Wheeler Pass Road Dispersed Camping

I had hoped this would be a good place for boondocking, but either we did not go far enough or else we have a very different sense of good boondocking. The encampments of broken down rv's and vans (what others likely called the homeless) were scattered all throughout the area. We came into the area from Higley Road after a car accident shut down our designated route. My apple maps took us down Higley and it was rough going... quite washboard through a few miles of encampments. We then found some spots that looked a little less downtrodden, but not particularly attractive. Opted to spend a rare night in a parking lot - the casino parking lot - then headed onward to Lovell Canyon Dispersed (now that's a GREAT PLACE!).

We arrived when it was nearly dark. No problem - thanks to good access road. Just a few people to the right hand side of the road. One or two spots 'marked' by trash. Not obvious whether people left stuff and plan to come back. Or not. Some more on the left hand side, what seems to be a space where long-term stays are permitted by the city police of Pahrump. Other reviewers seem to have felt unsafe due to that clientele, we can't confirm that. Made several dog walks in that direction, met friendly people.
Beautiful sunsets, clear night skies. Perfect location on our way between Las Vegas and Death Valley.
Internet good enough for Zoom meeting.
Collected some trash, as always. Please do the same.

Who knew this was going to be such a great site? Easy access and so many options. Gave the feel of being in the wild west where you just pick a site and pull up to stay. Plenty of space for our dog to roam. We even got to see a roaming turtle. The rocks replaced dirt, making it a nice clean site. No bugs at night and such a great view of both mountains and the city lights. Great cell service for my wife to do her online work. Too bad we had to leave.

Camped east of the power lines, on a small pull off off of the main road.

Stayed for 7 days

Views are amazing and beautiful!

I will say that the main road does get a recent amount of traffic that you will hear if you don’t pull far enough off the road.

Had 2 bars of Verizon but a completely unobstructed view of the sky with Starlink.

I have a 25ft class C towing a car.

It took me a little to find a spot where I could get comfortably, and I had to use blocks to level but it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had expected.

Biggest CON was the amount of plant life and seeds that sticks to your clothes/pets/blankets and is almost impossible to get out.

I found wearing shorts and only walking the dogs on the main road was the best way to combat this.

I’d definitely camp out here again

We stayed one night and enjoyed a quiet evening after finally deciding on a good site. Before that, we manage to get stuck in a couple feet of snow after taking our truck and popup trailer close to the top of the mountain hills. Unbelievable views from up there but after seeing many large animal tracks we decided to camp closer to civilization. The only negative for us was the rough ride in because of the many jagged rocks on the path. Would stay here again.

I would agree with the last reviewer on 12/1/21. There are definitely some FTimers here, and there is trash left behind, but not so much that it's overwhelming. For us, it's a nice stop over going to Death Valley from Vegas, but not sure I'd hang here much more than that. The town is a great place to stock up and fuel up.
As most BLM the road become gravel and bumpy. You can go back as far as you and your vehicle can tolerate.
Good cell coverage with Tmobile.

You can stay on this BLM land for free up to fourteen days.

Pros:
Really beautiful views- desert flora (including Joshua trees!), snowcapped mountains, and wild horses (sadly, we didn’t see anything other than their tracks but there’s about 60 living here!)
Seemingly endless spots to camp, so you can find a good private spot suitable for your size rig
Great connectivity (70 Mbps down, 25 Mbps up on AT&T using our Netgear Nighthawk and MIMO antennae!)
Close to town, so great access to grocery stores, water and within reasonable proximity to Death Valley and Vegas
Super quiet and peaceful- I barely saw another human being during the five day timeframe we camped.

Cons:
The roads around the land could definitely use some love (but that’s to be expected with BLM land, right?)
As other reviews said, there were a few seemingly brokendown RVs near the start of the land. This site is massive, though, and if you don’t feel like looking at them, there’s certainly plenty of spots for you.

Verdict: Definitely will stay here again as a quiet spot while passing through Death Valley or Vegas (still gotta see those wild horses!).