Cibola National Wildlife Refuge
BLM
Write a Review South Cibola Lake Road Cibola, AZ 85328 928-857-3253 Official WebsiteGPS: 33.3635, -114.6664
Overview of Cibola National Wildlife Refuge
Accessibility is not guaranteed, always scout ahead before driving down dirt roads.
Learn more: Boondocking 101
Last Price Paid: $0
Reported by DeanandMel on 1/20/2023
Longest RV Reported: 33 feet (Class A)
Reported by Restlessbynature on 2/12/2017
Elevation 229 ft / 69 m
Max Stay 14
Tent Camping Yes







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To ask questions of the owner or manager please contact the campground directly. 928-857-3253
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Reviews of Cibola National Wildlife Refuge 13 people have reviewed this location.
“Really nice gravel parking lot”
Reviewed 1/20/2023
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 4 |
Basically a gravel parking lot. Two levels, second level is a little bumpy to get to. Wide open areas with lots of space between sites and not very busy. Entrance gate is a little narrow. Very quiet not much activity going on. Visitor center is worth a visit, good displays and the drive tour is good for bird watching. All in all a very... more
Basically a gravel parking lot. Two levels, second level is a little bumpy to get to. Wide open areas with lots of space between sites and not very busy. Entrance gate is a little narrow. Very quiet not much activity going on. Visitor center is worth a visit, good displays and the drive tour is good for bird watching. All in all a very nice boondocking area for a few nights
DeanandMel would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Lovely setting & fun watching waterfowl & birds ”
Reviewed 2/6/2022
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 4 |
Easy access. Open space, level enough. Beautiful mountains views and sunsets. Neighbors around but plenty of space to pick to be further apart. We were here early Feb, parked near the back before the road climbs up, by a tree. We checked weather ahead and knew that we would have a day of super strong wind, 60 mph gusts, all day so deci... more
Easy access. Open space, level enough. Beautiful mountains views and sunsets. Neighbors around but plenty of space to pick to be further apart. We were here early Feb, parked near the back before the road climbs up, by a tree. We checked weather ahead and knew that we would have a day of super strong wind, 60 mph gusts, all day so decided to stay down low. Parked our airstream front heading into the wind. We stayed indoor all day that windy day to do household chores and planning for the next location.
Highly recommend taking the Auto Tour by the Visitor Center, across the road. We did this multiple times, in the mornings and late afternoons. Lots of birds to see - widgeons, coots, geese, sandhill cranes, egrets, flycatcher! Even a coyote. Do bring your binocular or scope. The Visitor Center was closed due to Covid, but it was a treat to hand out there some to watch the hummingbirds at the feeders there. They are super territorial and live to chase each other away from their feeder. We took hikes from our camp spot. Just walked out across the desert floor in any direction you want. Love that flexibility We’d definitely stay here again. Verizon 2 to 3 bars LTE that worked fine for us.
Chau would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Lovely and Quiet.”
Reviewed 12/8/2020
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 10 |
Site Number: | NA |
Very easy access and plenty of space for any size rig. Only four of us out here with only two in my sight! Right across the road from the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge office. decent Verizon signal and a great expanse to explore!
Larry would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Secluded, great views, and easy access!”
Reviewed 3/31/2020
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 6 |
Loved this spot! Lots of areas to choose from. There were only 2 other boondockers while I was there and they were about 1/2 mile away from me.
Wonderful views of the sunrise and sunset.
Great spot if you’re looking for seclusion!
Ectocooler390 would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
Reviewed 1/1/2019
Days stayed: | 2 |
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The campsite itself was fairly desolate and exposed to your neighbors, but walk 100 feet and you had the beautiful river and tons of interesting scrubland hiking. Lots of wildlife.
Mark would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“peaceful”
Reviewed 3/15/2018
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 5 |
This has been the most peaceful place I've camped in. The road that divides the Cibola Wildlife refuge and the boondocking spot across the street is not used much. During these times of silence, it sounds as if the birds at the refuge are directly adjacent to the camping spot. Flies and bees can be heard. There are no actual hiking tra... more
This has been the most peaceful place I've camped in. The road that divides the Cibola Wildlife refuge and the boondocking spot across the street is not used much. During these times of silence, it sounds as if the birds at the refuge are directly adjacent to the camping spot. Flies and bees can be heard. There are no actual hiking trails but certain much land to walk and hike. There are very few dirt roads that can be hiked on for quite some distance. Time is the limit of how far one can hike. Others were camping there at quite some distance and yet no sounds could be heard. The sunsets and sunrises are fantastic. On one night the wind blew very hard. It certainly felt threatening at times. Just as the sun begins to set, the howling of coyotes can be heard and the soaring of bats can be seen and heard. A short walk across the road is the Cibola wildlife refuge. There are restrooms, a walking path with informational placards and the "auto tour" road. What a sight it is to witness the birds moving around in droves. After a great day, conclude it with a campfire as one sits facing the sunset.
lilrusty would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Beautiful location. Lots of wildlife.”
Reviewed 3/5/2018
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 14 |
Site Number: | 2nd on right after dip |
The road south from I-10 (exit 236) is good except for the short section through Imperial County, which is severely potholed. The highway bridge across the Colorado has a sign on the Arizona side that says, "This bridge constitutes a danger. Use at your own risk. Private bridge." It seems sturdy, and serves the whole area around the re... more
The road south from I-10 (exit 236) is good except for the short section through Imperial County, which is severely potholed. The highway bridge across the Colorado has a sign on the Arizona side that says, "This bridge constitutes a danger. Use at your own risk. Private bridge." It seems sturdy, and serves the whole area around the refuge. Perhaps the danger relates to the decaying safety rails at the sides.
The BLM entrance is through a gate with a cattle guard opposite the Wildlife Refuge headquarters road. The dirt road goes back less than 1/2 mile from the highway. There is a 5 ft deep dip part way back. My 21 ft trailer got through with no trouble, but I saw a 5th wheel, that I would estimate to be 30 ft, get stuck. You certainly could not get a big rig through it.
I counted 6 campsites before the dip, and 6 sites on the far side of it, plus a large area on the left that would make 6 or 8 sites with no privacy. All the sites look level. The ground looks solid, but the large area on the left has patches of deep, fine sand with a deceptive crust. I saw a van get thoroughly stuck, and evidence of other deep ruts into the sand.
Everything about the camping area is excellent, as is the wildlife refuge. Driving around the refuge most evenings before sunset, I saw coyotes, mule deer, burros, burrowing owls, cranes, ducks, geese, and many other birds.
You can access the river levee road from Baseline Road north of the refuge, and drive south along the river bank, then past the end of the levee road to the Cibola Lake overlook, and then on into the Trigo Mountains Wilderness. If you go into the wilderness, you have to come back out the way you went in. I found that of the other two roads out shown on google maps, one was closed and the other washed out.
Within a few hundred feet on the north side of I-10 exit 240 in Blythe, there are Albertsons and Smart And Final grocery stores, and a Rite Aid with Glacier water machines (25 cents per gallon). The Shell gas station on the north side of exit 239 refills propane, and has a dumpster. Go to the Flying J at Arizona exit 1 for gas. Arizona is over $1 cheaper per gallon than California. There is a laundromat on the north side of exit 1. It has a water hose for 75 cents for an unspecified amount of water, a Glacier machine at a rip-off price, and dumpsters. The Blythe wastewater treatment plant on South Broadway has a spotlessly clean, $7 dump station. The open-hours are limited, so check online.
John T would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Quiet, peaceful and great night skies.”
Reviewed 2/25/2018
Days stayed: | 2 |
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Found this boondock site here on Capendium (thanks, previous reviewers!). Access was easy - the exit off of I-10 near Blythe, CA for Cibola National Wildlife Refuge is well signed and from there it's about 20 miles on a paved two-lane road to the Refuge Headquarters and Visitors' Center. Access to the BLM land is almost directly acros... more
Found this boondock site here on Capendium (thanks, previous reviewers!). Access was easy - the exit off of I-10 near Blythe, CA for Cibola National Wildlife Refuge is well signed and from there it's about 20 miles on a paved two-lane road to the Refuge Headquarters and Visitors' Center. Access to the BLM land is almost directly across the road from the Reuge entrance. Dirt/gravel road crosses a cattle grate and is a little bumpy but OK for just about any size rig I'd say, although it gets rockier the farther in you go. There is room for maybe a dozen or so rigs, depending on how close you like to b to your neighbor and how close they might want to be to you. When we were there, we saw only two other rigs so everybody had plenty of elbow room.
The Refuge is well worth a visit! We spent both days slowly driving the many gravel roads that crisscross the Refuge and saw lots of birds (sandhill cranes being the most interesting, but also ducks, kestrels, kingfishers, red wing blackbirds, egrets, and even a burrowing owl). We also saw deer, coyotes and wild burros.
I don't remember just what our AT&T coverage was, but it was good enough to get online and send and receive emails.
Evergreengirl would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Don't use Apple maps to get here from the west...”
Reviewed 1/7/2018
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 4 |
Site Number: | 0 |
🙄 I am writing this mostly because of the mess I went through to get to this place. It's been one day, and I think it's great, although a bit far off of I-10. Well, let me rephrase that... it's a bit far off of I-10 IF YOU USE APPLE MAPS- which I never ever use, but just this once, I had to rely on it. Big mistake, of course. It routed... more
🙄 I am writing this mostly because of the mess I went through to get to this place. It's been one day, and I think it's great, although a bit far off of I-10. Well, let me rephrase that... it's a bit far off of I-10 IF YOU USE APPLE MAPS- which I never ever use, but just this once, I had to rely on it. Big mistake, of course. It routed me so it took about 55 minutes once I was off 10. Should have taken about 30 minutes, max.
Why did I use Apple maps? I was using Find Friends to find my business partner and it automatically relayed me to Apple Maps. I didn't have coordinates that I was aware of, so I just used it, thinking 'what could go wrong?'. Well, first, it took me onto a horrible dirt road that was so SO washboarded, I could barely move forward at all. Thank god the dirt road finally ended (I still had quite a ways to go). Next It took me into a neighborhood and tried to take me down roads that A. didn't exist, or B. were a dead end. Thank god I can back up my 24' travel trailer quite well. I got some real hardcore stank eye from a couple of residents, but I got out of there. Finally I was close enough to quit following Apple Maps and just route my own way the last mile and a half or so.
So far it's a cool spot- great ATT internet and Verizon, you can hear the Sandhill Cranes in the lake across the way, and I saw a burro trail, so they are definitely here somewhere. Looking forward to seeing or even just hearing them.
Rv Chickadee would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Peaceful spot with beautiful scenery ”
Reviewed 12/26/2017
Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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Days stayed: | 2 |
Site Number: | N/a |
Private, peaceful, and easily accessible. There was a nice little wildlife refuge office with fossils, feathers, and activity posters that the kids. The scenery was beautiful and there were a few trails. We didn’t see any Burros or Big Horn Sheep but I think if we had stayed longer we would have spotted a few because their tracks were ... more
Private, peaceful, and easily accessible. There was a nice little wildlife refuge office with fossils, feathers, and activity posters that the kids. The scenery was beautiful and there were a few trails. We didn’t see any Burros or Big Horn Sheep but I think if we had stayed longer we would have spotted a few because their tracks were everywhere. Definitely a nice quiet spot to rest for awhile.
Weelittlenomads would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
noted 1/4/2021
Tried to get here coming from CA on the 10 East. Exited 78 South, turns into River Rd but the bridge is closed going over the river. Ended up camping on Ehrenberg-Cibola Rd BLM area since it seemed like we would have to be off road for about 26 miles to get here.
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Northern Hitchhikers
AB, CanadaSweet Refuge
Generally, the trip so far has been very suitable for a guy like me, one who prefers a quiet, rural location with good places to walk, some off-leash freedom, and nothing to disturb my afternoon nap...
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Amenities
Hookups
- dry camping
- Dispersed Camping
Pets
- pets
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