Pump Station Road Dispersed Camping

In 4 years of semi full time Boondocking, this has been our favorite spot. Wide open, huge spots. OHV trails and walking trails to explore. Close to Tucson and all the amenities. We planned to stay a couple nights, ended up staying two weeks! While here, we visited the nearby Gliderport, airplane graveyards, smelter and hotel ghost town, Pima Air & Space Museum, made new friends and saw a Space X launch. The weather in March was perfect, wildflowers starting to bloom. Road in was great. Area was clean. Great cell service. No downsides. Perfect stay.

This is one of those sites that tempt you to give a bad review so that no one else wants to check it out. This area is PERFECT Boondocking. We turned east off of Pump Station Road, and we were almost all by ourselves. The cactus were starting to bloom, and everything was green. Close to Tucson, easy for big rigs, no issues. Spring in the desert, perfect.

This was our second stay here after visiting once in 2023. We ended up in exactly the same spot.

Verizon speeds are good at 50Mbps download and 25 upload but suffered from congestion during peak times. AT&T was 41/3. Verizon speeds taken with a roof mounted Pepwave antenna. AT&T via phone. It's the desert so no tree cover to impede solar or Starlink.

Most of the El Tiro access road is dirt and heavily washboarded but no significant ruts or obstacles. The actual Pump Station Rd is in similar shape, though there are deeper ruts the farther in you go. It has rained a few days before our arrival and there was still mud. Judging by the depth of the mud ruts, you wouldn't want to be coming or going during a heavy rain. It was 2WD accessible when dry and any size rig can fit. There was a triple axle toy hauler deep down the road. The west road ends for motorized vehicles at 32.4388009, -111.3861497 with some barrier signs. That wasn't here in 2023.

We arrived on a Sunday morning and there were plenty of people here. Mostly vans and car campers. While there were plenty of people, there are dozens of spots so you should be in good shape. Lot spacing was generally good with reasonable pricacy. Don't blaze your own road or make your own spots - seems to be an issue as people bulldozed over bushes. There weren't any obvious squatter types.

Noise levels were okay with some airplane noise from the nearby airport. The airport noise dies off late afternoon. No road noise of any significance.

Despite its popularity, it was very clean. The site we picked had zero trash and a long walk down the road through other unoccupied sites only saw bits and pieces around.

There's a dumpster at the Speedway across the road. Water is available at the Eloy TA. Propane at the Tractor Supply.

I came here because the night time temperatures were getting too cold at higher elevations. The terrain is level, lots of places to camp without being on top of others. It’s sandy and the vegetation is mostly creosote bush with the occasional saguaro. There is no shade but that’s not a big issue this time of year - summer, not so good. There is little road noise. Many other reviews give 5 stares for quiet. Pretty much true if you don’t consider the nearly constant drone of small planes using the nearby glider port and the nearby Mariana airport. I haven’t had the opportunity to explore the Ironwood Forest Naional Monument, so I can’t comment on that. I had no trouble using N Silver Bell. It was closed east of Trico Rd, so maybe heir replacing the narrow bridge mentioned in other reviews. However, taking El Tico Rd west to Pump Station seems a more direct route than circling around from Silver Bell. Crappy Hanoubg,

WARNING: my GPS, even though it’s an RV GPS with my size and weight, still tried to take me down Silverbell. I was fortunate that I had read the previous comment. There is no warning about the 6,000 pound weight limit on the one lane bridge until you are within a few feet of it. And there is no where or no way to turn around at that point. My rig is 42 feet long, plus I have a toad. So there’s no backing up. I would have been seriously screwed had I not been forewarned.
Other than that, it’s pretty much perfect.
I did see a snake slithering across the gravel road as I entered the area, so be on the lookout.
Plenty of wide open space out here. No issues finding a spot for the big rig.
The coordinates got me exactly to the first intersection with plenty of options in either direction.
32.44358, -111.37506
I did not continue any farther down Pump Station road so cannot provide any details beyond that point.

We have previously stayed over on Pipeline just down the road but tried Pump Station this time. This place is great, it is easy to get into and has plenty of spots for rigs of any size. As most of the previous reviews indicate if you are anything other than a car/van you need to enter off of El Tiro or Avra and not W. Silverbell due to 6k limit bridge.

Cell service
T Mobile- Strong 20gb down, 6gb up
Verizon- Weak 2gb down, 4gm up
Starlink- Great no obstruction

We did a video review of this camping location and you can find it on the video tab here in campendium.