RUN BY: Bureau of Land
Management
LOCATION: Cottonwood,
AZ
UTILITIES: None
COST: None
DISCOUNTS: N/A
OUR RATING (1-5):
Group II – Rating 4.5
NOTES: We had had multiple comments by fellow nomads about the Sedona and Cottonwood areas. We decided to try this dispersed camping area because of its proximity to things we wanted to see. It is just a few miles from several national monuments – Montezuma’s Castle, Tuzigoot, and more. There appear to be at least three camping areas along this unnamed road. Each of them can handle a number of rigs of almost any size. We have an expansive view of beautiful mountains and look down on Cottonwood about 4 miles away. We are here in early November. The days are warm (68-75) and the nights are cool (40s). The area had a little bit of trash, but was basically clean. There is a 14 day camping limit. We do feel safe to leave Sinni here when we go exploring the area. Nice weather, beautiful scenery, interesting area to explore, and everything we need close by – we may stay here the allowed 14 days. We do need to report that one of our neighbors has been coming here for years and was leaving very upset. We have two trailers with big generators. They aren’t close enough to bother us but they did bother them. They also said that there are many more residential campers* than in previous years and some of them have made quite a mess. PLEASE, if you stay in dispersed camping, leave it as clean, if not cleaner, than you found it. The availability of such places is dependent upon thoughtful campers!!
Environment:
Open desert at an elevation of 3,440 ft.
Some shrubs that I’m guessing are desert mahogany. Many tribes used this
plant for bows, etc.
Amenities: none .
Dump: none (a Giant gas station about 4.4 miles away
has a free dump.)
Public Water: none
(We bought water for 30 cents a gallon at a water store in a shopping
center <4 miles away. We pulled along
side his business and he ran a hose out to Sinni.)
Toilets: none
Showers: none
Laundry: none
Phone Service:
3-4 bars 4G with Verizon
Location: 4.4
miles east of Cottonwood, AZ on AZ-260.
Turn east on E. Thousand Trails Rd., then turn immediately left onto the
road by the dispersed camping areas. Our coordinates are 34.666697 -111.963413
Proximity to shopping:
Around 4 miles to Cottonwood, which has anything you need. We got a
prescription filled at their Walgreens, Atilla’s special dog food from a local
vet, and incidentals at a Walmart. We
fell in love with Cottonwood.
Camping Population:
There is quite an array of nice rigs in the area. The lady next to us in
an Rpod is a full-timer originally from Pennsylvania. There were a few
campsites down toward the end of the road where there appeared to be
residential campers.*
Sites: none
designated but you can see where others have stayed. Plenty of room.
RATING KEY: category
- score
Categories: I -
established campgrounds where one might spend a vacation or several days
II
- boondocking, dry camping where there
are no designated sites and no amenities but
one might choose to stay for more than a night.
III
- over-night areas
You must remember that we are scoring 1 thru 5 according to
things which are important to us: the environment, cost, amenities,
location, safety, camping population, site, phone service
* There are people who are not full-timers and van-dwellers
by choice. We try hard not to be demeaning or assume that they are bad people
but sadly, as you find in the poorer parts of a city, there seems to be more
crime. Many call these people van-dwellers. That isn’t really accurate even
though they do often live in vans. We know quite a few van-dwellers who have
good incomes, are full-timers by choice and prefer a van to other types of
vehicles. To try to show some respect for people who have a difficult lot in
life, I’m calling them ‘residential
campers’. It is only when you get a
high proportion of residential campers in an area that you find an increase in
petty theft, etc.
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