West Manville Road Dispersed Camping

It is basically a spacious clearing where several RVs can park. We spent 3 nights there along with 4 other RVs. The neighbors were quiet and respectful. Horses visit the lot every morning, which is definitely a bonus.
We stayed in the first lot and did not continue down the road. This location is about 15 minutes from the entrance to the Saguaro West Park and about 25 to the Desert Museum.

The West Manville Road BLM free camping area is located at grid coordinates 32.2919, -111.3475 and is within the Ironwood Forest National Monument managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The level gravel lot may accommodate 5 or 6 big rigs or other RV. There are no amenities. Scenic mountains serve as a backdrop in the distance. This boondocking location is convenient to the Saguaro National Park, Red Hills Visitor Center located just 10.8 miles away. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 15.9 Mbps download speed and 1.47 Mbps upload speed. AT&T cellular service clocked in at .073 Mbps download speed and 1.11 Mbps upload speed.

I parked on a spot close to Manville’s dirt road. Some of the runs and ditches on Manville were deep but I have a truck and an off-road trailer.

There was one other guy about 100 yards away with a truck and travel trailer.

We had as far as the eye could see to ourselves.

Except for Border patrol trucks driving down Manville and an occasional Jeep or dirt bike.

I was planning to stay a few more days when two gentlemen from the Tucson water authority stopped by. They said this was a dangerous area that was a well known drug smuggling spot. They said it’s nice during the day but not safe at night. They recommended I do not spend the night here and suggested a campground near Saguaro National Forest. They were so sincere that I decided to cut my stay short and moved over to this location near the National Park. 32.158132, -111.115281

This new location has over a dozen campers and trailers with better defined campsites on clearly marked public land. I had no problems at the Manville location except for high winds each afternoon.

Fair size gravel parking area with room for five or six large rigs. This is the gravel parking area just inside the gate on the right. There are some desert boondocking areas further in with ample parking and a couple of fire rings but i didn't take my 38' 5er in there as there was kind if a deep rut in the road and didn't want to take a chance, although a couple of folks did when we were there.

There is a small ultralight aircraft field right next door and it was fun watching the planes. It wasn't real busy though. People did come and park their trailers for their quads and 4 wheelers and go off riding in the desert but they would go off for hours then just come back and load up and leave. We stayed a week there and we're the only ones in the lot all week. This site is very close to the west block of the Saguaro National Forest.