Welch Road Dispersed Camping

Exit151 off I40 east. Went to the right on the dirt road for about 3/4 of a mile. Found a spot on the side of the road was a little tricky to turn and back into the spot. Some farm traffic, no interstate noise, two bars 5G T-Mobile. Road is OK. Just red dirt gravel. We were OK with a 25 foot airstream and a Ford F150 truck. Easy access off of I 40.

If you are looking for a quick, easy no fuss place to stop, this is it. If you plan to stay you have to know there is no real view and you are in the middle of an odd cow pasture. There seems to be some long term dwellers also. There is cell service if you are real close to the highway, so that limits where you park. You will hear highway noise. Hey, it is free though.

Lovely place on the outskirts of Flagstaff. I loved this place, but beware: They are very strict and will ticket you with no warning of you overstay your two weeks. I met a delightful group of other campers I walked with daily along an abandoned stretch of old Rt. 66, and several of them got ticketed for being one day over. So many of us drove to another nearby site and continued camping together.

Welch Rd. has a wide open feel on gently rolling, grassy hills, with beautiful sunset views. You can see and hear the old scenic steam train that comes through toward the Grand Canyon almost daily. It's actually far enough away that the whistle sounds peaceful and lonesome rather than shrill or annoying.

I used my stay as a jumping-off point to go visit the Grand Canyon, which was a perfect all-day trip. The nearby KOA on Rt. 60 (I think) has friendly, affordable service to fill your propane and (I believe) water. Just up the road in Bellemont is a Pilot for gas, and across I-40 is Fort Navajo base for a cheap $5 tank dump.

I'm not real sensitive to noise, but you can hear highway traffic at night. It's not bad.

Poor access roads forced me out of my Hipcamp so we decided to boondock here instead. The dirt access road was a little muddy from the recent rains/snow but was fine in an AWD passenger car as it's flat.

Plentiful level sites. Tent campers, these sites will work for you, too! Some noise from the highway but not bad. And we had cell service! On a March weekend night we had the place to ourselves.

The area was completely free of trash--whoever cleaned it up, thank you!!

We stayed here January 13th. Easy stop close to interstate, we pulled far enough out that road noise wasn't an issue. We were all alone, never saw another person or rig. They were expecting 18" of snow the next day so maybe that's why it was empty. We arrived as the sun was setting. Very pretty and lots of space. The road had some ruts that we went around but not terrible.