Badger Springs Dispersed Camping

We stayed for one night only instead of the two planned I had needed.
First of all a lot of the spots before the Agua Fria Monument were blocked off by the BLM (probably due to overuse). The road was mew, but passable towing a 33ft 5th wheel pretty slowly. There were lots of car camper along the way.
It was getting close to sunset and I needed to stop somewhere. So we followed the road to 34.2327009, -112.0994252 aka a bit past the trail head an Vault toilet. I backed the 5th wheel in. The interstate noise was minimal. Around us was one van, a newer travel trailer, a big tent covered by a silver trap with two people and two dogs (homesteading?). Further in I could see a couple of white vehicles through the bushes behind a huge mud puddle left from the last heavy rain.
I set up as in drove on a long wooden board on one side to get in the bubble aka semi-level, stayed connected (since I had a strange feeling about the place), pulled out 2 of 3 slides (I pulled them back in when I went to bed) and had the truck facing so it was easy to get out.
After letting my dog go sniff a little and do his business we had our dinners and watched a bit of TV. I did not bother with the starlink dish since I had 5 bars on my verizon hot spot. We were just about to go to bed around 9 pm after a long and stressful day in Phoenix when I heard first arguing from the white vehicles behind us past the bushes and the mud puddle (east) and than a little later a few people singing to some loud music. The people southeast of us, the nicer new trailer, left after that in the dark.
My 70 lbs Doberman/hound mix and I went to bed. But at 4:20 am the same people, that had been singing, got their chainsaw out and started cutting something for about 15 min. I am assuming they ran out off wood, had forgotten to chop some up before dark, then at 56F got too cold at what I call "O dark thirty" sobered up some and decided to cut more wood up.... that was enough for me to say ONE NIGHT IS ENOUGH.
Also the road would be not passable after a rain. The big lot right at the interstate might be a better option for an overnight as in less quiet, but easier access and less sketchy people....

We scouted this area while out hiking. Past the Badger Springs Trailhead is the main loop for camping that will take 5 or 6 rigs. There is ample turn around in this area for larger rigs, and the main road in is well maintained.

There are campsites prior to the trailhead, however, many of these are in a wash, or closed to camping.

We had limited cell phone coverage in the area with 1 bar of Verizon 4G and no AT&T coverage. If you need cell phone coverage try Bloody Basin West.

Went in past the main, initial lot, past the trail parking, off to the left. I have a low clearance rig but managed well going slow. Found a nice nook to back into, sweet spot.

Verizon internet was good upon arrival and overnight but the next day, Sunday morning, the signal dropped. Had planned to stay and get work done but decided to move on. Not sure why the signal dopped and became extremely spotty.

My spot was clean, I did pick up a few minor pieces of trash. Happy to have left it better than I found it.

Other rigs spread out. Felt safe and private.

We exited off of “Badger Road” and headed East on an evening in July to spend the night at Agua Fria National Monument BLM land. Right off of the exit there is a HUGE gravel lot. It has a sign that says “Not a rest area,” which confused us a bit as there is also a large bulletin board that says “Camping Allowed up to 14 days.” See the attached image for those details. We did see one truck stop in the large lot late at night and they left early the next morning - so I’m assuming that spot is OK to stay in. NO water, electric, dump - completely dry - some come prepared. NO bathrooms. If you follow the road past the gravel lot and the camping sign, there are quite a few small dispersed camping sights around. We have a 35ft fifth wheel, and we drove down this road a bit, and found a large spot on the right side (we had to drive up quite a steep, dirt hill to get there). I wouldn’t recommend driving down this road with anything bigger than our rig - it’s very tight and hilly, and this is the only spot a rig our size would even fit in. There are quite a few other spots that a tent could easily fit throughout this road. Being July, it was HOT - we had our generator running all night - once the sun went down it wasn’t too bad.

The next morning we drove down the road without our rig, and took a little walk down “Badger Spring Trailhead,” which we were super surprised to find a small running creek. Our kids had a ton of fun playing in this spot, and quite a few other hikers passed us.

Overall, this is a nice spot to stop overnight - and we may even come back for a weekend visit to play more at this creek!! Pretty views and easy to access.

The roads here are fairly passable, despite signs cautioning against passenger cars. It rained while we were here so it was a bit slick in places but if we took it slow we did fine.

Per the BLM website, camping is permitted within the monument with the normal limitations of 14 days in a 28-day period. https://www.blm.gov/node/8929

Most days were quiet with a few vehicles here and there driving through to enjoy the area.

2 bars of Verizon LTE were workable and streaming was fine. We didn’t use a booster.

Propane was cheapest at the 76 station on Hwy 69 towards Mayer. Closest RV dump is at the RV park behind Flying J. Flying J allows free water fill at their dump station, which is not in operation.

Best place for groceries is a half-hour drive to Prescott Valley (Safeway, Walmart).

Overall a good place to hang out if you need to be within a couple hours of Phoenix or Flagstaff.

As you enter there are a few signs that say this is not a rest area. Albeit, it doesn't say no camping but I think that's their point. There were a number of cars without occupants, who we assumed were hiking/camping out in the desert.

The road in has a few questionable areas but is good overall. Maybe good for stealth campers.

No AT&T service.

Right off Interstate-17 (exit 256) is one of two entrances to Agua Fria National Monument. Badger Springs Rd is nothing more than a dirt road that brings you into the border of the monument about 1 mile.

There is a large parking area to access the National Monument trail, but just a little further up the dirt road is some space large enough to camp as well. There are vault toilets at the beginning of the road and the trail is certainly worth your time. You can expect some traffic as people come and go for the hike, but it was quiet nonetheless.