Loy Butte Road

GPS: (34.876043 , -111.904854) Google Map LINK
Easy to locate: Yes. There are many spots before you get down the road 5 miles however most had 1 to a few folks in them.
Public Land: USFS
Cell: Verizon - 3 bars, T-Mobile - 3 bars, GoogleFi - 2 bars
Crowded: not at all but I suspect that's due to the time of year
Clean: mostly clean; we found a broken windshield near where we setup camp and a broken chair. Both we hauled out the following day when we set out to hike
Would we stay here again: Yes. Another plus was there were no bugs

We loved it here and would be back. The biggest surprise was the great cell signal. The only downside is most pull offs have multiple fire pits and space for multiple rigs. So if you want to be completely remote and not have another camper pull in nearby, you need to get further out and on more rugged roads. Even with a couple rainy nights it did not slow us down from finding interesting jeep trails, ghost town jaunts, hikes, monuments. Although we loved where we landed, we also noted numerous other more remote areas we may try in the future.

The road in is pretty annoying from all the washboarding. There’s surprisingly not that many sites along this road, even though the drive feels super long. We camped about 25 minutes back on this road and it was quiet except for the off road vehicles during the day. About 35 minutes from town and 45 minutes from popular hikes. Got to see lots of hot air balloons in the morning! Pretty sunrises & sunsets here.

We loved our trip into this wilderness area, finding camping on Outlaw Trail for 4x4 high clearance vehicles. We boondocked in our truck camper for 2 nights and left to avoid becoming stuck, due to rains making the trail muddy. Views of the red rock formations are stunning. We enjoyed wildflowers and a show of brilliant rainbows. Be sure to visit the Indian cliff dwellings at Hononki and Palatki.

Rough road but worth every minute! Had a few tent campers, a couple of van campers and one other rig- 5th wheel group was a little annoying -ran their very loud generator until all hours. Little concerning when they started a campfire right next to brushy grass with 20 mph winds but it stayed contained. The tent campers left their trash and belongings during the day while they were gone but kept it contained to their area. Weather was not pleasant with 25-35 mph wind with gusts over 40 for 3 days, and temps barely reaching 60. One day it rained and that was a mess- mud is quite slick and ruts easily. Last day was gorgeous (as we were breaking down to leave!).
Verizon signal was fine, however data coming over was spotty at best, even with the weboost. Sometimes it would be 40 down & 25 up, 5 mins later there was not enough signal to even ping on a speed test! Made it difficult to work, but we made it work.

Highly recommend the area and we will be going back!

This was our second stay off Loy Butte Road and it was as amazing as we remembered it. The views of the Red Rocks are absolutely stunning and we love watching the hot air balloons float across the sky each morning as we sip coffee. It’s a great dispersed camping spot, yet you can be in town in 15 minutes.

With our trailer we found access to be easiest off 89A, the road was longer, and still rough, but smoother than the alternative. Without the trailer we used the rougher Boynton Pass Road to get into town quicker each day (Google Maps doesn’t know it goes through).

The area is starting to see a bit of overuse. Once all the open spots had filled mid-week, we saw many weekend setups in areas the Forest Service had closed off to camping.

Go about a quarter mile up the road on the right is another pull off in between Loy Butte and Nolan Tank. There’s no mud holes. Yes there’s ATVs all cruising around and the Jeep tours come through as well as people just out for a drive. None of them were disruptive and they quit after dark. The drive in off 89 is a little wash boardie, but completely doable. We’ve got a 35 foot travel trailer and made it in 5 miles no problem. If you want amazing views of Sedona come here!

This was a nice location to stay close to Sedona. We boondocked here in a large 40ft coach. The road is a bit rough the deeper you get away from 89 roadway, but if you are slow, you can get through.

There were plenty of places to stay. We did see what appeared to be long term stays in enclosed trailer types. Forest ranger did stop by during the evenings to check on who was parked.

The biggest problem was the never ending UTV traffic on the main 525 road. Of course they are NOT slow so prepare to eat a lot of dust!

The dirt road from the main road is a bit rough - but worth the trip.
The views out here are beautiful. There are several place to set up - there were three campers and two tents (and a vacant box trailer) when we arrived. We found a pull through area that was closer to the road - it was fun watching the crazy ATV drivers zip on down the road.

Road traffic was not bad. Very quiet once darkness fell.

A few inconsiderate campers (just because your dog likes to roam off leash does not mean you should allow it when other campers are there....)
Pick up your trash - and bury...