Front Row Seat! Petrified Forest!
Perfect lonelyness with loud trains
On the on hand, the campsite was perfect. Completly lonely in painted desert. Only you and nature. Great!
But as we are traveling with an RV, it was very hard to enter the campsite. The last 300 FT I was really afraid of beeing stuck in the sand. But we came in and we came out - and we enjoyed our stay there very much.
A little problem there is the Santa Fe Railway, which which passes about 200 meters away. The trains that pass by even at night honk at the nearby level crossing - it's quite a racket. As beautiful and lonely as the place is, it's just too noisy to sleep good.
But we are happy that we have been there - it was a great experience, and we will keep it in good memory!
Kiva L.doesn't recommendJune 8, 2023
Front Row Seat! Petrified Forest!
Know What You’re Getting Into
This site certainly did not live up to the expectations. I read the reviews and understood it would be a dispersed camping situation, which was exactly what I wanted. We were expecting just plain ol’ land to camp on with no amenities. I will admit, we made the mistake of arriving after dark, which made getting to the site that much more confusing and added to the creepy vibe of the place. Had it been daytime the directions would’ve been sufficient. That’s on us. When you get close to camp, there’s a massive underground storage facility with bright lights, which ends up being pretty dang close to your campsite. Not really the backcountry star gazing situation we were expecting. And, as all the other reviews mention, I can confirm that there is a train that is very near and and very hard to tune out. As we started driving down the dirt road that led into the land itself, we saw a trailer that we couldn’t tell whether it had been abandoned or not, but either way it gave us the heeby jeebies with it being dark and unfamiliar land. I drive a pickup with a slide in camper, and after we got to the point of the trailer, we decided to turn back and leave because the sand was getting reallll soft. We ended up driving a few more hours that night to find another spot to sleep. I wouldn’t recommend staying here for the price. The host seems kind but I can’t help but feel the listing is a little deceptive. I’ve had nothing but great hipcamp experiences otherwise.
Slade A.recommendsMay 8, 2023
Front Row Seat! Petrified Forest!
It was a little challenging to find the exact spot, but Brett was available thru text and helped guide us. We enjoyed the site, very private and quite, except for the occasional train passing by, but we enjoyed those too. We also enjoyed seeing the deer in the morning, a buck with nice antlers and 2 doe. We would definitely book this site again next time we're in the area.
Lindsey G.recommendsApril 5, 2023
Front Row Seat! Petrified Forest!
5 stars!!
This was super private with beautiful scenery and right outside the petrified forest! The stars and the sunrise were not to be missed!
Teece N.recommendsApril 3, 2023
Front Row Seat! Petrified Forest!
Know before you go
Brett was an exceptional host, very prompt and available! You must read the description of the site or you will be disappointed! It is beautiful raw open land, no amenities at all. The cows wander through leaving gifts! It is a small area to park. It does abutt tge PFNP but you shouldn’t walk there as the brush is hard on the legs! The train is right there!!!!! And blows its horn right there!!!! It is loud and constant!!!!. The remoteness is amazing as well as the sunset and stars and sunrise!!!! This place is awesome if you can tolerate tge train whistle blowing at least every 15 minutes and yes through the night!
Front Row Seat! Petrified Forest!
Trains and Stars
Pretty nice, train came by way more than I expected it would. That got annoying. Windy as heck but the weather this weekend was wild. Overall very convenient for camping near Petrified Forest NP, and a very helpful host. Trains suck but that out of his control 🚂