GailK

It sounds like a truckstop here and there is no enforcement of quiet hours. The views and location are fabulous and the only thing keeping it from being one star. If you're deaf it's a great place to stay. If you're not and you're lucky and all the generators are off by 1am you can hear the ocean. Too bad it's only for a few hours before they all start up again.

There are tons of dispersed sites along Levee Rd and Oxbow Rd. Some prime sites are right on the river, some are above with views and many more are close but no views. It seems like everyone has an ATV. I tucked into a nice little spot on a backwater nest to a small launch ramp and was surrounded by whispering river cane. I also heard a lot of coyotes at night so pet owners should take precautions. Biggest downfall is poor data. I had 1x on Verizon, no service on T Mo, and 3 bars ATT. Since I have unlimited ATT it was good for me but probably not others.

I had initially planned to see if I could get away with parking out on the flats in the parking area at the end of the paved road. As sunset approached, however, the 11 million bugs that swarmed drove me out towards higher ground. This was a good choice. I saw a couple folks out near the base of the mountains which looked great, but for just one night I stayed just off Leppy Pass Rd. The bugs were not a problem there. Great speeds on Verizon, slow but usable on ATT. Certainly a much nicer spot than the gravel lot just off the interstate.

There is no longer any dry or tent camping here. It’s all full hookup rv sites now, at an eye-watering (for Mexico) price of $55 per night, with an incredible extra charge of $30 per night for an extra vehicle! For that price you STILL have to pay for showers. The WiFi is poor and the cell service isn’t fantastic either. While it’s on a pretty stretch of beach, it’s out in the middle of nowhere. You can’t walk anywhere. So if you want to have dinner and a few drinks you’re stuck with either the on-site restaurant or having to take a cab into town. Or have a designated driver. This place used to be cheaper than staying in town, but no more now that they’ve done away with the dry camping spots and hiked the hookup prices. So now we stay downtown and can walk to dozens of other bars, restaurants, shops and even the supermarket. The biggest draw of this place seems to be that it is more big-rig friendly than most of the places downtown, though the driveway is *really* steep and pretty long, and with some sand cutting the traction, it can be a challenge to drag that big rig back out again if the engine power is at all marginal. Some folks with bad knees or hips have trouble negotiating the climb up the hill also and have to drive back and forth to the bar/restaurant/office/showers.

The layout is weird, it took a couple circuits for me to figure out how to get into the site I wanted. Then there are a few A-B-C-D sites which are intended for a few folks camping together (I think) where it's not immediately obvious how one is supposed to park. There are two bath houses and one shower in each. One thing I've enjoyed quite a bit are the birds. Mourning doves and roadrunners all over the place. Fun to watch. It's a good place to stay for a quick jaunt across the border.

I camped here the night before Thanksgiving. This is an interesting spot, there are two hot tubs in the middle of an ATV playground of sand dune. If ATV noise and dust bothers you, don't go here as it is an official OHV recreation area, and there are a lot of them. It is also a pretty big party spot. I had been parked for an hour or so when a ranger stopped by to see if I'd paid the $3 and warn me that I was parked in ground zero of party central when the crowds would arrive for the holiday weekend. I assured him I was leaving in the morning so I'd miss the mayhem. I guess a lot of RVers go to an ATV recreation area, then complain bitterly about the noise. The night I was there everyone was about done riding by 9pm and they were all pretty respectful, not flying through anyone's campsite.

The hot springs were HOT, approx 105 deg. At one time, the pressure was such that the tubs stayed filled all the time, but these days they rely upon a solar powered pump. This means that a little while before sundown the pumps quit and the tubs begin to drain. Being camped very close to the tubs, I saw quite a few disappointed folks roll up around sunset to find the tubs unusable. One problem with the tubs is the area is swarmed by bees. A guy got stung right next to me. They are drawn by the water and there are LOTS of them. If you are allergic, this would be a bad place to camp.

About the roads......I had called the local BLM office before heading there as I had read the roads were awful. They informed me that the access road from the north, Haekel Road, had been paved most of the way. It is paved, but it is too narrow for two large vehicles in most places, and there are some axle busting potholes. Speeding is a really bad idea. There are also washes that show that flash floods are a common occurrence and I wouldn't go here after a hard rain or if one was forecast. Approx one mile from 70 (heading south) the road forks and you need to take the left fork. There's no sign at that point. If you end up on a dirt road at this point you went the wrong way. Roads in the rec area are sandy. The main track was ok when I was there but be very cautious and if it seems like the sand is getting looser and deeper, get out and check before proceeding. The good news is, if you DO get stuck, there are a lot of folks with 4wd and winches that might be able to help. When I left I headed south to I-10 and that road was horrendous. It's paved for a while but when the paved road ends the next 10 miles or so are hellish washboard. Never again. There's a third unpaved road from the west, Tanque Road. If I were doing it again I would ask the BLM office about that road as an alternative if were coming from or going to I-10.

Ok, many of the sites are on a cute, picturesque pond. However, they're also right next to the road. Site 3, where I was, also had site 4 directly across the narrow road, so I had folks staring at my rig from 10' away. There is no map of the campground online to help you know stuff like this in advance. Site 1 is the host site. Sites 2-14 are along the pond, with the exception of 4 and 12, which are across the road. 15-20 not on the water, and you can't even see it from 19 and 20, the two walk up sites. That leads me to the poor management aspect. We booked site 3 for 1 night, paying $13 and change for the Florida Senior rate, plus a $6.70 reservation fee bringing the total to $21 and change. When we woke up the next morning we decided to stay another night. Since we could see our site was not reserved for that night, along with the other 17 vacant sites out of 20, I didn't think it would be a problem. I was wrong. The camp host finally made an appearance and I asked him if I just filled out an envelope and paid as the sign was contradictory. He told me no, I could not stay without a reservation. I said, "Well, I can't make a reservation for today, it's already today!" He said, "Well you need to do it sooner. The only sites we take money for here is 19 and 20, the rest have to be done online." 19 and 20 being the crappiest sites in the park and as far from the bathrooms as you can get. I had never heard of anything like this before...I have never not been able to extend my stay in any state or national park or BLM/FS campground if the site was open...no wonder the park is so empty most of the time. Even if I could have made a same day reservation online (reserve america gave an error when I tried) I would have been stuck paying another $7 reservation fee. Since I would have had to move anyway to stay there, I just moved on down the road. Oh, and yes, the women's bathroom was filthy and the water temp in the shower was not adjustable. There IS noise from highway 79. If it's the days leading up to a biker event in Panama City, it can be considerable. This place has a lot of potential but right now I'm too aggravated to consider returning.

Don't believe the blogs that say this is a hidden gem, as it is apparently hidden no longer. Today was my third attempt to get a site here and have never been successful. Access can be dicey, you need to fit through two single lane tunnels that say they are 11'9" high. I don't know how narrow the width is but if I had an 8'5" wide rig it might be nerve-racking as well. There is a day use fee to get in, but if you have any of the national park passes it will cover that. So at least you wouldn't have to pay the day use fee only to find there were no sites.

First of all, if you are towing a car add $10 to the fees right off the bat. I've never encountered this before, but only one vehicle per site is allowed, a second one costs another $10. So the motorhome towing a car has to pay an extra $10 excess vehicle fee. The fifth wheel or trailer however, does not. It seems kind of unfair. And seriously, $10 per night extra to park a car in your campsite? It seems like a big rip off to me. The sites are very unlevel, the asphalt is in terrible shape, and the electric box at my site was positively scary. AND it was only 20 amp. Be sure to read the site descriptions well when you reserve so you're not surprised. Of course, if you DO read the site descriptions you may be unpleasantly surprised when you arrive and find out your rig won't fit. The site I am in says it will fit a 40 foot vehicle, and there is just no way. Unless it's one of those buses with a bend in the middle. Finally, I don't know if there is any nightlife in Midway or Heber city, and neither will you if you stay here. The campground gates are locked at 10 PM and you do not get a gate code. So if you're out after 10 PM you'll be locked out. I don't care for that at all. As others have said, cell service is very poor. AT&T and Verizon were unusable, and Tmobile was giving me 1 Mbps both down and up. Which was slow but sort of worked. The showers were Inconsistent. The first day they were super hot, the next day on the cool side of lukewarm. The temperature is not adjustable. My friend used the handicapped shower as she is disabled and said only the low level showerhead worked. The other nice thing is there is a lot of wildlife. Squirrels birds etc. but for $32 per night and only 20 amp electricity, I was totally unimpressed with this place. I would go so far as to say it's the worst campground I've ever stayed at.

I would give it 1 star but everyone else raves about it so it must be me. But still. The only thing this place has going for it in my opinion, is it's relatively cheap. I rolled in on a Friday night and I did not like the vibe at all. It was like creeper Central. The sites are not at all level, and when people have wide slide outs and awnings it makes it feel very cramped. I backed into a site and tried to convince myself that I would be able to put up with the creepy dude next door for one night since it was 95° and I really wanted air conditioning. After sitting there for three minutes, I realized it was a lost cause and I wasn't going to be happy staying there. I pulled out and went to Walmart. And had a very quiet night. It's also a bit of a challenge to get out of there, the exit road is sloped with poor visibility and people flying by. I definitely felt like I was taking my life in my hands pulling out of there. I would not go back.