Cosmic Campground

There are boondocking spots right off the highway and then again after the official campground. There are a few easy to access right after the campground with a smaller camper but the further you go back on the road past it gets rough and narrow. The campground itself has spots very close together so not much privacy. Vault toilet is clean and nice to have. Verizon signal is great. I’d come here again even if stargazing wasn’t on my to-do list.

Lucky to score 1 of 6 RV sites. There are sites on dirt roads branching off before camp and further out; note many are not level and sticky clay mud following an afternoon thunderstorm. Bathrooms were clean and stocked. Sites very level. 4 parties tenting in center. Most folks good about dark skies, using red lamps. Bring a pad and sleeping bag and lie under the stars! It was super amazing view of the stars, planets and Milky Way. Good T mobile LTE service 2-3 bars.

Glad we took the chance there would be a spot for us, this is an amazing experience! Officially designated a dark sky location, this is star gazing you don't get often.

Based on the reviews of needing to arrive early to snag one of the few campsites, we made a hurried morning here. We arrived around 1pm mid-week, and were sure we missed our chance. But alas, there were only 2 RVs in the campground - plenty of room, and no need for worry. It stayed that way too.

There were also several spots leading into the campground that were clearly boondocking spots, and if you take the road behind the campground (beyond the telescope pads), there's several boondocking areas beyond. And once you learn that this location regularly hosts 100s for star gazing parties - there's plenty of room for everyone if you don't need to be mere feet from the pit toilets.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here, and were treated to a completely clear sky. Words just can't do it justice.

At the time of our stay in late October 2021, it was still free. However there were signs posted that several campgrounds in the Gila National Forest (including this one) were going fee based in 2022.

Verizon gets decent signal here, we were able to stream and work remotely.

This was a really fun experience. Beautiful sunsets and skies. Tons of hiking and rockhounding in the area, mostly agate and chalcedony. If you follow the washes and natural paths created by local cows, they’ll take you several miles, all the way to the San Francisco River. We heard coyotes in the distance every night. Cleaning crews tended to the bathroom every day. Really a top notch campground, and it’s free!

We arrived at noon and got the second to last RV spot. One thing we noticed was multiple tent campers and compact cars parked in the RV spots even though there is a separate area for tent/ small vehicle camping. There are boondocking spots around the campground, and we saw the same RV’s cruising through the campground every morning, waiting for a spot to open up. We recommend that strategy if all the spots are taken and you’re planning to stay in the area more than one night.

We absolutely loved this campground. There are 6 spots for RVs. The tent spots you have to park in a space then walk to set up your tent if you’re into that. There are so many cool places around the area to check out and hike to. Catwalk Recreation Area is awesome, Mineral Creek Trail, and check out the town of Mogollon. All very close to the campground, within 20 minutes driving. There are some dispersed spots down the road over the cattle guard past the campground (once you enter the campground) and even on the dirt road that leads you to the campground. Would probably need a high clearance rig for the dispersed after the cattle guard (our class C has like 12” clearance, if that, so we would scrape the pot holes). Would absolutely come back! The stars were incredible!
No problems with T-mobile cell service or Verizon MiFi which we use for work.