Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge

The location marked in this listing is a turn off to lots of camping spots on both sides of the road. Rd 210 and 227. However, there are several other spots in different areas. Be sure to download a map that shows all of them marked with green triangles. All are numbered. We stayed in site 77. We had to go through a gate off of 286 about 3 miles south of the visitors center. No other site around for about a mile. Road in could be muddy in rainy season. About a mile from Monroe Lake. Good AT&T signal also.

Sites are numbered and they are huge, flat, clean, easy access. OK for small and big rigs.
Camped after a lot of rain and roads were still nice and compacted.
All sites have great views and they are pretty apart from each other. They have fire rings with grill.
Perfect for wildlife sighting. Dogs on leash as no kidding coyotes and big cats in the area.
Almost nobody here in December

The grass and mesquite trees make you feel like you are in an overgrown orchard. The dispersed camping spots in Buenos Aires are marked with numbered posts. It is best to refer to the refuge map to see where the spots are located - https://www.fws.gov/refuge/buenos-aires/map. The map is roughly accurate though it appears that a few more sites have been squeezed in since the map was created. We stayed at site 60-A which is on a dirt road (210, I believe) that runs north and south from the Arivaca-Sasabe Road. Many of the campsites are along this road. At the intersection with this road and the Arivaca-Sasabe Road is a large area and signboard that can be convenient for leaving a trailer or motorhome and driving the backroads to find an available campsite. We found the roads to be in good condition and plenty of room to turn around in campsites. However, the farther back in you go, the rougher the roads get.

Nearly all of the sites are huge and can fit multiple RVs. There was no need to share when we were there in early March. We were told that it can get very busy in the fall during hunting season but otherwise is uncrowded. Most of the traffic on the road consists of Border Patrol vehicles. You will want to be careful walking along the road as on occasion the Patrol will come racing through at a high rate of speed. We did get AT&T as well as Verizon cell service at our camp. The AT&T signal was stronger north of the Arivaca-Sasabe Road and the Verizon signal was stronger to the south of the Road. However, there are still occasional dead spots out there, particularly in the washes.

Site 73 sets on the edge of a ridge overlooking the Baboquivari Mountains to the west and the San Luis Mountains to the southeast. The site is at 3600 feet of elevation and gives you an almost 360 degree view. It’s on road 201 and is not very washboarded but that said it’s a main road for the border patrol and you will have MANY trucks flying by. It’s a large site so several campers can fit.

This was our first time dry camping and we weren’t sure what to expect. The roads were clearly marked and it was easy to drive into the campsites with out 19-foot trailer. The campsites were far apart and off the road. It was easy to pull through with our trailer (no backing up). We had great cell signal from Verizon and were able to stream Disney+ easily. The site was very flat and the views were lovely. This is a very exposed area so I wouldn’t come here much later in the season- the sun and heat were already pretty intense in March.

The phone number did not work and there was very little post COVID info available but we headed down anyway.

We pulled a 26 foot Airstream and had no problems. We took the Arivaca road off of 286. Between mile marker 3 & 4 is the main dirt road which has most of the campsites. You do not have to go check in at this time. The visitors center is closed but there was a very nice volunteer (Barbara) who answered all our questions.

We turned north and passed many suitable campsites most unoccupied (we arrived on a Saturday). Great dry camping experience.

T-Mobile had 2 bars and download speed was 35mbps. Upload speed VERY SLOW. AT&T had 2 bars. I didn’t try a speed test.

We stayed here for the first two weeks of February 2020, then came back for another two weeks in March. We absolutely loved it! It was so quiet, except for the coyotes at night. The site was big, high, and dry, with a large fire pit. We were 1/4 mile in off the highway, along a dirt road that was easily accessible for our rig - although you wouldn’t want to try to tow your rig in during rainy weather as the dirt becomes mud. Other than that - awesome Boondocking spot!