Shores Recreation Area
Haley B.
Reviewed Jul. 19, 2020

Free waterfront camping but not the best

This is a fine spot for a night/passing through but was not my favorite. Pro: camping at the edge of the Gila River, beautiful trees, free, trash containers and toilets, lots of birds - seeing my first cardinal was the highlight of the stay. Cons: murky water and not a pleasant smell in the air made the water not enticing at all. If I wouldn’t have seen people swimming in the water I would have never thought people actually swim in it and we chose not to. No beachy area, just mud and then the water is instantly a couple feet deep. So so much trash, we cleaned up other people’s alcohol bottles, clothes, and just garbage everywhere. Seems like a spot people come to party for the night and don’t care about the land. At night, the bugs were overwhelming. I expect bugs camping but we were getting pelted with cicadas to the face, maybe don’t come during cicada season. Lots of toads at night, not for sure if they are the ones that are poisonous to dogs but good to keep in mind just in case. I came here after seeing someone’s review about how great it was on another site, I wouldn’t come again but it could have been worse.