Gold Gulch Road Dispersed Camping

As per previous review, the road was graded and left high, sandy sides, blocking access to possible campsites. Some have been knocked down by trucks and atvs, but most are still hard to access. That being said, there are almost no "camping" sites, anyway. (camped 9 days in late March 2018).

There are 2 sites (not counting the river wash) that would accommodate big rigs. Both sites need 4x4 to pull trailer over high sides, and sandy areas. Even small campers, or truck-campers should have 4x4, as lots of areas are extremely sandy, and you could get stuck easily.

Gold Gulch Road goes for miles, and gives access to other roads, however, the road is narrow, and would be impassable, in spots, if you met another trailer toting individual. And, forestry service has not kept on top of clearing overhead branches in some areas, making tall 5th wheels at risk of being scratched, broke, etc.

We pulled off of Hwy 90, and parked our truck and 5th wheel at the entrance area, dropped our trailer gate and pulled off the side by side. We drove up and down Gulch Road, checking sites and access for our big rig. We highly suggest you scout the area with truck or atv/utv before driving your camper down the road. (our site is posted in the attached pics).

OHV riding is not as good as so many other places. We thought, from the satellite images and online research we did, that there would be plenty of trails to explore. The forestry service has posted "no-riding" signs on almost all of the few trails that are here. There are plenty of dirt roads, and river wash to ride on, but you'll be board after a few days of riding.

We did not encounter a lot of people in the 9 days we were here, but the few we did see were either sketchy, or here to shoot, and they don't bother to go very far from where you are camping. We also did not encounter wildlife, as you would expect in a National Forrest. In 9 days we saw 2 small deer and 1 javelina, and those were almost 10 miles away from where we were camping. We saw lots of cattle, as there are several ranches in the area. (Watch your step!)

We suggest, if you want to explore this part of New Mexico, to camp at either Knights trail, just South of Gold Gulch, or at the Continental Divide Trail/Cattlemen Trail, just North of Gold Gulch. These two areas have a lot more camping sites, with a lot easier access. OHV riding will still be a bare minimum. Silver City is just 15 miles away, and has an excellent Walmart! Gila Animal Center was gracious enough to help us, when we were in need of a emergency vet (dog had bladder stones).

We have AT&T iPhones, a Verizon hotspot, and a WeBoost cellular signal extender. The WeBoost did the trick to get us good signals with Verizon (up to 3 bars 4g LTE) when it wasn't too cloudy or too windy. However, AT&T is a nightmare here. We went to Walmart to buy a prepaid SmartTalk phone (basically Verizon) so we could forward our iPhone calls into that, and be able to have actual phone service.

Just a few miles up the road is Ridge Park RV Park. It is a very small, very sparse park, but they are super friendly, and for only $10 they let us dump all of our trash, and fill up our 60-gallon water bladder.

This place is extremely peaceful, and very pretty to look at. If that's your "thing" then you found the right place! :)

Checked it out before ending up at Cattlemens. Road has recently been graded and is basically 1 lane with 1 1/2-2 foot sand hill sides. These are blocking off the entrance to the campsites that you could have used previously. You can see fire pits so they were accessible in the past. Also with road so narrow and sides so high not sure what you would do if you happened to run into another vehicle. Would not recommend unless you have the ability to dig out the drive, even then probably smaller rigs only