roadtripper9825942

It is a large parking lot. That's it. No tables. Relatively flat. No fires.

Day trips to Tombstone and Bisbee are doable; however, you will not want to miss the cranes when they come back around lunchtime.

The only allure is the proximity to the sandhill cranes that stay at the nearby wetlands in the winter. You need to drive to get to the sandhill crane’s nesting area. You *could* ride a bicycle...37° outside and pre-dawn, but that’s plain crazy.

The road to the campground driveway is crummy. Washboard and lots of little rocks getting kicked up. One broke part of a winterizing pipe and another knocked off the camper's mounted side-to-side level. Access is better if you enter from the south.

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake on 3/20/20 significantly moved the creek, cutting off the boat ramp.

Google maps do not show the changes.

The lower campground loop is overgrown. The loop road is now has a raised boardwalk. All picnic tables are gone.

The northern loop is now the new day use parking area with a boat ramp. Sites that were once along the water are now day use picnic sites, sans BBQs.

There is evidence of one closed campsite if you walk on the lakeview trail towards Stanley Campground.

Do not be fooled, you can still see Stanley and Lake View Campground signs listed at the road leading to the lake.

Stanley Campground is still there. All FCFS sites.

Get as far away from the main road as possible. The ATV tours and passing vehicles will dust you out.

The main road - Loy Butte - gets worse the farther you go; particularly past the cattle guard. If you have the ability (or lack of self-preservation for you and your camper) continue farther north for better views.

Unhitch (if you can) at the ATV staging area and scout out. It is the large rutted lot with an information sign. When we came, all of the lots prior to this point were packed with campers.

Side roads will look good, then turn to jagged, rocky death traps for tire sidewalls.

The road signs are legit:
WATCH FOR COWS!

Cell service for Verizon is all over the place. Closer to the highway, better/reliable cell service. You can drive pretty far back and get 3G (maybe LTE), but it you walk behind a big bush or the wind changes, you are down to text only. Go behind a hill and you will lose all service.

LOCATION:
The dump station is located at the north side of the property. At the end of Ice Plant Road (southern edge of the gas station) is a dirt big rig turnaround.

MY CAMPER:
I have a 21’ Lance with dump and fresh fill on opposite sides.

WATER:
There is potable water! The hose that is there works well and is so long it could possibly reach the gas pumps.

ACCESSIBILITY:
Access is best from Broadway. Only a small trailer like a teardrop or a shorter moho could come in from the back of the shop via Ice Plant Road.

It was easy to pull out from the pumps, nose into Broadway and back up to the dump station. For most, you will have an easier time since dump and fill are both on the driver’s side. In that case, you pull in and back out. You can back into a Broadway or pull through the pumps and onto Ice Plant. High clearance.

Yes, there is a trailer, but it is next to the dump station - not blocking the dump. You will be fine as long as you have a dump hose that is at least nine feet long. I was parked parallel, two feet from the camper; I could have parked farther away.

PROPANE:
Propane is only available when the mechanics shop is open during the day. The switch for the propane is inside the garage.

Blue Rhino propane tank exchange is located across Ice Plant Road at Rite Aid.

COST:
The price to dump and fill is $15, plus tax.

MISC:
The trailer is the office for the owner of the mechanics shop and gas station.

The cashier was great! I called ahead and he said they were open. It was 8:00-something at night when we arrived.

You can see the trailer in google maps and street view. The dump is about four feet behind, and about two feet closer than the back left corner.

I can see folks having issues if the have a massive fifth wheel/trailer *and* they stink at backing up.

If you are coming in from Barstow, take the cutoff at Goffs over to the 95 and back down to the 40. You will drive alongside the train tracks at a gradual grade, skipping a *massive* grade on the 40.

BUY GAS IN ARIZONA! I went across state line for gas - $2.13/gallon versus $4+ in CA.

We live nearby and this is our favorite RV park for a staycation. We have stayed here countless times since management changed. The pool is heated to 82° and the jacuzzi/spa is 101°.

We prefer to stay near the pool in sites 18-21 so we can easily see the kids at the playground and game room.

Across the way is a one-of-a-kind playground that is shaped like a ship; good for all ages.

New management changed the underutilized community room to an amazing game room with air hockey, shuffleboard, Pac-Man, basketball throwing arcade game, TV with a fire stick, karaoke, ping pong, puzzles and a toddler/preschooler play area. One room over is a free lending library.

Nearby is a good-sized laundromat where the machines reliably work or if one breaks it is fixed quickly.

Every campsite has grass, and not just a 2’x4’ patch, but a substantially larger area.

While the campground requires a drive to the beach or town, the payoff is better weather—less wind and dust than campgrounds closer to the ocean.

The sites are on the road to the only exit so there is traffic, yet the speed bumps slow down folks so that we do not have concern for traffic safety and the kids on bikes. The sites on the western perimeter are along a road that leads to another RV park and that area is the loudest area of the park.

There are cottages to rent for friends and family that want to “camp,” but do not have their own trailer. No tents allowed anywhere.

The new management has started holiday festivities: For Easter, the campground hides thousands of Easter eggs! For Halloween, they create a map of all RVs that are participating in trick-or-treating and they have a campsite decorating contest where you can win up to three nights of camping!

There are no site-hold fees. Thank goodness! Some local RV parks have site-hold fees that are $50 PER NIGHT. The nightly rate is the same year-round; no rate increases for holidays.

The RV park added good Wi-Fi recently. There is no fee for Wi-Fi.

For the reviews written before October of 2020, the management WAS horrible. New management is flexible, attentive and uses common sense—something the previous manager lacked, and she had set a low standard of customer service for the office gals.

For the double review from one renter (double!): You can see in the campground map that the sites are interchanging in their drive-thru direction. So, their slide is 18 inches from their neighbor with the hook-ups between the campers.
Solution: They could have moved forwards or backwards in the long sites so they were no longer closely aligned to their neighbor’s slide(s). They failed to mention the large grass area for their campsite. A creative layout to hide hook-ups, instead of the usual layout which puts your neighbor’s hook-ups in your site.

Instead of stewing about the dog they should have told management who is good about tending to these types of issues.

Do not leave your yapping dog in your camper while you are away or you will be kicked out. Rightfully so. An RV is not a babysitter. The rules state their dog policies and disturbing the peace and quiet of other campers while you are sunbathing at the beach is rude. There are several dog-friendly beaches in the area for on- and off-leash dogs.

We have two Lances, pictured.

IMPORTANT: Do not tow ANYTHING up the 15 out of Silver City! At times there is no center line and it is windy and steep (per a white-knuckled gal we met in Gila Hot Springs). All larger vehicles should take the 35 out of Mimbres. There is really good Verizon cell service in town that fades out about eight miles north of town. The 152 from Mimbres to the 25 is hairy and dotted with white crosses. It is a well-made road, but dangerous nonetheless and can overheat your transmission. An alternative route is to go through Deming, then go north. Seemingly, everything up here is part of the Geronimo Scenic Trail.

I enjoy a campground where the developers made an effort to create campsites that are good for tents and RVs.

Each campsite has a long pad; some are pretty level, a few are not. Each campsite has spaces for tent(s).

Some campsites have more than one table/fire pit/grill.

Only one campsite is a pull-through, which is just parking alongside the campground road in a turn-out of sorts.

The end of the campground has a space to turn around an RV; size dependent on if anyone is parked down there.

Fish cleaning station by the bathrooms.

There are a plethora of amenities: restaurant/saloon, pool/jacuzzi, full hook-ups, wedding venues, a set from "3:10 to Yuma," a rock labyrinth, casitas for those friends that don't camp, hiking, laundry and our favorite - horseback riding!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time here hiking around the property, climbing rocks, playing in the snow and riding horses.

A storm was coming through so we moved from Whitewater Draw to the ranch so that we would have electric hook-ups (the campsites are full hook-ups). The campsites are spacious with large rocks as a backdrop. The campground and accessible nature trails lent itself to feeling like we were at a State Park.

There were three other campers when we arrived. I think there were about eleven established campsites. We had a lovely afternoon exploring and that night the storm hit - six inches of snow! Two years ago the ranch had a dusting and twelve years ago they had a few inches, so this amount was pretty fun for all.

On our last morning we took a trail horseback ride with a good guide who knows the land, its history and the horses well. In the afternoon the horses roam the property, some coming near the rocks by camp. They are beautiful and uninterested in coming into the campground area. Be mindful of the horses when driving in.

The boulders provide a sound barrier so that we did not hear any road or highway noise. There are fire pits. You can get a big rig into the campground; I do not know if there is a limit, but there was a big Class A.

Benson is not far. We recommend Wild Dogs restaurant.

Rating this area is dependent on your campsite, neighbors and what you enjoy doing. It is the desert, sometimes rocky and dusty, and can be noisy or serene.

We were to the north and had a good amount of privacy - a rarity in this area. We arrived the Thursday before the RV show. People flooded in 24 hours a day.

You can have quiet neighbors and you can have the dude with an open-box construction generator that runs all night. Thankfully, those people were far enough away that the noise from the generator was comparable to the road noise.

Take into consideration the wind direction when parking.

The area is great for groups. You can find large areas of flat ground. The end of the camping area has a highly visible sign and is a half-mile from the highway.

There is a cell tower across the highway and even with the RV show campers flooding the area we were still able to simultaneously use google meet for my three kids’ school without issue.

You do not come here for the campground, you come for the sandhill cranes. They nest here during the winter. Day trips to Tombstone and Bisbee are doable; however, you will not want to miss the cranes when they come back around lunchtime.

There are a handful of picnic tables in the "campground" - three on the left; one on the right. It does not mean that there are only four campsites. We had no need for a picnic table (we brought our own) and so we parked nearer the information kiosk (top left of the area) so others could use the tables. There were four to five other campers on the west side of the camping area.

There are two more small single-RV parking areas closer to the main road. No picnic tables there.

Relatively flat - up two inches on one side. No fires.

The second parking lot does not allow camping. We saw an RV there one night and they were gone the next morning. Day visitors speed through the camping area and kick up dust. Keep your windows closed during the day. At night, crack a window so you can hear the cranes and coyotes.

There is a dumpster. Due to COVID there were five Porta-Potties.

No drinking water. Douglas has a massive Walmart. If you miss the driveway you will end up at the border. You are following customs signs as you turn for Walmart.

Beautiful landscape, particularly “Green Mountain.” My kids name the mound of copper just off the north side of the road. We always camp past the aqueduct. Jawbone has no shortage of flat campsites.

There are a lot of riders, so do not come here for peace and quiet. I become deaf to the noise after a day. The noise that gets me are people setting off bombs. No joke. Bombs. The kind that will physically shake you from across a canyon.

Fireworks are pretty at night.

When looking for a site scout ahead as you drive off-road. Consider unhitching. Some “roads” turn into sandy washes.

Go ahead, set off bombs, but do not burn pallets and leave nails on the ground. The tire store is far away and you are ruining someone’s day. AAA will not touch you if you are off pavement. The road out the canyon is in great shape.

No Verizon cell service past the aqueduct. Best service much closer to the 14.