Tanque Road Dispersed Camping

I'll start off by saying that we did not stay at this location. We did a review video (in the video tab) of several of the free spots in the area. I did explore this area a bit and there are a few (maybe 2-3) good spots within the first 3 miles but they were taken during our visit. We ended up staying at Stockton Pass Dispersed instead which is an option in the area and at high elevations if Safford is too hot.

A couple of resources I thought we would provide.
Free Dump Station (Safford Water Reclamation Plant)
32.841897,-109.722176

Free Potable Water
32.788781,-109.702451

Starlink (residential with roaming)
Strong Speeds with few obstructions

We also did a video review of this campsite as well as several of the others in the area. You will find it on the Videos Tab here on Campendium

Arrived mid Saturday morning, drove 3 miles down the Tanque road and found an amazing site! Stayed for a week. Saw roughly 1-2 vehicles come in a day. Very secluded sites. So peaceful during the day and night. Could see traffic from the main road, but couldn’t hear it. T-mobile 5G was spotty in the rig, LTE worked better inside. I was able to work remotely without any issues (streaming video quality). Will definitely return!!

Pulled into our campsite Thursday late afternoon. We were situated about 3/4 off 191 on the right hand side of Tanque Road. Most of the viable sites closer to the road had already been snatched up. Tanque Road is a nicely maintained dirt road that 25 foot long Jose the Campulance could navigate easily.
I found this area to be beautiful, with views of the mountains from ever angle. We were treated to a gorgeous sunset that evening, and the next morning were able to get in a nice walk along the double track trail near our site. We did not experience our site to have litter and was very clean. A fire ring was present and we did find a couple nails by the ashes, so be careful when driving in!
Verizon gave us 2 strong bars

We pulled in Sunday at about 2 took the road to the right to the 1st pullout. we have a 20 foot trailer and there was plenty of room I would suggest if you were a bigger rig to stay up a the top of the road. We did not go down 20 miles to the Hot Springs we stayed up on the road so I’m not sure what all is down there. We were the only ones out there.🙂 safford is a 29 minute drive and has everything you need there. You must see the historical part of safford. We collected 3 13 gallon bags of trash. 😩 come on people do your part so we can keep camping on BLM for free some of us depend on it...

We stayed here for 2 nights in late March of 2021. Had no problem getting our 26’ bus to a big, secluded site about 2.5 miles off on 191. Our site had 360 degree mountain views and we could see anyone coming and going on the main road.

We saw 2 rigs near the entrance and continued on to find a nice spot. Our site was littered with bullet casings, which we cleaned up over 200 .22 cal shells. Must get lively during summer or hunting season. We heard no gunshots during our stay.

The Hot Wells were closed due to Covid, so we didn’t get to check them out. Safford is 20 minutes away for major supplies if you need.

Here’s the good. It’s close to the highway and 20 miles down the rd is the hot wells. It’s also beautiful with the mountains in the distance. Especially if you go about a mile or 2 in..
The bad. Ground seemed fairly packed when we came in. It rained the first night and when I stepped outside the next morning my boot sank into the ground. I knew this wasn’t good. Getting out was like pulling a trailer down a slip and slide. I got lucky and was able to walk the tires out. Even if you have 4x4 you need to check the weather and make sure it hasn’t rained and won’t rain while you’re there. I stayed one night in a 27ft TT with 4x4 diesel.

We only drove up this road to check out some BLM. Have never off grid camped. Staying at a koa close by wishing we would have stayed here. This road is all sand and 20 miles long. I would imagine during wet seasons or after rain could be slick/muddy. We were here in the end of December and the road was very smooth. Not problems beautiful views can’t be beat. Will remember this spot and hope to do some off grid camping in future.

July rain may not be a good time, only traveled about a 1/4 off hwy, road condition was muddy, pools in places, found a pull off and stayed a few hours, but worried about going any further due to road condition and not being able to turn around with trailer.

Would have like to have gone further down the road to see what is all there, but caution prevailed.

I like it, but would rather travel when dryer.