Gary Schwitzer

We stayed one night - October 4, 2021. We had a quiet, lakeside site. Enjoyed a hike up to a beautiful overlook of Lake Lida.

Spacious sites. Ours had a covered ramada. Fascinating history. A camp volunteer gave a fun tour of Oliver Lee’s reconstructed ranch house from the 1880s. Wonderful trails & hiking. Good educational visitors center (with coffee & bakery one morning). Clean bathroom & showers. 5 stars.

We loved this park. The sites are private with good space in between. The landscape is enchanting. We went on a 4-hour ranger-led pictographs tour that was outstanding. It was so quiet - great sleeping. The history of the place is intriguing.

Only 2 negatives: the lighting & heat in the campground bathroom was inadequate. And the one men’s shower stall had a serious drain blockage, backing up dirty shower water into both the men’s and women’s showers. (my wife was in the women’s at the time.) However, after I advised a camp host, two maintenance staff came quickly.

And we got no cell service at our campsite - only if you lurked outside the bathroom where some signal came through.

We couldn’t get into the campgrounds at Theodore Roosevelt Nat’l Park so rolled the dice on this campground and we were pleased. It’s a short drive to TRNP. Our site was shaded, with scenic views, although no hookups. Showers were clean. I’d stay here again without hesitation if we couldn’t get a site within the park. We were here October 6-9, 2021.

Close to Las Cruces. Inexpensive. Water & electric plus clean bathrooms & showers. Spacious, quiet, private site on level concrete pad. On banks of dried up, damned up Rio Grande. About 20 miles N of Las Cruces. Here for 2 nights , site 20.

We visited Old Mesilla Village and several shops & galleries. Lunch on outdoor patio of Andele’s Dog House. Took photos of ruins of nearby Fort Selden. Photographed stars from our campsite.

Camped here August 1,2021. We had a spacious, shady, quiet site. We love watching the bison herd here. It is such a peaceful setting. I only wish MN state park campgrounds weren’t so expensive - $41 for one night with reservation fee.

First, we emphasize that this is a beautiful setting. Great birding. The approach to the park is stunning. If our review ended here, it’d be 5 stars But…..

In two visits three years apart, we found this to be a loud park with apparently no camp hosts and no one enforcing any regulations. We had what we thought was a reasonably quiet site until late that night two fishermen with an SUV & boat pulled in, starting playing loud music and pitched a tent 15’ from our small RV - closer to us than to their SUV! The next afternoon, a friend joined them with a pickup pulling a pontoon boat that looked like the Beverly Hillbillies heading to California. The 3 of them unloaded at least 7 cases of beer, strings of colored lights, 9 chairs + 3 lounge chairs, threw a propane tank onto the hard ground, threw stuff everywhere, and started playing the loud, repetitive, music for hours. The camp office had closed by then (5 pm) and, as stated, there was no camp host to be found. And there was no other available site to move to.

Camped in Bonita Canyon February 9-11, 2022. I like astrophotography and here I shot stars one night right from the campground and another night from Sugarloaf Mountain, where I was alone with no light pollution. So peaceful.

For some history, we hiked an easy flat trail to an old ranch house and an old cabin. We also did the Echo Canyon loop with massive hoodoos & rock formations, with the trail taking you down to the canyon floor and then back up.

This is an amazing park with endless fantastic landscapes. The campground is quiet and well-spaced. Bathrooms were warm and clean.

Our campground host was very helpful and staff at the visitor center were very friendly.

This was a 5-star experience.

The layout is amazing; you’d never know there were so many campsites because the spacing, angles and landscape of the sites yield a very private, quiet feeling. The bathrooms were immaculate. Not sure I’ve had a better shower than the solar showers there. Campground hosts were terrific. Trails were fun. The 21-mile Ajo Mountain drive took us 3.5 hours because we stopped so often to enjoy the scenery.

Highway 86 from Tucson can be a bit rough in spots.

We were in 3 different campsites in 3 nights - not our preference but we took what we could get. It seems quite a few others were in the same situation, which seems strange.

You should not come here unless you have reservations for a cave tour in advance. We pulled in day one about 11 am - early - and were told at the gate to hurry over to the Discovery Center because that day was already booked up and tomorrow was filling fast. A few minutes later we were at the Discovery Center and told that today, tomorrow AND the next day were already fully booked. All 3 days we were there. It’s fortunate we had time the morning we left and were able to book a 9 am tour (which was terrific). But reserve early by phone or online. There’s not a lot else luring you there, so don’t miss out.

Staff at the Discovery Center front desk on the first day were not friendly, not very helpful nor very interested in answering questions. It may have been a bad crew on a bad shift.

The spacing of the campsites was quite variable - some very private and spacious, others just a few feet apart and/or adjacent to heavily-used trails. Not the best planning. But the campground - and all the grounds and facilities - were well maintained. The roadways were wide and newly-resurfaced.

If you’re interested in astrophotography, this is a good dark sky location. I shot for 3.5 hours one night from a trail near the campground.

I would stay here again if I could bring grandkids to see the wonderful caverns. The history of these caves - discovered in just 1974 - is fascinating. https://azstateparks.com/kartchner/explore/park-history