Bonito Campground

Date of stay: Sept. 30- Oct. 5, 2019...price $12.50 reflects 50% Access Pass discount...Even though this is dry camping with drinking water available but no fill or dump, it is a beautiful campground. We chose #7 for the most sun exposure we could get to power our solar. The restrooms were clean with flush toilets and (nice!) soap. No showers are available in the park. The sites had great paved patios with fire rings, barrel grills, and concrete picnic tables. Firewood is available for $7/bundle, 3 for $20, but gathering wood is permitted. Ice is also available for sale. The camp hosts were great, and they came around to collect the fees rather than visitors having to backtrack to a pay station. The campground borders the Sunset Crater National Monument which is easily accessible on foot. There is also more hiking down the road off the group camp area. Even though the campground filled up during our stay, it never felt crowded and was very quiet. We didn't have cell service at our site, but a short walkn or bike ride out the entrance gained enough for some basic communication.

Many reviews are old, but rest assured that this still a wonderful place to camp. Hosts are very friendly and conscientious about maintaining all sites and facilities! Plenty of trees but still enough sun for our solar panel.
We paid $12.50 per night with the 50% National parks pass discount.
No cell service within the campground, but less than a mile away is a turnout with service.
No reservations. First come, first serve campground only.

When we pulled into the campground, we were really impressed with how well spaced the sites were, the wonderful forest around us and the friendliness of the camp hosts. The availability of potable water is always nice, and it's close enough to town for good food (and car repairs) if you need it, and lots of hiking and adventure to be had nearby.

Bonito is located in a nonactive "Lava Flow". Short hikes can reveal some interesting sights. This campground is right at the entrance to Sunset Crater National Monument. For an entrance fee, you can drive to the base of Sunset Crater there are wonderful views of an inactive volcano. It's amazing to see the cooled lava and the havoc it brought on the area hundreds of years ago. That's not all. Continue driving to view the Wukoki Pueblo ruins in the Wupakti National Monument, which is accessed for the same entry fee. Also, you can tour the cliff ruins behind the visitors center and the blowhole. There's lots of interesting history here.

The campground, while clean, offers restrooms, trash service, and water is available. There is no Dump station. Some sites are quite close and not very private. Note: they do honor the Senior Lifetime Pass.

What impressed us most was the open and spacious nature of this campground. 100 feet to the next camper on one side and a little less on the other.

Very clean with asphalt pads (ours was level) and concrete walkways and pads around the picnic tables.

Larger rigs may have problems fitting but there was plenty of room for our 25 foot trailer plus the F250 crew cab right in front.

Very helpful and friendly staff.

The visitors center for Sunset Crater is right across the street and there are hiking trails right out of the campground that leads to the crater.

Not a place to be if you are looking for cell service

We normally boondock directly across the highway from the turnoff to Bonito, but when I realized this one had never had a review, I decided to give it a try. The Forest Service campground is located immediately outside of the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and is operated by a contractor. Open seasonally, this is the first time we've actually found it open. The campground has lots of pine trees and no low brush so it's very open between sites. There are three separate bathroom buildings with flush toilets scattered the length of the single, one-way, loop road. The loop road, and all of the sites, are asphalt in very good condition. There is water available at the bathroom but it is not for filling RV tanks. There is no dump station, no electrical, and no connectivity on any of the big three cell networks.

On average, the sites are relatively short. Large rigs will have limited choices, but medium sized rigs will fit nearly all sites. In my opinion, the big drawback is the number of sites are 'parallel parking' style ON THE WRONG SIDE of the road. That, combined with a relatively high price (our price reflects the 50% senior discount) for a basic FS campground, and that almost all of the sites will require some (often significant) leveling, will lead me back to boondocking on the other side of the highway.