Loy Butte Road Dispersed Camping

It’s a long dirt road to get there, not too crazy though. Very popular being so close to Sedona, but we were able to find a nice spot with a good view. It’s also close to the road so when cars drive by you get dusted out, but we just parked our van so that the open doors were facing away from the road and it blocked a good amount of dust for us to sit behind our van peacefully. Even with all the people there was a good amount of privacy!

We arrived yesterday, Monday March 29th at about 2:00pm. We are in a 40ft 5th wheel with a Ford F350 dually. my plan was to unhitch at one of the 2 staging areas near the entrance off 89A, but that did not work out. The first area had a large drop off that I didn't want to attempt with my rig and the second area was pretty full. There was a lot of traffic in this area (where you first turn on to Loy Butte Rd / Forest Road 525). So we decided to just continue up the road hauling the rig to look for a spot. Again, there was a lot of traffic on the road, not just ATVs, but vans, pickups, and other rigs (it seemed VERY busy - maybe it was just a Monday). All the camping spots near the road were completely full, so we continued on, with me getting more and more nervous about finding a spot or trying to turn around. We ended up 5.4 miles up the road (coordinates 34.8832044, -1119097303). About 20% of the spots were tents and 60% were small vans and sprinters. There were only a few rigs as big as ours back near 89A, which made me even more nervous. We came across one spot, but I simply couldn't manage to back in for lots of reasons (narrow road, bumpy entrance to the site, lots of traffic on 525 etc). I was able to drive straight forward into the spot we ended up at, which was good. I thought I'd have an easy time maneuvering once in the sight, but boy was I wrong. The site was EXTREMELY unlevel everywhere, making maneuvering really challenging. I came very close to having the back of my pick up bed come in contact with bottom of the RV where it's hitched up. I lost 2 snap pads off my middle 2 jacks stands from hitting the ground. And both my generator exhaust pipe and sewer discharge pipe were dangerously close to getting damaged by coming into contact with the ground. Finally, Finally, I was able get us situated after about 90 minutes of exhausting effort. So . . . . my overall comments. The road was not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Is it rough? Yes. Is it washboarded? Yes. But we've seen worse. 525 was smooth compared to Palm Canyon Road south of Quartzite. So that was good news. Everyone is right about the views. The farther up the road you go the better, so I'm glad we ended up 5.4 miles up the road for that. I can only speak to our site, but I think most most of them are like ours. That said, I would not recommend this area for big rigs >25-30 feet. The terrain in the sites could could cause damage to your rig if you're not careful. I'm here with my wife and 2 boys so luckily I had 3 spotters helping me. Everyone is also right about the ATV's. This is only our first full day, but I'm ok with it. I'm off the road a bit so the noise and dust aren't bothering me. As far, as cell signal is concerned, it's not great. I have a Pepwave Max Transit Duo with 4 sims (ATT, Sprint, T-mobile, and Verizon) and a 7-in-1 roof antenna on top of the rig. I could not connect to sprint. Both ATT and Verizon was less than 1 Mbps. T-mobile was a little more promising, but I was averaging 3-4 Mbps. Fortunately, I had a 25' pole and a directional antenna that was I able to try out for the first time. That boosted me up to 15-25 Mbps on T-mobile. It's not the bars that matter for cell coverage, it's the download speed. I have 2 bars of LTE on my sprint phone, but can't connect to anything. I could make a call but that's about it. I need a minimum of 8-10 Mbps for video conferencing with work so I'm thankful I had the pole antenna. I would likely not come back here in this rig due to the terrain in the sites. It's pretty bad. This place is awesome if you're in a small Sprinter van or other vehicle that can better handle off road. There is a road leading off in the distance where I'm at that I hiked this morning and some of the sites are breathtaking. Hope you enjoyed this review - happy boondocking.

We spent late January and early February 2021 Boondocking on forest road 525 a mile or two past the fork to 525C. We had about 6 total days of nice weather and 8 days of snow or rain. The road is long, bumpy, and very crowded at the beginning. The farther down the road you go the less spots for large rigs but the views are better and you have more space between neighbors. The red clay gets extremely slick when wet and makes 4x4 a requirement. Also the red clay stains the RV floors and anything left outside. We had okay signal but it got worse during storms. We would definitely stay here again but i doubt there will be any open spots during the warmer months. Check out our video review above in the "video reviews" section

We arrived here on a Saturday and the 525/Loy Butte areas were very busy. There were lots of off road vehicles, vans, campers and tents. Most of the sites nearest the main highway were full. We continued almost 4.5 miles out the road from the main highway. The views were definitely nicer back this direction, but on a Saturday it wasn't easy to find an accessible site to pull our trailer into without being too close to anybody else. We ended up in a larger area with 6 or 7 different campers set up and the area had a nice view. We were able to walk 1/2 mile out on of the side roads to get views of Sedona and the hot air balloons that rose around 7 each morning. They were a long way off, but it was still cool to see. This road sees lots of traffic, so we recommend getting as far off the road as possible to setup your camp. The dust is constant as lots of jeep tours and OHV tours use this road. Also, a lot of the sites had very large ruts right at the entrance, so we passed up a few because we weren't sure we wanted to cross those. We would highly recommend that you try to arrive here with plenty of daylight left, as finding a site and navigating the ruts might be challenging in the dark. Although the views are nice in the sites further in, if we came back we would stay closer to the highway to make it easier to drive out to go exploring. Our AT&T hotspot had good service in the mornings and during the day. For some reason, the service was much slower and spottier in the evening hours.

Get as far away from the main road as possible. The ATV tours and passing vehicles will dust you out. The main road - Loy Butte - gets worse the farther you go; particularly past the cattle guard. If you have the ability (or lack of self-preservation for you and your camper) continue farther north for better views. Unhitch (if you can) at the ATV staging area and scout out. It is the large rutted lot with an information sign. When we came, all of the lots prior to this point were packed with campers. Side roads will look good, then turn to jagged, rocky death traps for tire sidewalls. The road signs are legit: WATCH FOR COWS! Cell service for Verizon is all over the place. Closer to the highway, better/reliable cell service. You can drive pretty far back and get 3G (maybe LTE), but it you walk behind a big bush or the wind changes, you are down to text only. Go behind a hill and you will lose all service.

Very Bumpy road going up, bumpier the further out you go. Not sure I would take a big rig. The OHV use is pretty high, crazy on weekends.Lots of areas to camp sites for miles, but also busy. Views are awesome. Most people respectful, but as mentioned some rubbish. I cleaned my site before setting up. I stayed over the halloween weekend so there were some 'parties' down the road ( go the COVID spread:-(. and some chemically influenced people wandering around at 5 am, but I think that was think that was an exception. I am a solo female traveling with my dog and felt safe.

In tune with 2020, this place has gone slightly dystopian. We’ve been coming to Sedona for years. It’s always been a little crowded. While boondocking we would sometimes find toilet paper shoved between rocks. Traffic jams happened on weekends, in town. Besides the occasional generator, there was little noise. Whole Foods and restaurants had lines, but you could usually keep moving on hikes. 2020 has seen so much traffic that locals are time-lapsing the destruction to the pinon-juniper boondocking areas. People light fires without building fire rings; some tear branches from juniper trees to feed the flames. Many seem to think toilet paper simply disappears after it is thrown on the ground. It is common to see prickly pears with foul white paper wagging from their spines. Cars drive over drainages and create camping areas. Cars snake between trees and over dirt and past no-camping signs and create camping areas. There are traffic jams on the dirt road. People drive through at all hours. A lone ranger (a friendly guy in a Forest Service truck, not a tall guy with a bandalier of bullets) comes by weekly to pound No Camping signs into the earth. He seems tired. He faces a losing battle against the creation of new campsites. Change is coming, he says, but it will take time. Meanwhile, people with license plates from all over the country continue to pioneer their own little islands of paradise on the trampled earth. There are lines on hikes. Congestion and dust are normal. I would recommend the views here. I wish I could call it wonderful. It does not feel like an escape. Some will consider it an escape. To me, it seems like a flood of people anxious to soak up Sedona for peace of mind, at whatever cost to the land. I feel a hint of what the ranger must feel. I feel tired.

Great pace to camp and ride the OHV around. At this time a lot of the small trails are closed for land improvement I think. OHV trails are very well marked around here and are fun to ride. Finding a good camp spot did take a while with a motor home and trailer; even coming on a Thursday evening. Looks like lots of full time van and pod campers like it here.