Miller Canyon Dispersed Camping

We camped here for 2 nights in January 2022 in a truck camper on an F350 dually with 4WD. The first site is immediately past the lower parking lot on the left side, and it's pretty great - it's large; the trail that follows the creek leaves from the parking lot (with another path from the site), and the sunsets are gorgeous. The second site is teeny, suitable only for a tent. I don't recommend going past the 3rd site (all sites are on the left). We went up past that, but we quickly came back down, as the road was getting rougher and rougher. Only tents were past the 3rd site, although small SUVs were going up there (of course, the SUVs were not towing anything). The first site where we camped has a large rut where you enter it, and we drove along the rut for a short distance before turning into the site. When we left, we had to back out of the site after getting up to the running boards in the sand going forward (grateful for the 4WD!). I personally wouldn't tow anything onto this site, but it's super nice if you're in a nimble, high-clearance vehicle. One of my favorite boondocking spots ever. The dog loved it too!

I was in the area and curious about how RV friendly this dispersed camping area might be. The distance from Hwy 92 to the lower parking area is 1 mile. Most of the road passes through a residential neighborhood and is smooth and paved. At 0.8 miles the paved road ends, narrows but is fairly smooth. There is a cattle guard and gate at this point.

The lower parking area is 0.2 miles further - it is quite large with the pit toilet house and trailheads. There were no campers in the lot, just hikers and dog walkers. Driving up the road past the parking area, it becomes more rocky and steep but still easily passable in a sedan. As noted by others, there are occasional low branches on the sides of the road that could be a problem for wider/taller vehicles. Prior reviews describe several camping areas, all on the left of the road.

The first one is just past the parking area under a huge tree. There was a deep rut when turning off the road. In addition, it appears to be accessible for a longer rig only in the downhill direction or a very careful backup job (I did not find an area to easily turn around within the next 0.5 mile). But it would be a pretty nice open yet shaded area to camp (31.426162,-110.258708).

Further up the road is a small pullout around a tree (31.424845, -110.260948). Finally, there is a fork to the left (the forest road continues for another mile on the right to the upper parking area) where there were several car/tent campers. The road dips through a small creek then back up over some very rocky spots best suited for a high clearance vehicle (31.422919, -110.264028). The road appears to go back a good way for additional camping spots.

There is no camping area at the Forest Service GPS marker on Google Maps. I posted a satellite photo with the 3 camping spots pinned. Overall, it did not appear anything but a small and nimble rig should be taken past the lower parking area. Best to scout out conditions and availability before committing to going further. For me, this wouldn't be an RV destination camping area.

Finding the campsite can be tricky. About a mile past the lower trailhead parking lot, there is a Y in the road. Take the left (downhill) road.
We pulled in right beside the creek. Some spots are pretty tight & the road in is quite rough - glad we had 4x4.
The uphill/R road at the Y goes to the upper trailhead where you cannot camp. There are only a couple of spots on the upper road for small trucks with camper tops.

We camped .7 miles into the forest, on a road to the left. All sites are dispersed. Site had plenty of space for our car and our gazebo tent. Only a little bit of trash and a nice big campfire ring. Pit toilets down the hill were .5 miles away, but there are also campsites right by the toilet that can accommodate a large RV or 2. Road condition was pretty good, even after rain. Forest service ranger patrols frequently, and stopped by one time to say hello and ask us to please fully extinguish our campfire if we had one. Cell service is spotty, not great for phone calls but text messages go through and apps that don’t use a lot of data work well.

*** WARNING: Low tree on the first 1/8 mile into MIller Canyon Road. We witnessed a 5th wheel camper rip both of his A/C covers off. ***
This is a popular hiking spot with easy access to a 50k person population. This means Walmart, Target, and all the chain restaurants you could dream of are only 15 minutes away. Tombstone is about 40 minutes.
The camping spots are pretty rough. There is a large parking area near the entrance that has pit toilets. This is where we stayed in our 65ft long rig but there are several more camping spots up the road. Most are going to require 4x4 and high clearance due to dips at their entrance. Beautiful views!!! We also experienced high winds coming off the mountains into this canyon. Lots of day-use hikers visit this MIller Canyon park.

We spent 2 weeks here. The forest service road has a warning sign that it's a "mountain road", but it was quite well maintained. The end of the road is a trailhead for a couple of trails, so the main road is used frequently (maybe 20-40 cars per day). I think that's why it's in such good condition.

We drove about halfway up from the entrance to the trailhead. There's a turnoff road to the left that has a couple of tight turns and some lower clearance below some trees. Fortunately, our trailer is from 1996, which means it's not nearly as tall as the newer trailers. Our trailer is a 37' bumper pull, plus about 3' of additional length with the bike rack on the back. We made it with a couple of adjustments, but it was WELL worth it.

We were in the valley/canyon with a creek with flowing water, trees, and great trails right at our trailer! Plenty of firewood was available because there are actually trees here.

I hiked up Miller peak, which was a 6-hour ordeal but was a wonderful hike. Just be warned it's about 5000' of vertical climb to the peak.

The rangers came by on the weekend only. They were friendly enough.

There's a sign warning about smuggling and immigration, but given the remote location and size of the mountains, we felt pretty safe. We figure anyone hearty enough to get thru the mountains to where we were camped deserved a meal...but alas, we didn't see anyone. :)

We felt very safe the entire time. It was a very quiet campsite.

Regarding cell signal; it was spotty. Sometimes we would have 14 MB/s download speeds, and then other times we couldn't get a signal. It didn't seem to matter if we turned the booster on or not.

The town of Sierra Vista is a nice little town. The Vallero gas station in town has a dump station, propane refill, and free water. If you're not comfortable with tap water, there's a Shell station about a mile north of Miller Canyon road that has a purified water station...5 gal for $1. We used the tap water and all feel fine. :)

GPS marker for the lot is about 100 yards up the road from where the actual lot entrance is. Not a lot of room to get turned around if/when you do miss it.

It’s just a big parking lot. Bear proof garbage containers. Porta potty style toilet (men/women) in a small outbuilding in the lot.

Nice hike to a creek bed that was shaded.

I had little to no cell service (iPhone 6; latest software; AT&T). Nothing until almost highway when I was leaving.

Access road and lot is loose gravel.

A great boondocking site right by hiking and mountain biking trails, and 300 yards from a beautiful creek. There is one larger area just North of the Perimeter trail parking lot by a huge oak tree. The space is not perfectly level, but we were able to park two big rigs there comfortably. There are other sites higher up on the road at coordinates 31°25'34.6"N 110°15'31.8"W and 31°25'34.6"N 110°15'31.8"W, but they are probably only accessible with 4 X 4/high clearance vehicles. The cell signal is also not as good in those spots I think.

There are garbage cans and dry toilets in the parking area. Don't miss the creek trail that starts from the parking lot behind the truck parking sign. You can also bike up the road for a mile or so and ride down that beautiful trail. There is also the Perimeter Trail (Cooper loop) for more experienced mountain bikers or for a beautiful day hike.

There is a bit of driving up and down the road to the guest ranch during the day and hikers/bikers/horse people using the Perimeter trail parking area during the day, but it's very quiet at night.

Nat Geo Wild noted that Sierra Vista's extraordinary sky island environment ranks as the second most biologically diverse ecosystem on the planet in a recent feature highlighting the area's uncommon avian diversity.