Yuma VFW

This is a typical BLM no frills campground. Dry camp w/ no services. It's right behind the VFW bar but is not affiliated. Some camp spots are in the trees and there is plenty of sticks etc for firewood. The treed area adjacent to the camping area is quite trashy as the local kids use the area to play their paint ball/air soft games. the area is next to the hwy and train tracks, both of which have considerable traffic (hence the 4 stars instead of 5).One good feature is that it is just 5 miles into the Fortuna area of Yuma which has all the shopping one might desire.

As one camper put it: planes, trains, and automobiles. If you don’t mind the noise, I don’t, you may like it here! Afternoon entertainment at the VFW is a nice break. Some spaces at the back have many shade trees. Some people move right in and make a huge area for themselves. I preferred the row in front of the tree line, with bush between the sites. Further in, there is a nice grove, sort of, with trees to camp under. In the central area, to each their own! Sometimes the large homes make rows, and sometimes they park any which way! Highway crossing for 4 wheeling is a few yards S. Can walk under highway from the main camping area. Many walking and biking paths into the mountains. Host on duty at NOON

Visited the VFW, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) located off of U.S. Route 95 just outside of Yuma, Arizona today. This free 14-day camping area is big rig friendly with easy access to Interstate 8, the Fortuna Foothills business district, and the greater Yuma area. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 8.51 Mbps download speed and 0.27 Mbps upload speed. AT&T clocked in at 0.94 Mbps download speed and 0.02 Mbps upload speed. As a side note, the VFW post located adjacent to this BLM dispersed camping area is not affiliated with the namesake VFW BLM.

Busy place. Lots of people but lots of space. It can be noisy at times from the road, trains and the airport.
Verizon signal is very good.
20mbps down and about 6 up.
Shady spots in the back butted up against a paintball field.

This was my second year here (in January). Once again I camped in the trees at the northwest edge. The sounds of passing trains and 18 wheelers were ok, in a Jack London sort of way. At night, the loud, low flying crop dusters take some getting used to. Also, I left a couple days ago and I’m still not feeling right. I think I may have been poisoned by “pesticide drift” from the crop dusters. My truck and trailer now have significant residue on them. So it might be a good idea if someone could to do a study of this phenomenon.

Plenty of space.
Very noisy being next to highway 95 and the railroad track.
Traffic on the busy highway all the time.
Trains going all day and night.
Try to get a spot away from the highway to reduce the noise.
Host is on duty mostly in the evening.

We met up with some friends that were staying here. Unfortunately we only stayed 1 night due to no cell service. Even with our Weboost we had no Verizon or T-Mobile which is our biggest requirement when boondocking.

The area is mostly a sandy parking lot, unless you are lucky enough to find a spot backed in between the trees which are really nice spots.

Lots of road noise, train noise and for some reason airplane noise.

There is a host that you have to check in with. We would have stayed if it wasn't for the lack of cell service.

Easy to miss the turn into the VFW - and that is how you access the BLM site that joins to the north. Not difficult to find somewhere relatively flat and it is organised with a host. You will need to check in.
I was immediately accosted by a drunk who launched into attempting to goad me into a fistfight !!! I am in my 60s and am a bit past all that stuff. He is still there on the fence line in the corner away from the road among the trees. I think he thinks he owns the place, looks like a long term 'resident' even though you are not supposed to stay more than 14 days.
I moved to the other side of the plot to avoid trouble and met some lovely people. They had a propane fired campfire so not wood. Fires are allowed and some people had small campfires.
I swear that no less than 30 minutes after dealing with the feisty drunk a sober guy came into these folks camp and announced that we would have to extinguish the fire because he was getting smoke in his tent. He had to be 40 yards away among the trees. Not wishing to be a nuisance they turned the fire off and he wandered off. No thank you nothing. Again he thought he owned the place. About 30 minutes later he returned. He was a little aggressive and by that time the guy who owned the fire had turned it back on because it was illogical. He announced that he had gone around and told, not asked, everyone there to put their fires out. My friend said what about an apology and he never said he was sorry and was rather rude. The folks tried to make small talk with him but he obviously thought he was in some position of authority. He stomped off.
A fun story lol.
The campground is somewhat small and there is zero cell signal. No shops or anything at all except the VFW which was closed. I would not stop here again it is more trouble than it is worth. I left early in the morning for Pilot Knob for dental work in Mexico. I shall pass in the future.

Well used BLM land that is only 4 miles from Foothills area resources. As mentioned there is road noise and trains, even through the night. But with windows closed at night it is not too disturbing. No host on site while we were there so we couldn’t register. There is a wide assortment of RVs, tents, vans and people tend to allow space and privacy unless you want to visit. We get our TV over antenna which was limited to only one national station (ABC).

We checked in with the host as posted sign required. She gave us a form to hang in the window. Didn't see one other camper with the form. As other posts suggested, there are crazies camping in the shaded brush area in the back. Lots of ruckus and talk of gun fire but no bullets yet. There are great trails you can get to by going under the overpass over St Rt 95 and under the train tracks, just be sure to duck-ah your head low-la bridge-ida! Lots of train and highway noise. Cool if you're into trains. We saw an Amtrak and a private train as well. Almost forgot! They got the cutest little prairie dogs here too. Not like the kind I had a tourist point out to me that time in NYC. These are the real deal.