Best Cabin Camping near Playas, NM

The Cave Creek Canyon on the western edge of the Chiricahua Mountains is a spectacular area that will completely take you by surprise. This cute campground tucked into the trees will charm your socks off!

Each site has the standard picnic table, bear locker, fire ring and lots of shade. The bathroom is a vault toilet, kept clean by the volunteer camp host, staying at Sandy Flat. This campground is rather small with just a couple small RV sites and lots of shade. Perfect for tent camping though. Great for warmer months, not so great for solar charging due to the shade, so we moved up the road to Sunny Flat campground. There are two small cabins available for rent near the forest visitor’s center, check with the Coronado National Forest, Douglas District office.

The area is a birder’s paradise and at certain times of year can get very busy. Great opportunities for hiking, biking and wildlife viewing throughout the entire mountain range. All the campgrounds are first-come, first-served.

There's not much in the area for food and gas, so come prepared. There is one small grill/basic grocery store down the mountain, but if you are looking for real groceries, shop before you come.

We wanted to get away for a few days during Covid and wanted to stay south where it was warmer so we found Rusty's RV Ranch in Rodeo New Mexico. It was quiet and friendly and just what we were looking for. While visiting we went exploring and visited the Chiricahua Desert Museum & the Apache Museum next door. Enjoyed all of the displays and history as Geronimo surrendered nearby.

We took a ride over to the Coronado National Forest and coming from the wide-open desert we felt like we had stepped into another world. Definitely worth the trip. We tried to drive the loop around the area on the first day but the directions weren't very good and we didn't go all the way. We went back the next day and went the other direction and went through the little town of Paradise. It was a long bumpy gravel road this way and really wasn't worth the trip....enjoyed the paved road in the National Forest much more. 

We needed some supplies so we drove down to Douglas AZ at the Mexico border. Visited Walmart and got some tacos that were excellent. Not much between Rusty's and Douglas but was a good drive with little to no traffic. Did see a number of Border Control agents on patrol.

Rusty's RV Ranch was very clean and well maintained. You could tell that they have made a concerted effort to make the grounds nice from the Swan & Duck pond to the bird enclosures and Koi pond. Loved the hiking trails that went around the entire property and we used those a number of times.

The space was huge and very private. We didn't have to unhook our toad vehicle until we needed the car which was really nice. The management was very friendly and helpful. 

We have t-mobile and I will tell you we had no service here. We hooked up to their park wi-fi but could barely check our email. We don't have satellite either so we were totally disconnected mostly.... but that was good too for a change. Fall and Winter are the busiest times here with people looking for warmer winters and avoiding the hot summers.

There are a couple of restaurants nearby and the closest has a convenience store but that is it... so be sure that you are stocked up on supplies before you go or expect to drive to get them. If you bring your pet be sure to have some flashlights to walk them at night because it is dark dark 😀

We would definitely visit Rusty's again! 

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Some of the campgrounds located in the middle island have less privacy but there are still some trees and shrubs to separate them. Sites on the outside are large and very private. There are a ton of trees in the campground which I'm sure are great for shade in the warmer months. We would have loved to see more of the stars but the trees obviously block the views so I would recommend walking out to the road to stargaze at night. The bathrooms, while dated, were clean and functional. We were apprehensive about needing to make a fire in the BBQ grill but it was actually quite nice and kept our hands warm while playing cards. Everything in the National Monuments is very accessible from the campground.

We stayed the night. Arrived around 11:00. The office is split hours with morning and afternoon. We arrived during the break. Check in was like after hours. Our site was listed and a map was provided. We stopped by the office at 2:00 when the afternoon shift was there. Got the customary sheet/map with door codes and WiFi password. The pool was closed, but hey..... it’s very early spring. Our site had 30 amp service (was listed as 50 amp I believe). Not a problem in March. The WiFi was excellent, the cable has 40 some channels, the provided paper only listed 20 stations. But our Firestick and their WiFi.... we survived. :-) Full hookups, all in good condition. Gravel parking sites. We tried to find something interesting but it’s Lordsburg. We did eat lunch at a very nice diner in town Kranberrys Chattwrbox,