Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Surprise Dispersed Camping Area
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · AZ · 34.82330, -111.90567
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 →U.S. Forest Service 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.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Surprise Dispersed Camping Area · Coconino National Forest · AZ
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 09546, 10 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as native material surface and maintenance level 2 – high-clearance vehicles.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 09546, 10 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 09546: “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
What the record says about the site — Surprise Dispersed Camping Area · Coconino National Forest · AZ
- Basic site, no services
- Tent camping
- Trailers and RVs fit
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Surprise Dispersed Camping Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,950 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Surprise Dispersed Camping AreaNIFC · 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 Surprise Dispersed Camping Area · Coconino National Forest · AZ
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- LLaundry3 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- GGrocery6 mi
- OOutfitter6 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- HHardware7 mi
- MMechanic7 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- +Urgent care7 mi
- WWater8 mi
- ShShower8 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- DDump8 mi
- AAir-up14 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 6 mi out.
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 — Surprise Dispersed Camping Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
3,950 ft
Ground slope
5.6% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~8.3 mi · main line
State
AZ
Coordinates
34.82330, -111.90567
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Surprise Dispersed Camping Area · Coconino National Forest · AZ (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSurprise Tank · ~0.3 mi · USGS: intermittent lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Dad Jones Tank (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townRed Rock · ~5.1 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.3 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~7.5 mi
- FuelSpeedway · ~6.0 mi
- Propane / LPGGiant · ~28.8 mi
- Dump station~7.9 mi
- GroceriesSpeedway · ~6.0 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~8.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicVerde Valley Medical Center - Sedona Campus · ~5.2 mi
- HardwareAZ Royal Granite & Remodeling · ~28.6 mi
EV charging — from Surprise Dispersed Camping Area · Coconino National Forest · AZ — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.6 mi straight-line NE — APS - Sedona (Sedona, AZ) · Electrify America · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach5 within 25 mi · 21 within 50 · 91 within 100 · 149 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)8.7 mi — Sedona, AZ, Sedona
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO30.7 mi — Walmart 4252 (Flagstaff, AZ), Flagstaff
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)5.9 mi — SEDONA - APS CITY HALL 2 · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveLevel 2, restricted access — Southwest Inn at Sedona, Sedona, 5.7 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily; for guests only · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 238497 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Surprise Dispersed Camping Area · Coconino National Forest · AZ — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletDeer Pass · ~0.7 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletDoe Mountain · ~5.4 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBaldwin · ~5.5 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCrescent Moon Ranch · ~5.6 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Surprise Dispersed Camping Area · Coconino National Forest · AZ
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Surprise Tank as an intermittent lake or pond, ~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 5.6% — gentle. 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.
- Rail line mapped ~8.3 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in 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 Surprise Dispersed Camping Area elsewhere
Other camps near Surprise Dispersed Camping Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Javalina Dispersed Camping Area~1.0 mi
- Rockview Dispersed Camping Area~1.3 mi
- Yavapai County~1.6 mi
- Angel Valley Dispersed Camping Area~1.9 mi
The unit that manages Surprise Dispersed Camping Area
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Surprise Dispersed Camping Area are set by Coconino National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Surprise Dispersed Camping Area
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
Agency page
fs.usda.gov — the land manager's own page for this site. Fees, seasons and closures are stated there first; if it disagrees with this page, it wins.
How it was placed
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
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 Surprise Dispersed Camping Area
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.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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 — Surprise Dispersed Camping Area
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →