Agua Caliente Road Dispersed Camping

We entered the first left and had many choices. The site we chose backed up to a draw with larger trees. The fire pit was filled with garbage that precious residents tried to melt/burn. That was the ONLY downside. We filled a garbage bag and moved a burnt generator out of sight then we’re happy the whole time. Saw foxes and heard coyotes. Very level. No smell though we passed a feed lot on the way in. Do not miss AJ’s Co-op Grill about 1.5 miles before you reach Agua Caliente. Went twice and had great service(bar food) and live music on Tuesday and Friday. Food specials every night and friendly local atmosphere. Easy in and out with f 350 and 38 ft 5th wheel.

I found out that the 4 way corner about 500 or so feet in from the asphalt road is actually the ATV/dirt bike staging area. Weekends are quite annoying. You can only go back about a quarter mile if that, unless you are very adventerous and have a high clearance vehicle. People ARE back there. If you are coming in with ATV's or dirt bikes this is where you'll want to park and camp....there are quite a few open spots here to camp in - all flat.

Heard coyotes or some kind of canines out there yipping and barking one night and also heard the cows but didn't see them (it gets very dark). The only noise at all is the ATV's and dirt bikes on the weekends.

Directions to the really good camping spots have not been made clear so I will provide them here:

Turn off the asphalt road onto the main dirt road. This is Agua Caliente and it's about 30 or 35 feet wide. Excellent dirt road. Very well maintained. That first 4 corners is the staging area I just mentioned above. KEEP GOING on the main road. There will be maybe 2 or 3 pretty good camping spots along the way (one directly under the power lines... there's a van in that one)....go under and beyond the power lines. From the asphalt road, it's about 5 -6 miles to the cattle guard in the road. This is where the good camping begins. There is a great big spot just left as you pass thorugh the open gate where this cattle guard is. Has a fire ring and everything. Great views. About 500 feet down the road, the main road sharply curves to the right (I did not follow this road) and there is a split that goes straight at that curve - THAT is where you want to go. LOTS of great camping sites, very large, spread out and they appear pretty flat. Fantastic views. I drove there with my car but failed to check cell signals. Anyway.... that's where the good spots are, very dirty, dusty road but, again, very well maintained.

Agua Caliente (at least the beginning of the road) is just about 22 miles from Buckeye where you can find everything and anhything you need. Walmart, Fry's Grocery, hair salons, gas stations, literally just about everything.

I stayed here overnight in route from Quartzsite to Phoenix. It is a little off the beaten path, but well worth the 30 mile trip from Buckeye. The roads leading here are beautifully paved and bordering farms most of the way.

Once on the BLM road I took the first left as suggested by previous reviewers. It was flat and level hardpacked dirt and gravel. It is suitable for any sized RV with open flat areas.

It seems to go on for a long distance along that road but I stopped within 100 yards because it was so perfect for my overnight stay and they were only two or three other RVs in the distance that I could see. Highly recommended!

All the other reviews were on point. We drove in only about 1/2 mile or less and found a spot for our 5th wheel. The remark about the bridge on Old Hwy 80 was correct. We came from Gila Bend direction and had to go around as we were not sure our rig would fit the 13’6” height limit with A/C unit.
We had plenty of places to ride our ATV. Also we camped on the east side of the road to avoid the dust from road traffic. It looks like there are plenty of spots as far as you want to drive down the road.

We needed a boondocking spot not too far from Phoenix to prep for catching a flight and this spot fit the bill.

Connectivity is good, our AT&T router worked well all week. Verizon connectivity is not quite as good, but usable (2 bars most of the time).

Depending which way the wind is blowing, you can smell manure here, but the smell was only strong one day for us (out of seven). We more noticed it driving in.

To access this spot, you'll turn onto the dirt road (Agua Caliente, which says it's 40 miles long...oofta please don't drive that far). After only about 1/4 mile you can turn left into the main camping area. Perhaps there are more spots further down, but that first left provides so many good spots, there is no need to keep going. The roads are all well-maintained, we didn't hit any washes or big bumps. Really great for big rigs. We saw about 3 other rigs during the week we were there. There are some OHVers but during our stay, we heard just one or two.

There are a few tall saguaros here, as well as washes and roads to walk down, so you won't feel claustrophobic here and there is plenty to do for kiddos. Lots of quartz down in the washes!

I'm docking a point from Noise because of the OHVers. But honestly, other than the one or two times they showed up, and the one rig that cranked their bass a bit too much, this spot is very peaceful and so spread out and sparsely used, you do feel nicely isolated.

The location is fine, but pretty remote. It feels like you're in the middle of nowhere, because you are. Not ideal for full-timers who need to shop, do laundry, visit parks, get propane etc. but you can get most of what you'll need in Buckeye.

I docked a few points because of the lack of proximity to any dump station. You can go north to I-10 and hit one of the truck stop dump stations, but they don't exactly endorse their water as drinkable.

We went south to Gila Bend for our stay because there is a brand new Pilot travel center there, and our experience there was GREAT. It's really built for RVs, down to the fuel lane, air-filling, and easy-to-use dump and fill. You do have to pay $10 for a dump code but it's well worth it. Also there is a little pizza shop and Subway in there, as well as all the usual convenience store goodies.

**Be warned**, however, if you are going from Agua Caliente Road down to Gila Bend, do NOT take Old Hwy US-80 if you're towing a decent-sized rig! Even though it's the most direct route, in order to cross the Gila River you have to cross the historic bridge that is long, low clearance and single lane (says it's 13 feet, might even be a bit shorter). At 13' 6" there was no way we were going to make it, so we had to turn around. This created a not-so-safe situation where we were U-turning on the other end of a blind curve on a downwards hill with people flying down the highway at 60 mph. Learn from our mistake, and take the extra time to go up to Hwy 85 and its very modern bridge over this river.

We have been coming here for years. It’s a great boondocking spot for OHV use. There are a lot of good riding trails and scenic views. It’s popular for day use, so it can be noisy and dusty off the main roads during the day. During the warmer months there are a lot of flies and there can be a strong manure smell.There is not great cell service for Verizon without using a mobile router or booster, so plan ahead if you need to work. We use a mobile router with ATT and are able to stream and work without issue. We would definitely recommend camping here.

We found a nice level spot fairly close to the road amongst some brush but it was still quiet as it's not a busy road. There seemed to be a lot of places where you could boondock and only one other RV was within sight.

When we arrived (a Sunday night) someone was just pulling out in a truck towing an OHV so obviously this place is popular for off road fun and probably quite busy in a warmer season/holidays/weekends etc.

Since our stay was nice and quiet we consider this a 4-star boon docking experience. We even had decent signal.