Vulture Mountains, Wickenburg, Arizona | Camping
The Vulture Mountains are located in central Arizona near the town of Wickenburg. There’s an abundance of beautiful Sonoran Desert scenery to behold with elevations ranging from 2,200 feet to 3,658 feet at Vulture Peak.
As for recreation, there’s an excellent hiking trail to Vulture Peak. You’ll also find many jeep roads and washes to explore. Many good RV boondocking campsites are off Vulture Mine Road (southwest of Wickenburg). There’s a large parking lot/camping area near the Vulture Peak Trailhead – large enough for even the biggest of rigs.
Cacti flourish here, including saguaro and teddy bear cholla (aka jumping cholla). They are nicknamed jumping cholla for a reason and you’ll want to keep your distance. I found out the hard way that the needles on these cacti are barbed and not easily removed! I had one of these balls of needles in my truck tire, then my shoe, and lastly my hand – ouch! I had to use a forked branch to pry it off my hand. Use caution when out exploring.
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Where in The World?
Camping Elevation: 2,540 feet
GPS Coordinates: N 33 52.878’ W 112 49.281’
Directions to Camping Area: From Wickenburg, Arizona take Highway 60 west and turn left (south) on South Vulture Mine Road. Head south on South Vulture Mine Road for about 8 miles. You’ll come to a very large parking lot and camping area on your left. This is also the road to the Vulture Peak Trailhead. There are a few more camping spots further down this road, which eventually ends at the trailhead.
Vulture Mountains Camping Area Map
Vulture Mountains RV Camping Journal
November 25, 2010
This is a desert with rugged and mountainous terrain. Along with saguaro and teddy bear cholla, you’ll also find creosote bush and palo verde trees.
Vulture Mine Road is a good paved highway with more traffic than I would expect in such a seemingly remote place.
Overall it’s a great place to camp and I might stay longer if the weather was warmer.
Weather: Here in late November the weather has become much cooler than expected. It’s down to freezing at night. I had frost on my windshield yesterday. Highs have been in the 50s. A cold wind has been present on most days. A few cloudy days have contributed to this cooler weather too. Time to head west to Quartzsite!
Insects: There are quite a few bees around, other than that no insect problems.
Cell Signal: Not the fastest Verizon mobile broadband internet, but it’s still much faster than National Access service. Cell phone calls were possible, though my signal wasn’t the strongest.
