HikeArizona.COM

I was planning on spending the first night in the car so I could get an early start. Then read that sleeping in the car is not ok. Anyone know more about this? Is there a place to camp close by? Or a place to park and sleep in the car?

@Daggi
I was there late in the day back in October and there was a Border Patrol vehicle hanging out in the parking lot for several hours, he left around sunset. There's also a lot of video surveillance in the area. So I wouldn't stay right at the parking lot in the pass. But if you drop down to the west from the pass on Montezuma Canyon Road a little ways you should be able to find a low profile spot to sleep.

@Daggi
This is the motor vehicle use map for the Coronado National Forest: https://www.fs.fed.us/r3/gis/mvum/Coron ... taBack.pdf

Montezuma Pass is in the lower right corner. The roads that are open to travel are marked here, and the ones with the dots along them indicate roads that are open to dispersed camping in a vehicle. Both 5714 and 4781 have places to pull off and camp. You'll also have occasional Border Patrol vehicles passing by through the night.

Just dispersed camp on any unpaved turn-off road that juts off from the main road on the way towards the trailhead. It's legal if you're in national forest or BLM land with a few exceptions. Use the Avenza Maps link provided in a post below mine to find out if it's illegal where you're going. View the area on google satellite maps and you will see dozens of dispersed campsites along unmarked turn-offs along the main road.

@Daggi
When I hiked the AZT from the Mexican border to Patagonia, I spent the night at the SW corner of the intersection with 61 and 4781 on the map Chumley provides. When I hiked, I parked my truck at Montezuma pass and left a note on the windshield per instructions from the ranger at the visitor center.

Thanks, everyone. Great infos. Now I just have to get myself to the trailhead. I'm also concerned about resupply - I was planning on sending packages to the Patagonia post office, and La Posta Quemada, but I assume they are or may get closed.nI haven't been able to get a hold of them over the phone.