Pinery Creek
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Pinery Creek dispersed camping on FR 42C near Onion Saddle in the Chiricahua Mountains offers one of the most rewarding off-the-beaten-path camp experiences in southeastern Arizona — cliff views at 6,160 feet, a cold clear creek for swimming, an Acorn Woodpecker granary tree right in camp, and the kind of solitude that only comes from finding a place most people drive past.
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Bear Country: Store all food, scented items, and trash in bear boxes where provided. At dispersed sites without bear boxes, store food in a locked vehicle or hung from a tree away from camp.
Camping: Dispersed camping allowed up to 14 consecutive days.
Cell service may be limited — download maps before you go
Dogs should remain on leash.
Fire Restrictions: Check before building any campfire
Water: No potable water; pack in your own supply.
More Info
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Nearby Locations
Herb Martyr Campground
Sunny Flat Campground
Chiricahua Mountains
Chiricahua National Monument
Pinery Creek
FR 42C doesn't appear prominently on most maps. OnX labels it Methodist Camp. Google Maps shows it as S Downing Pass Road. A man we met on the roadside — from Utah, traveling through — mentioned it in passing and suggested we check it out. That conversation led to one of the best campsites of the entire trip.
The road branches off FR 42 near Pinery Creek and follows the drainage west. One washed-out section early on confirms you're on the right road — and serves as a natural filter for who continues. A short distance past it the canyon opens up into an excellent dispersed camping area on Pinery Creek at approximately 6,160 feet. Cliff faces rise on both sides. Established fire rings mark where others have camped before. Firewood is available to gather from the surrounding forest.
We scouted the road in both directions to check other available sites. Ours was the best in the immediate area.
The Acorn Woodpecker
The campsite had a large standing dead tree with holes covering it all the way up the trunk — no branches remaining, just a column of drilled holes from bottom to top. A classic granary tree. Luca spotted a bird pulling something from one of the holes and flying off. We watched this continue throughout our stay. This was our introduction to the Acorn Woodpecker.
The Acorn Woodpecker is one of the most distinctive birds in the American West — a clown-faced woodpecker with a bold red cap, white forehead, black back, and yellow eyes that give it a permanently startled expression. It lives in cooperative family groups of up to 15 individuals and builds granary trees — dead or dying trees drilled with thousands of individual holes, each the right size for a single acorn. The birds harvest acorns in fall, wedge them into the holes, and tend the granary constantly — moving acorns to better-fitting spaces as they dry, and defending the whole structure fiercely against squirrels, jays, and competing groups. A single granary tree can contain up to 50,000 stored acorns and may be used by multiple generations of the same family group for decades.
After seeing one working a granary tree in camp, dead trees look different everywhere you go.
Our Camp — May 2–3, 2026
We set up camp, gathered firewood, had a late lunch of sandwiches. After dark we enjoyed the campfire for many hours. Luca set his cot next to the truck in the open. Matthew and I stepped away from the fire briefly and heard a loud scurry — something jumping across the river in the dark. Luca woke fully from a sound sleep with an adrenalin rush. We never identified the animal. A trail cam set up across the creek for exactly this purpose failed on low-battery IR — capturing nothing despite fresh batteries. Some mysteries stay mysteries.
The next morning Luca and I hiked off-trail from camp — up from 6,160 feet to the cliffs at approximately 6,400 feet on Downing Pass. Pools of water with thick moss beds. Cactus in flower. Birds. Black-colored lizards on the rock faces. Cut-down power poles and a broken one-foot-wide ceramic insulator. A rock that looked like petrified wood — still not sure. Views back down to camp from the cliffs above. We descended, walked the road back, and took a cold dip in the river before packing up.
A Note on Leave No Trace
We found bags of human waste left on the riverbank near our site. If you cannot dig a proper cat hole, going on the ground away from water is still preferable to bagging waste and leaving it at a campsite near a river. Pack out waste properly or follow Leave No Trace principles. This canyon deserves better.
The Carved Cave
On the way out we stopped at a cave noted on the drive in — visible from the road, worth the short walk. A cavity carved into the rock with a metal door frame. Inside: a wooden air vent system, evidence of an old campfire, a bat roosting in the corner. Obvious history, unclear purpose.
More Information
Free dispersed camping — no fees, no reservations, 14-day stay limit
No water, no facilities — pack in everything, pack out all waste
FR 42C is dirt with one washed-out section — high clearance recommended
Do not attempt FR 42C in wet conditions
Fees current as of 2026
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Dispersed Camping
Arizona
WMPJ+R74 Hilltop, AZ
Cochise County
31°56'13.3"N 109°19'09.5"W
Elevation: 6,160 ft
Directions
From Onion Saddle (AZ-186 / FR 42 junction):
From Onion Saddle at 7,619 feet, head east on FR 42 (Pinery Canyon Road) toward Portal. Watch for FR 42C / S Downing Pass Road on the left side of the road near Pinery Creek. Turn onto FR 42C. Follow past one washed-out section — continue past it to the dispersed camping area along the creek. GPS: 31°56'13" N, 109°19'09" W. (~5 miles from Onion Saddle)
From Portal, AZ:
Head west on FR 42 approximately 12 miles toward Onion Saddle. Watch for FR 42C on the right side of the road near Pinery Creek. (~12 miles from Portal)
Best Seasons & Temperatures
Spring and fall are the best seasons — mild temperatures, active wildlife, and the creek running clear and cold. Summer monsoons can make FR 42C muddy and impassable — check conditions before committing to the road. The washed-out section early on becomes more difficult after rain. Winter may bring snow at 6,160 feet. The Acorn Woodpecker is present year-round — look for the granary tree immediately upon arrival at camp.
Pinery Creek dispersed camping FR 42C Downing Pass Chiricahua Mountains Arizona
May 2–3, 2026