About this place
The Big Horn Mountains Wilderness Area covers 21,000 acres, 60 miles west of Phoenix in western Maricopa County.
Big Horn Peak is steep. It rises 1,800 feet. That peak and the escarpments on the desert plain around it give the wilderness its scenery, and you can see it from Interstate 10.
The Hummingbird Springs Wilderness lies northeast of here. A jeep trail runs between them.
Nine miles of jumbled Big Horn Mountains ridgeline cross the wilderness.
Around the mountainous core there are smaller hills, fissures, chimneys, narrow canyons, and desert plains running out from them.
There is walking, backpacking, rock climbing, photography and nature study, and the rugged ridges will test even expert climbers. The side canyons and plains are easier going.
There are no marked trails. A loop of about 12 to 13 miles around Big Horn Peak is a popular way to see it.
Desert species live here: the desert bighorn sheep, the Gila monster, the kit fox and the desert tortoise.
Golden eagles, prairie falcons, barn owls and great horned owls all have nests in the cliffs.
Follow the rules for the area, and leave no trace, so it stays that way.
Motors and machines are generally banned on any federal land designated as wilderness. That covers motor vehicles and off-highway vehicles, motorboats, bicycles, hang gliders, wagons, carts and portage wheels. Landing an aircraft or a helicopter counts too.
Ask the agency if you need more on the rules. The detail matters in a wilderness, and getting it wrong carries a penalty.
Some of the land around the wilderness, and inside it, is not federal. Do not cross it or use it without the owner’s permission.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- The ways in vary and some are rough. High clearance or four-wheel drive
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
A two hour drive from Phoenix. Leave Interstate 10 at either the Tonopah exit or the Salome Road exit. Unmaintained dirt roads run to the eastern, northern and western edges of the wilderness. They vary a lot and some are rough, so bring a high-clearance or four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Coordinates 33.615241, -113.139839
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
Nothing nationally famous is close. These are the landmarks nearby.
- Sugarloaf Mountain Directions
- White Picacho Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Tonopah, AZ Directions
- Salome, AZ Directions
Salome is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Why “at least”: this route is hard to measure. We worked the drive out twice, with two separate mapping tools, and they gave different answers. That usually means there is no road close to the campsite, so the drive doubles back a long way. The figure above is the longer of the two. The real drive could be further still, so check the route before you set off.
Why the drive to town is usually twice what the map says — what we found measuring every campsite in this guide.
When it’s time to move on
On most public land you can camp for 14 days before you have to move on. Check this site’s own limit before you plan a long stay. When you move on, the Bureau of Land Management usually wants you at least 25 to 30 miles away. So the free campsites closest to you are the ones you cannot use.
Nothing in this guide sits within 25 miles of here anyway. The nearest one you could move to is Tres Alamos Wilderness, Arizona — 43 miles in a straight line, but at least a 74 mile drive.
Why “at least”: there is no road right at this campsite, so the drive is hard to measure and the real one could be further. Check the route before you set off.
This guide covers five states and does not list every free campsite, so there may be something closer that we do not hold. Check this site’s own rule before you rely on it.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026.