About this place
This is sport climbing on limestone cliffs, in remote high desert backcountry, two hours from Phoenix and Tucson.
The canyon and the routes sit on public land the Bureau of Land Management looks after. Some sit on private property owned by the Access Fund.
The Access Fund is a climbers’ group. It bought land here in 2015, after a bank foreclosed on property that held part of the road, the trailhead and the first routes.
Camp in the Access Fund’s camping areas. They have pit toilets. Do not camp on the private property between the gates.
There are over 250 sport climbs on 12 limestone walls, on both sides of the canyon, and primitive foot trails get you to them.
The area lies between 3,000 and 4,000 feet, in limestone, sandstone and siltstone.
The plants are desert scrub, semi-desert grassland and chaparral. That means mesquite, palo verde, ocotillo, saguaro, prickly pear, cholla, catclaw acacia, jojoba, and scattered agave, yucca and sotol.
Ownership here is mixed. Bureau of Land Management ground, State Trust land and private property all run into one another.
To use State Trust land you need a recreational permit from the Arizona State Land Department.
The private property beyond the Access Fund trailhead is not open to the public.
Respect the wildlife and be careful of it. Bears, mountain lions, coyotes, rattlesnakes and Africanized bees are all common here.
Bring plenty of water. Summer heat here is extreme.
Severe storms with lightning and flash flooding usually come between mid-June and mid-September. Stay out of the washes, and find shelter if there is lightning.
The facts
- Cost
- Camping fee not confirmed
- Roads around it
- Single lane and rough. A very rough section 0.8 miles in may be impassable, so four-wheel drive and good ground clearance
- Drinking water
- No, bring your own
- Type
- Specific campsite
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
The Homestead is about 16 miles south of Globe and 14 miles north of Winkelman, on State Hwy 77 in Gila County. The access road leaves the highway at mile marker 153.3, on the east side, just south of the guard rail at a drainage crossing. There is no turning lane and no sign.
Shut the right of way fence gate behind you. Carry on about 2 miles along the primitive road to the Access Fund trailhead and primitive camping area. That road is single lane and usually rough, because rainstorms erode it. About 0.8 miles from the highway there is a very rough section that may be impassable. You want four-wheel drive and plenty of ground clearance for that.
From the Access Fund trailhead, the hiking trail runs about 0.5 miles toward the canyon, going around the Dripping Springs Ranch private property. Another 0.3 miles brings you to the trails down into the canyon.
Coordinates 33.17393, -110.78165
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
There are some well-known places within reach of this site.
- Picketpost Mountain Directions
- Boyce Thompson Arboretum Directions
- Mount Turnbull Directions
- Casa Grande Ruins National Monument 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
- El Capitan, AZ Directions
- Kearny, AZ Directions
Kearny 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.
One in this guide sits inside that 25 miles. The nearest one you could move to is Fishhooks Wilderness, Arizona — 46 miles in a straight line, but at least a 90 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.