About this place
Congress added the Woolsey Peak part of the Gila Bend Mountains to the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1990.
It cited the rugged ground, the colorful views, the range of wildlife and plants, and the solitude.
The wilderness covers 64,000 acres. It is a perfect example of pristine Sonoran Desert.
Woolsey Peak rises 2,500 feet to an elevation of 3,270 feet, and it is a landmark of southwestern Arizona.
Getting to the top is hard walking, with class III scrambling over basalt slopes, cactus and boulders.
Large washes wind through sparsely vegetated, rock-strewn hills and desert plains below the main peaks, lined by thick stands of paloverde and ironwood.
Mule deer, bighorn sheep and javelina live here, along with a great many birds, lizards and snakes.
This is country for cross-country travel on foot or on horseback, for route finding, and for watching wildlife.
Nothing is laid on. There are no marked trails and no campsites. Come only if you are experienced and prepared.
Wilderness means hard walking and real solitude.
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.
You need a high clearance vehicle, and four-wheel drive is better. The exception is parts of the Enterprise Road south of Gillespie Dam.
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
- High clearance needed, four-wheel drive better. The exception is parts of Enterprise Road
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
Southwest Maricopa County, 11 miles northwest of Gila Bend and 32 miles southwest of Phoenix. There are three ways in. One is Old U.S. Highway 80 and Enterprise Road, south of Arlington. Another is the jeep trails running south from the Aqua Caliente Road. The third is Interstate 8 and the Painted Rocks Dam Road, west of Gila Bend. The 13,350-acre Signal Mountain Wilderness lies next to it.
Coordinates 33.130749, -112.903136
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
There is another spot of ours within reach, and some better-known places further out.
- Isanaklesh Peaks Directions
- Sonoran Desert National Monument Directions
- Sonoran Desert 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
- Theba, AZ Directions
- Gila Bend, AZ Directions
Gila Bend 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 Sonoran Desert National Monument, Arizona — 40 miles in a straight line, but at least a 60 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.