil.
Très calme.

December 7th, 2022 by living.it.right

Bunch of spots along this road and most are reachable with 2WD (unless it has recently rained). Some spots had barely any Verizon reception and the spots farther down had great Verizon reception! Cholla and Saguaros all around and it's the most beautiful!! Definitely more of a busy spot, but plenty of space to get some privacy. Highly recommend!

December 4th, 2022 by joeydempsey14

lots of cacti! slightly residential population, on the high side for trash. was one site with an abandoned pop up looking sad.

November 16th, 2022 by bst_mckenzie

SO MANY SPOTS. loads of people here but with the cacti & brush between sites you don't even notice them. spotty verizon service if any.

October 28th, 2022 by j_desjardins

Wow!!! beautiful cactus forest. Many spaces with good distance between “sites”. Road was good for a small car. Very quiet but windy at night. Beautiful sunset and stars, gun shooting noises in the distance but nothing to worry about, quiet at nights. Could hear coyotes, a little toilet paper in the bushes but overall very clean. Definitely recommend!

March 30th, 2022 by Peace_Song

Absolutely Beautiful Cactus Forest! Many camp spots, we were west side of the road with 2 vehicles w trailers. Great spot. I saw large rigs and busses also found space. Private and peaceful. Mountain views both east and west. Great cell service and about 25 minutes to town....I will be back!!

March 20th, 2022 by NellieGoFar

Nice spot, great sunsets! As others mentioned lots of target practicing (shooting) heard in the distance. I was here on the weekday. Good cell service with some LTE. A little trash around but not as bad as other BLM areas

February 4th, 2022 by spaskertyo

This place was great! Stayed here for a couple nights in a tent and had a 2wd vehicle, easy access no problem. A lot of sky activity and coyote howls, but the huge cacti around and the stars were beautiful. Even though it’s about an hour from Tucson, it’s a great free place to camp if you’re looking to explore places nearby like Sabino Canyon. I even had cell signal too (consumer cellular).

January 30th, 2022 by shaunanikles

Further down the road plenty of spaces to camp, was pretty full when we got I’m at 11pm.
Looks beautiful with the cactus everywhere.
Not the best place for puppers feet lots of small pokies everywhere. Couldn’t imagine coming any more into the year very hot.

January 27th, 2022 by thedurtfamily.com

This is one of our all time favorite spots. It’s so quiet, there are plenty of spots, and the landscape is stunning. Great sunrises and sunsets. And it’s really neat to be parked up right next to the giant saguaro cacti.

January 9th, 2022 by kelsietravers

Awesome place with lots of space and easy pull offs for any vehicle. Our favorite BLM spot so far. Drive further down the road for more privacy. The forested area is a great change from the typical barren desert landscape. Ok cell coverage, 1-2 bars LTE of Verizon and ATT.

December 14th, 2021 by hunter357mag

Beautiful cactus and landscape. Good road, flats pull offs-lots of them, but lots of rigs too. I arrived on Friday night, which was probably why so many were out. Decent privacy even so. T-Mobile and Verizon were decent.

December 4th, 2021 by Gira Bhakta

Beautiful site in a cactus forest! We found a nice big flat area with space for many vehicles after the turn on to the dirt road. Only one other car was there at 5:45pm on a Saturday in December. We kept driving and decided to stay at the next big flat spot in case it got busier and louder at the first spot. Great spot! Highly recommend!

December 3rd, 2021 by kschultz1234

camped for 1 night, near OP's pinpoint down the dirt rd. beautiful spot with reception and various species of cactus's. not really a outdoor pet friendly spot if applicable to you.

November 20th, 2021 by roamingabout.com

Indeed it is quite beautiful, and the cactus are great. However, to say this place had been discovered is a slight understatement. We did arrive on a Sat late afternoon, but the place was packed. Many large groups of 5+ vehicles, and we were lucky to find a pull off to use. So, come early, and avoid weekends would be my advise.

April 26th, 2021 by gillian.h.harrison

Loving this spot!!! My 22ft Skoolie & I found a great spot only a few mins from the road w/ a fire ring. great sunrises and sunsets <3

February 23rd, 2021 by Jacket

Previous travelers have summed it up well. The gps coordinates listed here take you to the northern entrance of the BLM land. This entrance is best suited for longer and wider rigs. If you have a van or other narrow vehicle you can turn right just after mile post 6 and start your hunt there. The mid southern entrance is a little rougher and closer to the hillside that the shooters use for a backstop. Also seems to be a bit more trash here. Overall better to go as far north as you can since the sites are cleaner and the gunshots more distant. Options abound.

Lots of cactus here so watch your step and your pets. Good cell service. Would visit again.

February 22nd, 2021 by minim89

Beautiful location full of cacti and with plenty of spaced out spots!

January 13th, 2021 by anyfrank

What a lovely place. I stayed three nights and it was fabulous. You hear gunshots during the day but not that noisy. With a van it’s definitely easy and possible. Please remember to pick up after yourselves. The view and scene are amazing.

December 21st, 2020 by saguarocat

Very nice cactus forest.  unimproved, narrow at times, dirt road has campsites with fire rings.  Accessible with 17' trailer, larger rig sites at the cattle corral at the road.  Fewer, smaller sites the farther you go on the road. Target shooters during the day.

November 9th, 2020 by holntof

SO beautiful. So quiet and remote. Only a handful of other vans or RVs here all with plenty of privacy. Pretty good ATT service. The road in is great, the spots are flat. You could do even more intensely private spots if you have AWD and maxtrax. We didn’t go in too far (just no need, beautiful private spots abound) but it seemed like if you kept going there were probably tonnnns of pull offs. Fire rings in many spots.

Our only issue with this place is that it’s not super dog friendly with all the pieces of cacti on the ground. They really blend in, so our dog got stuck with pretty big cactus clusters twice and cried / shrieked a lot trying to pull them out.

I also got stuck with a cluster while walking (they really blend!).

Crazy bright stars. Coyotes yipping at night. A couple of creatures investigating our Coleman outside at night.

We loved it here.

February 17th, 2020 by freelance

Very nice as previously described but firearms being discharged from sun up till sundown could just be the 3 day weekend

January 25th, 2020 by hello

Beautiful place! You can also go left from the main road, this dirt road has cool spots too (for smaller vans)

January 18th, 2020 by you_me_go_see

Really beautiful spot camping amongst the giant saguaros.
Great roads to the entrance of the BLM then a good dirt road (in dry conditions) to find a level spot. There is plenty of room at the entrance for bigger rigs. The further you go the smaller the spots get which are perfect for vans. There’s still plenty of space between the sites for complete privacy. Absolutely dark skies for star gazing. You can hear lots of gun fire. Patchy T-Mobile and AT&T service. Max 14 day stay. Dry camping, no facilities. Keep it clean.

January 7th, 2020 by TG_Ltd

Really nice BLM campground! Flat, dark and quiet. Good roads make for easy access for any sized rig. Worth the 8+ mile drive from I-10.

December 30th, 2019 by mesaridge

quite place, only one camper insight. seems to be a nice area. about 10 miles east of the I-10 at Picacho Peak