Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Gila Bend, AZ

BLM Painted Rocks Petroglyphs Campground. 26 miles west from Gila Bend. Very large campground about a third of sites can be reserved online at recreation.gov. Sites are very cheap only $8 / $4 senior rate. However there is NO WATER and no RV dump. Cell service on Verizon and ATT are excellent, but TMobile is poor extended. Vault toilets, tables, fire rings and dumpsters. Bring firewood from Gila Bend at Chevron Station. Camp host onsite is very friendly and the petroglyphs site is walking distance. Ebikes are very useful in this campground as it is very large and spread out from the two vault toilets! Note that there is NOT a 14d limit to camp here, will let you figure it out. And UPS and FedEx will deliver and the camp host will keep your packages at their site for you to pick up.

Only 4 stars due to no potable water available or would have given 5 stars.

Important: If you plan to arrive after hours you must call ahead so you can get the gate code. They gave us a temporary spot that was pull thru due to the time of our late arrival. Then at noon they escorted us to our site to set up for the duration of our visit. I included an images of daily, weekly, and monthly rates for 2023 and full list of amenities and the winter activities. There are also deluxe sites available. This camp ground is pet friendly with a dog park area and offered daily planned activities. We participated in game night, line dancing classes, aquatic aerobics in the heated pool, and the New Years party. The showers are very clean and the laundry room was immaculate. The sites have full hook up 30/50 amp and sites up to 100'x55'. They offer propane services. There isn't anything to do in the town.

Beautiful and quit stop. Close to Gila Bend. There is a great paved road to this remote spot. Every spot has a table and a fire pit.

From the first contact at making reservations, to the rescheduling, to the follow up contact to the check in and then the park it’s self….CLASS! Park is Clean, level, spacious, pool is heated, two dog parks. The park staff are solid rockstars!

This is a two track road that leaves Interstate 8 at about MP 124. There are no signs and EXTREME CAUTION is advised trying to access these BLM roads from the freeway without an exit ramp. No TTs or RVs are recommended. Road goes thru a gate out into the flat desert. Dispersed camping areas are scattered around but since this is close to Gila Bend there is evidence of dumping in this area. Cell service is good. No water, toilets, tables, fire rings or trash bins.

Leaf Verde is in Buckeye, AZ which is only 30 minutes from Phoenix. The pool is refreshing and if you aren’t into swimming there is a pool table, dog park and shuffle board to keep you busy. The sites are gravel and close together but nice.

If you’re a social butterfly and don’t have dogs, this place could work. The sites are really crammed in and on top of that, your door is face to face with your neighbor which makes it so awkward to do anything outside when you don’t want to talk to an overly chatty neighbor. Or if you or your neighbors have unfriendly dogs they can’t be out at the same time. Facilities are decent, same with pool. Adequate dog parks but nowhere for dogs to pee near sites other than gravel.

This is free dispersed camping on the BLM Sonoran National Monument. At Interstate 8, Exit 144 go south. BLM starts in about .6 mile. Note that the gravel road then will pass thru some pvt land that the Dyrt does not show, before the BLM again at the road fork to the Vekol Ranch (2.1 miles in from hwy). See attached screenshot from the BLM monument map. Lots of sites scattered along the main graded gravel road. There is an info kiosk at junction of road going to the Vekol Ranch. Most of the campers seem to be in this area to avoid interstate truck noise. Excellent cell signal on all carriers. No water, marked sites, tables, fire rings or trash dumpsters. Nearest services are in Sanfield (poor), Maricopa (best) or Gila Bend (fuel, RV stuff) so come prepared. Maricopa has a Fry's Market and gas. Sanfield has a Family Dollar and Circle K gas. Gila Bend has most services but not a major food market. Not much Sonoran cactus vegetation by the kiosk sign in in this area, no cholla and very few Saguaros, area is just a wide flat creosote palo verde sandy plain.

Update: if you go another mile or two south (uphill) on the main road you can camp at the #8007b and #8007c road spurs and #8045 spur. More Sonoran vegetation there and very scenic...lots of Saguaro cactus to camp with on flat open desert pavement. Farther away from the hwy noise is a plus!

If you are concerned about potential safety issues from illegal smuggling warnings, then staying down close to BLMat the .6 mile mark is likely best.

This two- track BLM road leaves from the westbound lanes of Interstate 8. EXTREME CAUTION is advised and TTs and RVs are not recommended for these unmarked two tracks along the Interstate.

You go thru a gate and this area is to west of the wilderness area and is not restricted by the wilderness buffer road issues. The road splits in a couple tens and there are several camp spots along the way, but best to get farther away from the freeway truck noise. On the map this #8032 roads goes all the way to hwy 238 between Gila Bend and Maricopa. No facilities, no water. Cell signal was couple weak bars but ok for txt email.

This is a free dispersed camping area in the BLM Sonoran National Monument. Take Interstate 8, Exit #140 and take gravel road to south. The gravel road is rough washboard first section, then gets narrower and just rough. Camping areas seem to be just within less than a mile of the Interstate so truck noise will be an issue. No services for 30 mi back to Gila Bend or 20 mi back to Stanfield. No water, trash, tables. Cell signal is excellent on all carriers. This area is more difficult to access with a TT or RV due to the rougher narrow roads, compared to the Vekol Rd camping area at exit #144.

This is a cozy (read: tight spaces) park to stay in to catch up on laundry and get your RV chores done. It’s also nice that it’s in town and you can easily walk or bike out and explore the small cute town of Ajo(pronounced Ahh-ho, not Ay-ho). Keep in mind that being in town on a main road, this is not a quiet serene park. The noise from the neighboring auto repair business was extremely loud during the day, and there is car noise from the road outside the park. 

Rates per website are$28/night but it says they offer Escapees, Good Sam, AAA, or Passport America discounts(though they do not appear not the PA website). Passport America is usually 50% off so we expected to pay $14, however, when we asked about it they said they offer too many discount programs to keep track and they simply discount everyone to $25/night. So in other words, the rate is $25. 

In all the BLM desert land we have stayed in, we have never heard coyotes so loud and close as we did at this RV park. They seemed to be howling from all directions here. Watch your dogs here, though the manager of the park has a small dog that runs loose with him. 

Park advertises itself as being pet friendly, but there is no dog park or dog walk in the park. We walked our dogs out to the street to go potty to avoid them going potty in front of someone’s space. 

Our spot only had a 30 amp outlet, but judging by the number of large 5th wheels and toy haulers there I believe 50 amp is also available. Pull through and back in sites both available. 

Park has wifi and cable. 

Bulk propane available at $3.50/gal. 

Laundry room was clean, one shower under construction and the other was dirty- would not use. Showers were 2.5 min per quarter, or 4 quarters at once for 10 minutes. No change or soap machine available, quarters available from manager per sign. 

There are water and sewer hookups at each site, or there is a dump and water fill available as well. If not staying at park, dump is $7, water is $5, or both for $10. 

Large trash trailer bin available, as well as a can for aluminum and a can for plastic beverage containers. 

Good verizon signal, though cell service almost unusable in the evening due to high usage in the area. AT&T signal was weak but usable. 

Pro tip: the Chevron across the street has a little separate food service establishment in the convenience store where you can get pizza, burritos, breakfast burritos, fresh baked cookies, etc to go! The pizza was surprisingly great! IGA grocery store also in easy walking distance.

We stayed here one night and would recommend it for anyone wanting to enjoy the night skies, having some distance between RV pull in's, and relax while driving cross country.

The staff was welcoming and showed us to our sites and ensured we hooked up with no issues.  Then, let us enjoy the night.

The dog run was great and well maintained.  We thought he pet rock cemetery was touching (passed on pets have rocks with their names on them laid out in a small memorial). 

We had a pull through full hook up site.  The site was required minor leveling, but no need to unhook. Wifi worked great.  There was road and rail noise though.

We are not sure if there are really any local attractions.

BLM road #8030 leaves Interstate 8 in westbound lanes. No signage at the freeway, EXTREME CAUTION is advised trying to access these unmarked two track roads from the Interstate hwy. There is a gate to go thru then you pass a couple v- shaped wash dips that would restrict TTs and RVs, hence the recommendation that Overlander truck types would be best here. The road goes past an abandoned corrals/tank and then at the y split you are going to go left and into the wilderness cherry-stem road. This road buffer is only about 50 ft wide so not really good for finding campsites. The road gets rougher and crosses many sandy washes so high clearance 4x4 is a good idea. Cell service was not good here, must be in a hole from the antenna at Freeman road and the cell towers at Gila Bend. Going to the end of the cherry stem #8030 road will likely end at another ranch structure/corral with camping sites (I was not able to get that far in my truck safely).

No water or any other amenities, and with limited cell signal would recommend access with a buddy vehicle for backup.

We stayed at the Willow Campground for two nights while visiting family and friends in the Surprise area. Hiked the Waterfall and Black Loop Trail for a little exercise as well. Didn’t do any others as our dog had an encounter with a stray cholla ball. This would be the only concern for those traveling with pets. There are quite a few lose even along trails. Other than that the facilities are clean and well kept. Fresh water and showers are available.

Saddle Mountain is fun to hike but strenuous. The area is quiet and easy to get to. RV and pet friendly.

We went through the extensive application to stay a night and then called back and were told we could not have a reservation because our dog was "mixed". We were actually going to drop the dog off with family in Phoenix, but were told if we even enter the gates with the dog in our truck they would cancel our reservation. BTW, our dog is half Lab, half rhodesian ridgeback. Not a large dog. We were told if our dog was a purebred Lab she would be permitted. Really strange.