About this place
The monument is named after the ironwood, one of the longest living trees in the Arizona desert.
It covers 189,600 acres. The Bureau of Land Management runs 128,400 of those, and the rest is private or State Trust land.
Growing alongside the ironwood are mesquite, palo verde, creosote and saguaro. They blanket the floor of the monument, under rugged mountain ranges called Silver Bell, Waterman and Sawtooth.
Quiet desert valleys lie in between. Elevations run from 1,800 feet to more than 4,200.
Ragged Top Mountain is the finest thing here, for its wildlife and for its rock alike.
Several endangered and threatened species live in the monument. Among them are the Nichols turk’s head cactus and the lesser long-nosed bat.
There is habitat here for the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl.
The desert bighorn sheep in this region are the last surviving population native to the Tucson basin.
People have lived here for more than 5,000 years, and more than 200 sites from the prehistoric Hohokam period have been recorded. That period ran from about 600 to 1440.
Rock art is abundant, and there is a great deal else of scientific interest in the ground.
Three places inside the monument are on the National Register of Historic Places: - the Los Robles Archeological District - the Mission of Santa Ana del Chiquiburitac - the Cocoraque Butte Archaeological District
In more recent times this was a source of minerals, and mining still goes on here today.
Now the safety. There is no first aid on site, and the nearest hospitals are in Tucson or Casa Grande.
Venomous snakes and Africanized bees are among the hazards.
So is running into people using the public land illegally. The monument is a travel corridor for undocumented immigrants coming up from Mexico.
Report anything you suspect is illegal activity to the Bureau of Land Management or to local law enforcement.
Keep away from anyone behaving suspiciously or doing something dangerous.
Drive with care on the back roads and watch for fast-moving vehicles and for people on foot.
Some roads are rugged. Take something with high clearance, and four-wheel drive is better still.
The monument holds State Trust land and private land as well as public. Recreation on State Trust land needs a permit from the State of Arizona, and private land is not yours to walk on.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- Some are rugged. High clearance or four-wheel drive on those
- Stay limit
- 14-day limit
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Rules and restrictions
How long you can stay
You can camp on public land here for up to 14 days in any 28 days.
Getting there
The Ironwood Forest National Monument lies 25 miles northwest of Tucson, and about an hour south of Phoenix by highway.
There are two main ways in. One is Interstate 10 at Avra Valley Road. The other is Interstate 10 at the Red Rock exit, then southwest on Sasco Road to Silverbell Road.
From Tucson, take Interstate 10 west to Marana and leave at Exit 236. Turn left on Sandario Road for 0.1 mile, then right on Marana Road and go west about 5.8 miles to Silver Bell Road. Silver Bell Road carries you through the monument. You can rejoin Interstate 10 at Sasco Road.
Coordinates 32.45857, -111.50056
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
This is a good base for somewhere people travel a long way to see.
- Picacho Peak State Park Directions
- Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Directions
- Kitt Peak National Observatory Directions
- Mount Lemmon Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Avra Valley, AZ Directions
Avra Valley is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026; opened and read by a person on 2026-08-27.