Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFree
Black Hills Back Country Byway
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · AZ · 32.84162, -109.42266
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 Hills Back Country Byway
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,812 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Black Hills Back Country BywayNIFC · 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 Hills Back Country Byway · 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
- @Mail12 mi
- FFuel13 mi
- GGrocery13 mi
- +Urgent care15 mi
- MMechanic16 mi
- AAir-up16 mi
- HHardware17 mi
- ShShower18 mi
- RxPharmacy18 mi
- LLaundry18 mi
- WWater45 mi
- EVEV fast charger47 mi
- DDump54 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 45-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 13 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 47-mi run (and back).
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
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 Hills Back Country Byway
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
3,812 ft
Ground slope
2.1% · flat
State
AZ
Coordinates
32.84162, -109.42266
Cost
Free · no fee, per the land manager's own page (blm.gov, read 2026-09-19)
Nearby & resupply — around Black Hills Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · AZ (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureTollgate Wash · ~0.3 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Heber Tank (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townSanchez · ~7.2 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~13.4 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesBashas' · ~15.5 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~18.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicMount Graham Regional Medical Center · ~18.2 mi
- HardwareHarbor Freight Tools · ~17.9 mi
EV charging — from Black Hills Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · AZ — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger46.6 mi straight-line SW — Willcox, AZ - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 2 within 50 · 27 within 100 · 111 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS46.8 mi — Willcox, AZ Rechargery Relay - W Rex Allen Dr, Willcox
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO79.6 mi — Walmart 3807 (Benson, AZ), Benson
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)16.1 mi — Best Western Plus - Safford (at a hotel) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-11-06 · 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 101996 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Black Hills Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · AZ — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletVault Toilet 1 - Riverview Campground · ~4.6 mi NW · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletVault Toilet 2 - Riverview Campground Flying W · ~4.6 mi NW · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletSerna Cabin Picnic Area · ~4.9 mi NW · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletDry Canyon Boat Take-Out Recreation · ~5.5 mi NW · BLM
Coming out here — Black Hills Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · AZ
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Tollgate Wash as an intermittent stream, ~0.3 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 2.1% — flat. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (10 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 and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- 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 Hills Back Country Byway elsewhere
Other camps near Black Hills Back Country Byway
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Riverview Campground~4.6 mi
- Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area~5.3 mi
- Owl Creek~10.9 mi
- Safford-Morenci Trail~14.7 mi
The unit that manages Black Hills Back Country Byway
Black Hills Back Country Byway is in the Safford Field Office, Gila 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 Hills Back Country Byway
Fee note
No fee, per the BLM page, read 19 Sep 2026: "The Black Hills Back Country Byway is free (no fee required) for general visits by the public. Commercial, competitive, and large organized group events require a special recreation permit . Contact the Safford Field Off…" https://www.blm.gov/visit/black-hills-back-country-byway
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: "The Black Hills Back Country Byway is free (no fee required) for general visits by the public. Commercial, competitive, and large organized group events require a special recreation permit . Contact the Safford Field Off…" Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/black-hills-back-country-byway (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 Hills Back Country Byway
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 Hills Back Country Byway
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Dumping grey & black →Reading the aerial →All field notes →