Ward Mountain Dispersed Camping

Mid June 2023
Your standard US forest service dirt road.
Other reviews said don't go to far in.
Looking on Google maps satellite we saw some great spots so we ventured in about 1.5 miles in on FS440 just after the switch backs there are some good spots tucked into the pinion pines.
Great cell service high bandwidth.
A few campers closer to main road

We stayed at a spot that was about 3/4 of a mile on NF 440. The site was fairly easy to get our 37 foot 5th wheel parked and leveled. The first site that was about 1/2 mile in, was a little too much at an angle for us to level but should be fine for smaller rigs. We spent two nights here. It was very quiet and peaceful. We will stay here again if in the area.

We did find a lot of broken glass in the site. We picked up as much of the larger pieces that we could.

We drove NF-440 for about 3-1/2 miles one-way, the last part in our truck w/o our trailer to see where it went. At about 2.9 it becomes mostly an ATV road or possibly high clearance 4x4 trucks.

There are numerous sites along the road as it goes through the valley and starts climbing at about 1 mile in. In the valley before it starts climbing there are at least three spots to camp. The site at .8 miles would be the more desirable spot if you didn't want to start climbing. We preferred the higher up spots, mostly because some of them had shade.

We have a bumper tow 28' trailer (hitch to bumper) and I am not familiar with how motorhomes handled mountainous roads with a couple of hairpin turns and some washboard roads as you climb almost 600 feet in elevation. This road can be driven by anyone towing (assuming you're towing with 4-wheel drive) until you reach a high open area at 2.8 miles. At this point you should camp or turn around, but not proceed beyond with a trailer or you will be backing down. The road continues from here for about 1/10 mile up a short steep hill and there is one more campsite on the left where we saw a van camped. But to continue on at that point, it is a narrow rutted road with no place to turn around and we saw no more sites. The open area at 2.8 miles can handle more than one rig. Just below the open area we saw a large trailer camped with a view of the valley below.

We want to come back to this area because it is only six miles from Ely to the turn-off for NF-440 and if you continue 1/3 mile down the road (to the west) and turn north on NF-44A, there is a parking lot with a pit toilet where there are trails to hike, bike, play frisbee-golf or cross-country ski in the winter. There was someone camped in that parking lot, whether legal or not, we wouldn't do that. I believe there are also trails on the Ward Mountain Campground (another 1/3 mile down the road to the west) side of the road too, leaving from the campground. We did not explore those.

This road is an alternative to the Ward Mountain Campground which requires reservations and if you're like us, we prefer to camp where we can let our dogs run free and not be on top of the next person.

As always, scout ahead for your rig and know your limits.