Tom Wells Road Dispersed Camping

This was a great place to overnight on my way from Los Angeles to Casa Grande, AZ. I chose this location rather than stop in Quartzite. Just take the Tom Wells exit and go south (there is a gas station, convenience store, and Subway sandwich shop on the north side of the freeway). The paved road ends quickly and then there are a series of dispersed camping sites along the dirt road within 1/3 of a mile of the freeway so it's a very short drive on the dirt road. The dirt road is well maintained and should be easy for almost any vehicle to drive on. I stayed at the first campsite on the west side of the dirt road. It was very clean (no trash) and I had the place to myself. Later that evening a dually with a 5th wheel pulled into the campsite just south of my site. Outside of the trailer I could hear a little bit of highway noise but no traffic or road noise inside the trailer. Cell service was outstanding so I worked remotely, had a nice dinner, and then slept soundly. Overall, a great, out of the way, place to overnight.

My needs were simple. Somewhere near the CA-AZ border to camp overnight after a long day of driving. This fit the bill perfectly. I got there after dark and left in the dark, so I didn’t go far down Tom Wells Road. I could see the gas station and hear the freeway, but it didn’t bother me. Found a small flat spot to camp and sleep. Good Verizon coverage.

Flat terrain cut by gullies and strewn with small rocks. It's attractively desolate and has great views of distant mountains. Possibly my favorite stopover on my current trip.

Note that my cell reported "full bars" but I couldn't get data through to save my life on TMo, with or without a booster. (Tremendous packet loss, ping latency into the 3s range, and the radio kept waffling between LTE and Edge.) So I'm rating this as 3 bars because, well, Campendium doesn't let me enter actual data throughput, which was nigh-zero.

Took the Tom Wells Rd exit from the eastbound 10 and drove about three gullies in until I reached the big arroyo, and then turned left and found a spot overlooking it. Road might have gotten more difficult farther in, but for this portion I had no issues with my trailer (which is fairly low clearance).

Some folks were parked down in the arroyo, which would offer more seclusion and protection from the wind, but I grew up in this desert and I don't recommend parking in anything that looks like it might carry a flash flood.

I was there on a Monday evening and, while I could see other campers in all directions, folks were quiet and I hardly noticed them. There's some highway noise from 10, but that doesn't bother me -- I imagine you could go farther from the highway and get less of it.

There's a gas station just across 10, which is very convenient.

We found a beautiful flat spot 8.7 miles from 1-10, we came in from the Ehrenberg side and the road loops back to the I-10. It’s desert but the high was 88 and low tonight will be 54. The road is paved but broken up in places. We have been on far worse! Mountain vistas all around our campsite. We can see I-10 but certainly can’t hear it this far in.
Spending some time cleaning up messes left by those without any respect or understanding of nature’s beauty!

Camped Thursday 3/14/19 & Sunday 3/17/19. Many sites along the road, but a low gully may discourage large rigs from going farther back. There are sites before the gully however. Being in van, camping down the road aways was our option. Sites were large, most without trash, and were fairly level. No ATVs at the time of our visit.

You could hear the I-10 interstate noise, but not bad. The site we chose had a fire ring and was clean. Beautiful scenery and night skies. The gas station at the exit was convenient for gas and snacks.

This BLM road offers plenty of free, dispersed camping just a short drive from either Ehrenberg or Quartzsite. I have visited this site multiple times over the past three years, but have never actually decided to stay.

Access is very easy from I-10, and any rig should be able to access the area. However, the road passes through numerous washes, some of which are quite deep and not suited to anything other than an off-road vehicle. Still, there are plenty of spots to park closer to the entrance.

Sunsets in this area are simply spectacular. Plan to watch every evening as it almost never disappoints.

Verizon signal is strong and usable at this location. I have not tested other carriers here.

The reason that I have never actually stayed here is because it is a very busy, noisy, and dusty spot. This entire region is very popular with the OHV/ATV crowd and Tom Wells Road in particular attracts a lot of people for the many areas to ride. This might not be an issue if you are looking for a place to camp and ride OHVs, but if you are looking for peace and quiet while you enjoy time in nature this is probably not a site for you.

This area, as with Ehrenberg-Cibola Road to the west, is becoming totally trashed. Literally. There have been a few attempts by volunteer groups recently to clean up some of the trash around here, but BLM seems to have completely abdicated any responsibility for managing this land.

We needed an overnight stop and this one was convenient. We didn’t drive all the way down the road due to some large dips. We didn’t want to bottom out in our 32’ motorhome. There was a nice spot right before the dips on the left.

The area was very clean, we didn’t see any trash. We didn’t have any issues either. The ground cover is gravel and rock, but we leveled just fine. We only stayed the one night but I can see how some would stay longer if they go further down the road.