Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFree
Black Canyon National Recreation Trail
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · AZ · 33.87916, -112.17944
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →Bureau of Land Management lists this site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Black Canyon National Recreation Trail
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,879 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Black Canyon National Recreation TrailNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Black Canyon National Recreation Trail · Bureau of Land Management · AZ
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery2 mi
- @Mail2 mi
- EVEV fast charger2 mi
- FFuel2 mi
- WWater2 mi
- RxPharmacy4 mi
- HHardware6 mi
- +Urgent care6 mi
- MMechanic6 mi
- ShShower7 mi
- DDump8 mi
- PPropane13 mi
- LLaundry13 mi
- OOutfitter16 mi
- AAir-up19 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 2 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Black Canyon National Recreation Trail
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
1,879 ft
Ground slope
1.7% · flat
Nearest highway
~1.8 mi · Interstate 17
State
AZ
Coordinates
33.87916, -112.17944
Cost
Free · no fee, per the land manager's own page (blm.gov, read 2026-09-19)
Nearby & resupply — around Black Canyon National Recreation Trail · Bureau of Land Management · AZ (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Nearest townAnthem · ~3.7 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~1.8 mi · Interstate 17
- Drinking waterWater · ~1.9 mi
- Fuel4 Son's · ~1.7 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~12.7 mi
- Dump station~7.5 mi
- GroceriesWalmart Supercenter · ~1.5 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~3.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicNextCare Urgent Care · ~6.2 mi
- HardwareThe Home Depot · ~5.9 mi
EV charging — from Black Canyon National Recreation Trail · Bureau of Land Management · AZ — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger1.6 mi straight-line E — Walmart 5329 (Anthem, AZ) · Electrify America · CHAdeMO, CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach29 within 25 mi · 93 within 50 · 132 within 100 · 191 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)3.2 mi — New River, AZ - Tesla Supercharger, New River
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)1.8 mi — Outlets at Anthem, Phoenix, AZ · Blink Network · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 124348 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Black Canyon National Recreation Trail · Bureau of Land Management · AZ — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletEmery Henderson · at this camp · BLM
- RestroomLake Pleasant-Roadrunner Campground-Restroom 3 Building · ~6.1 mi W · BoR
- RestroomLake Pleasant-Roadrunner Campground-Restroom 4 Building · ~6.2 mi W · BoR
- RestroomLake Pleasant-Roadrunner Campground-Restroom 1 Building · ~6.2 mi W · BoR
Coming out here — Black Canyon National Recreation Trail · Bureau of Land Management · AZ
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1.7% — flat. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) — abandoned, lifted and out-of-service track excluded, so a rail-trail does not count as one.
- Interstate 17 is mapped ~1.8 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Black Canyon National Recreation Trail elsewhere
Other camps near Black Canyon National Recreation Trail
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- BLM public land~7.6 mi
- BLM public land~7.8 mi
- Tonto National Forest~19.1 mi
- Juniper~19.1 mi
The unit that manages Black Canyon National Recreation Trail
Black Canyon National Recreation Trail is in the Hassayampa Field Office, Phoenix District, Bureau of Land Management. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — Black Canyon National Recreation Trail
Fee note
No fee, per the BLM page, read 19 Sep 2026: "No fees. Commercial, competitive, and large organized group events require a special recreation permit . Contact the local managing field office for more information about special recreation permits. Recreational activit…" https://www.blm.gov/visit/black-canyon-national-recreation-trail
Source
Bureau of Land Management recreation data
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
USFS/BLM authoritative: free & dispersed. Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up). | No fee 2026-09-19: "No fees. Commercial, competitive, and large organized group events require a special recreation permit . Contact the local managing field office for more information about special recreation permits. Recreational activit…" Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/black-canyon-national-recreation-trail (worker_W, statement verified on that page).
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Black Canyon National Recreation Trail
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Black Canyon National Recreation Trail
What “dispersed” means here →Hot-weather camping →Bugs & critters →How to read this page →All field notes →