Trailer camping spots in AZ, in winter, with 4WD

Hey folks, I'll be heading south and am looking for some spots around Tucson/Phoenix where I can haul a short Kodiak 166E travel trailer in, park it, and then do some 4-wheeling.


The trailer has good ground clearance, say 6 inches minimum and a short rear porch. I think with the truck/trailer setup I can handle some mild offroad situations and not have to go to a dedicated campground.


We lived in Mesa for a few years so I'm familiar with the area but never hauled a trailer into the offroading we did.


I appreciate any advice, also advice on where to water up the fresh water tank once I get to sub-freezing temperatures.

 

Nothing? How about some area around San Simon, up toward McKenzie Peak? How far could I get the trailer in?


How about around Globe? Don't worry I'm not a bum that snowbirds on down like a doofus, and I sure don't want to park the trailer in a Good Sam Club park, I want to enjoy the great state of Arizona.


As I said, we lived in Mesa for a few years when I worked for Motorola. I'm a man of the West, spent my whole life in the Four Corners states and SoCal. I tread lightly and leave absolutely nothing behind. So give me some ideas, I'm not gonna trash your state.

 

Might try Expeditionportal.com not sure there are a lot of trailer hauling guys around here.

 

You must be a rich bum if you have a 30k truck hahaha. Depending on where you want to go. Back side of lake pleasant. Rim road. I would stay away from globe personally. Near tombstone we did some wheeling and found a bunch of trails you could get down. Thats about it for me tho.

 

Stay away from Globe, eh? Yeah, I was looking at the gazeteer and wondered about all those tailing ponds. I'll look into your advice, thanks. I do love Arizona, had to move up here since it was the best job I could get after getting laid off by Motorola back in 1999.


Hey, I built your digital cellular network in the Phoenix/Tucson market, me and about 12 other guys from 1995-1999. Phoenix/Tucson was my market and Verizon was my main customer.


We did a nice job for you guys, eh? I installed and implemented both Phoenix cellular switches and the Tucson switch, the rest of the crew did the cell sites. I know we did a dynamite job because I had to use it all the time. Once that market was built out it was move to North Carolina or take a buyout or find another job.

 

Yeah not much to do in globe. There are some areas to camp and wheel. But allot of hitchhiking natives.

 

Lot of areas around southern AZ. Between Florence and Tucson is more cruising roads and sand washes. Camp Grant wash, 96 ranch rd., the monastery mountain southeast of Florence. There are some cool trails south of Tucson also, just a little cooler temps and greener.

 

Thanks, guys. I'll get the gazeteer out and do some exploring, hopefully I don't get myself in too deep with the trailer.

 

If anybody is interested, here's a couple notes about hauling a trailer in mild offroad situations. Even if it is a short trailer with decent ground clearance like mine, there's a couple things.


One, the weight distribution hitch. The best bet is to disconnect it completely from the trailer before going into even mild kind of stuff (dips, washouts, tight turns, areas where the truck/trailer connection is gonna get torqued). Have a normal straight hitch on hand that you can use for the connection. It doesn't take long to make the change.


I bent one of the L-bars that connects to the trailer frame by NOT doing the above.


I also tried keeping the WDH on the truck, but removed the bars that connect the hitch to the trailer. Whoops, I almost lost the trailer. The bolts on the WDH couldn't handle the stress, over a few miles the WDH on the truck receiver slipped and the ball was barely hanging in the trailer socket.


I had to put the scissor jack under the hitch to lift both trailer and truck, then retighten the bolts/nuts to get the connection aligned properly. The biggest combo wrench I had was 25mm, and that still wasn't big enough. Had to use channellocks on the bolt, and a crescent wrench with a cheater bar on the nut. That was good enough to get me to a Camping World and have them tighten everything up with an impact wrench.


So I bought the standard hitch at the same time at Camping World. That's barely adequate, since I still have the stock 4-leaf "SR5 Tow Package" springs.


RideRight airbags, AAL, Dakars, Expos, one of those are needed. Once that is done, it's actually a pretty good setup I think for medium offroading. The tires on the trailer are 205/14's and have held up well. With a full load of fresh water (52 gallons), three 20g propane tanks and other gear, the trailer prolly weighs in at close to 3900 lbs.


I'm actually pretty impressed with how capable the truck/trailer combo is, even without an upgraded rear suspension.


Edit: Oh, and need a dual battery setup for the trailer, or a generator. Or both. The 18 watt solar charger keeps up demand but doesn't have the beans to charge AND keep up demand. I can charge the trailer battery off the truck through the 7-pin, but idling the truck isn't sucha good idea. I had bought a BEEM 2700 watt propane inverter generator from Camping World, but had to return it since it wouldn't start.


Now I'm looking at a tri-fuel Yamaha is2800 inverter generator from US Carburetion. $1660.

 

where did you end up going?

 

I ended up in Nevada for now (Mesquite, nice town. Some time in Vegas, camped in the desert there, got down to 26 degrees at night).


Decided to take I70 to I15 since it looked like it wouldn't get below freezing on that route and I had de-winterized the trailer. I had to meet some family in Vegas for Xmas anyway, so I figure I'll get to southern AZ sometime down the road.


That road in your sig? I think that's doable with the trailer. I've been down similar roads. That particular spot you're at, that is a show stopper with the trailer as is. But possible with an axle flip on the trailer, throw some 16-inch tires on it . . . . .


The trouble with a road like that (and the trailer as is) is turning around . . . . So far I've been able to do so but that can't last forever. Need to do some upgrades.

 

My sig picture was taken out in the Florence area (near Box Canyon) which is a really nice area to explore. As far as taking a trailer, you can go in pretty far in with one just not all the way through the canyon with it. There are some nice areas where you could park/drop the trailer off and go from there.
Let me know when you plan on coming down this way and if my school schedule allows I'll be more than happy to show you a few good areas where you could take the trailer.

 

Thanks for the replies. A couple more things, maybe obvious to some, but you need a generator for trailer camping. I was hoping an 18 watt solar panel and charging off of the truck 7-pin would keep the batteries charged. Nope.


I have two Interstate 24F deep cycles on the trailer and they hung in there for about four days with the solar charger and idling the truck maybe four hours. The batteries steadily declined in that time, finally gave up.


The 18 watt solar charger is pretty much worthless IMO, I can't quantify its contribution, but I doubt it adds much to the power system at this time of year with limited sunlight. It's a cheap mod (folding panel, $120, has a charge controller, Naturemade is the brand, weighs about two pounds), but it just doesn't have the wattage to make much of a difference.


I went and got a gas generator, Champion brand 2kw. Run it for an hour it charges the batteries fast and they'll hang in for two days. It runs the refridgerator during that time to save some propane, runs the microwave.


I'd like to get a propane powered generator, but about the only one worth a damn is a tri-powered one from US Carburetion.