Pass Creek Road Dispersed Camping

Easy access off 160. Road is dirt/gravel but we’ll maintained. Can probably accommodate some larger rigs but I’d scope it out first. I stayed in a 21ft class B so it was no problem. Plenty of spaces to choose from and I was the only one around from what I saw. Sites are huge and wooded with lots of privacy. Some more open spots available for solar.

Some road noise but didn’t bother me. Pack in and pack out no services. Someone left used toilet paper on my site. Real nice.

Great Verizon cell service 3 bars but no issues and good download speeds which is tough on this area.

Probably wouldn’t stay here more than a day or two but it’s a phenomenal free place to stop.

Fall colors are insane.

Stayed here 4 days to get away from NM heat! Close to highway but that doesn’t bother us. Enjoyed watching all the different rigs chugging up the mountain! There were a few atv’s running up and down the road, but we parked far enough off to avoid dust! Ground squirrels galore! Fun to watch in the morning! It got down to 38 last night! Mid June. Nice!! We parked about halfway between highway and campground at the end of road. Will be back!

In mid October it was easy to find a spot. The further up the road you go you will find bigger sites and there will be room to turn around up there for big rigs, too (probably 1.5 to 2.5 miles in). I camped in a small spot in some trees about 3/4 miles in and it had a strong 2 bars of Verizon which worked flawlessly as a hot spot and to stream Netflix. The whole area is spruce beetle kill so it is has a sad look to the area in general. My dog and I scrambled down the hill from our campsite where he enjoyed soaking in the creek (which is very scenic). Cows loved our campsite and one spent all day eating the old charcoal out of the fire ring while guarding off all the other cows who tried to go near it. Quite entertaining! On our last morning three very large coyotes came through our campsite (so large that I’m not 100 percent sure they weren’t wolves, but wolves aren’t known to be in the area). Either way, be careful with your dogs.

Road noise from the highway was present the whole time, but didn’t bother me. Traffic on Pass Creek Rd wasn’t too bad-mostly people going up to fish at the ponds.

Up the road across from the paid campground are two fishing ponds called the Tucker Ponds. There is a clean pit toilet there as well as some small trash bins for those without their own facilities. The toilet was still open mid-October even though the campground across the road closed September 7. The fishing ponds and toilet are free. (The campground is $20/night for rustic sites with no water or dump or electric) and they are all very close together)

If this site didn’t have cell signal it would be three stars for me, but good cell signal with private sites while boondocking is getting harder to find so that earns it an extra star from me.

Rainbow Grocery up in S. Fork is 20 minutes away for a free dump station and water fill. They sell propane, too.

Arriving here from the south from Pagosa Springs takes you through some of the prettiest country I’ve ever seen. Turning onto the access road from Hwy 160 we passed a few already occupied spots on the way to ours - which was a single site next to the access road and perfectly level (as attested to by our LevelMate Pro!). There was a fire ring but current restrictions disallowed it’s use. There is some highway noise from the previously mentioned Hwy 160 a half mile across the canyon but not bothersome and not at night. Traffic on the access road (right next to our site) was very light and friendly. Birds chirping everywhere and the smell of pine makes for a very peaceful experience. Cell service was a surprise 5 bars on T-Mobile. We’d stay here again.

Turn east off US160 onto Pass Creek Road (forest road 390). It's signed for Tucker Ponds campground, which is a couple of miles up here - but before you get there, you'll find a half-dozen free dispersed sites along the right-hand side of 390.

Some are easy access, some are off down rough dirt tracks. Some are quite close to Pass Creek - very nice. All have some road noise from 160, but it didn't keep us awake or anything.