Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

While I have no complaints about this campground, it was nothing special either. As a tent camper, I was happy to have a few sites to pick from. There is a bit of cover between sites that almost gives the illusion of privacy, but ultimately I'd rather be somewhere much more secluded. Bathrooms were clean for how busy the campground was and the campground itself was kept up well. Picnic table, grill, and 'tent pad' at each site.  Seem like it would be a good place for RV camping rather than tent camping.

This campground is a nice place to stay if you are wanting to hike and explore the park. The sunset we saw was magnificent, so definitely set aside time to find a place and marvel at the days end. Stargazing was also a fantastic activity here!

The Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is such a unique place.  It was nice to be able to camp near enough to amongst the interesting cactus and larger than life rocks.   Definitely a park that it is fun to camp in, but I would suggest trying to get a more primitive, site in the Alamo campground if possible.

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, AZ

        , I am captivated by the desert, whether it be Mohave, Great Basin, Chihuahua or our own Sonoran Desert. I love the wide open views, the sparse flora, the equally sparse and ornery fauna, the warmth and chill of a desert morning, the majesty of the saguaro or the coarse obstinance of a Joshua Tree yucca. I feel unworthy of the sheer toughness required to accept the difficulties of residing in one of the harsher environments on Earth, and yet I enjoy the benefits of a clear, cool spring evening in one of the best government operated parks available to the American people. And more than a few people are taking advantage of it.

        This park is bargain. The entrance fee is a mere ten bucks; camping is only sixteen dollars a night. If one, like I, has an old fart pass the entry fee is waived and the camping dues are halved, a bargain by even Mr. Scrooge’s estimation. Parks run by the National Park Service tend to have fewer amenities but Organ Pipe has many including flush toilets and solar showers, trash pickup, tables, grill stands, ramada shading and full RV sites, some with pull-through accommodations. Not available are cell phone service and wifi in the campground although weak wifi is sketchy but possible at the visitor center.

        One thing of note is the campsite patrol pairing, an older couple driving around in one of those odd little two-seater carts with a truck bed, policing the recently vacated campsites The woman checks out the site picking up any pieces of left-over trash while the gentleman, get this, sweeps the tent pad with a broom. I don’t know if they are paid part-time or volunteers but they do their work cheerfully and effectively and the tent pads and campsites look positively pristine. Not bad for eight bucks a night.

        I even managed to sneak in shower, yes, a shower, at one of the restrooms that has a solar shower, there being three such in the campground. It’s kind of a different experience since the solar heater doesn’t really get warmed up until midday, so earlier than that the showerer might expect to get a coolish sort of shower. Mine was tepid at best. Plus, the showers are push button for both a higher and lower shower nozzle. You push the upper button to receive about 5 seconds of shower. Several pushes are needed to get suitable wet. Lather up, push a button to rinse, then lather again, push a button to rinse, lather up, push the lower button to rinse. The lower nozzle may be for kids but works perfectly fine for washing one’s backside. All in all, it takes a bit longer to get clean but eventually gets the job done.

        The park offers desert hiking at its finest with many longer or shorter hikes through the amazing Sonora desert landscape and a teeth rattling ten mile drive to an oasis hard on the Mexican Border, Quitobaquito Spring. Quitobaquito is a miracle in the southern desert, It’s a spring fed lagoon, hard on the border of Mexico, maybe an acre in size and maybe 4 to 7 feet deep. It is fed by a spring putting out about fifty cubic feet per second of fresh water and is inhabited by various waterfowl (a squadron of coots on this day) and a population of desert pupfish, little bitty guppie-like piscines that only live in this particular pond in the dez, kind of like the pupfish that live in a small pool in Death Valley. The question have is how the hell did they get there. For further info: https://organpipehistory.com/orpi-a-z/quitobaquito-springs-2/. It is a marvelous oasis in the desert.

        I stayed 3 nights at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and should have stayed a week. I love this park and will be back.

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.

Fair warning that I didnt actually get to stay at this campground, it was full already.  It has a very small amount of campsites, so not a place to count on without a reservation.  But if you are lucky enough to get a reservation, the campground looks great!  

When we checked out the campground, for future plans, (yet to be realized ;) ) it was a super quiet, almost secluded setting.  I think the noise level varies with who else is camping nearby, but I would imagine it is usually people looking for a more backcountry experience than they would get at a normal campground. We did not see water or fire pits. 

If you want a backcountry camping experience that is a little less daunting this is the place for you!  Lots to see in the park and then you can retreat back to your spot in nature! 

This campground is on my list of places to camp in Arizona on a future visit :)

Managed by Lower Sonoran BLM Field Office 

Very quiet so much glass and old rusted tin cans, possibly from when mining was active here. Lots and lots of shards of broken glass, it’s part of the landscape almost.  There are open mine pits, some fenced off, some not so be careful especially if you let your pets run free. Constant sound of planes overhead from the nearby AFB, with occasional low flying jets. Overall a nice place if you can get past all the broken glass, some areas worse than others. 

Not too many chollas but there are some road in. Alley Rd was flat and level, some washboarding, ok for any rig just take it slow. Coming off of Alley Rd to pull out spots could be tricky for bigger rigs. There were a few nice looking spots that we didn’t attempt in our 26ft Class C because the road up was too steep.  Deep dip on Alley Rd coming in, about 1.8 miles from where the paved road ends, we scraped our bike hitch both coming and going. At around 32.355867,-112.884902. Any rigs longer than about 26ft probably can’t make it further in than this spot if coming in from the north, or you can enter from the other side of the loop and come in that way.

Good verizon 4bars on 4GLTE, ATT had 2-3 bars on 3G, very slow.

General: 208-site campground. No hookups but sections are separated into tent-only, generators allowed, and non-generator sites (which we were very happy to see!). Only four sites can accommodate RVs up to 45 feet; otherwise, there is a 40-foot limit. 

Site Quality: All are level and have generous-sized concrete/macadam pads (except for the tent sites which are all gravel). Although the sites are close together, there is ample foliage separating them. 

Bath/shower house: I never expect showers in National Park Service campgrounds so was pleasantly surprised to find showers here (in three of the restrooms). Otherwise, the restrooms were basic but clean. 

Activities: There is a.9-mile perimeter trail that allows leashed pets and the 1.3-mile Palo Verde Trail that leads to the Visitor Center from the campground. The 21-mile one-way dirt Ajo Mountain Drive is considered the most scenic area of the park but trailers, buses, and RVs over 25 feet are not permitted on this road. There are a few short hikes off of this road. You can also drive a loop around the area, but four-wheel drive is recommended. The night sky is stunning here and there is a telescope pad. The hour-long evening ranger talk was both interesting and well-attended. The Visitor Center was also a wealth of information.

Note: As others have mentioned, when we arrived, we were instructed to leave our hoods up to discourage the pack rats. Not a problem and we didn't see any,