Cibola National Wildlife Refuge

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.

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.

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.

🙄 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.

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.

We started off planning to stay near Blythe on the Colorado River for a few days to catch up on our blog, but a review here on Campendium drew us to this special campsite across from Cibola National Wildlife Refuge. We are birders and love to visit every wildlife refuge we can, so this spot won out over the Levee Road campsites.

This campsite is on BLM land directly across from the Cibola NWR Visitor Center on Cibola Lake Road, which is about 20 miles south of I-10. The road from I-10 traverses lots of farmland and is in bad shape in some sections (expect lots of bumps, but nothing to worry about). Take Neighbors Road south from I-10, and then veer to the right onto River Road and cross a narrow bridge over the Colorado River. You are now in Arizona. River Road becomes Cibola Lake Road, and the entrance to the campsite is on the left just before the entrance to the NWR on the right.

We are somewhat new to boondocking, with a 30-foot travel trailer anyway. We previously dry camped many times in a pickup truck, but we have only dry camped a few times so far in our Arctic Fox. When we first saw the narrow entrance to the BLM land and the old cattle guard we had to cross, we were a little hesitant. However, we made it just fine with our truck and travel trailer. To get to most of the campsites, there is a hill that is a bit rocky with some ruts, so high clearance is helpful. Once over this small hill, there are multiple campsites. We picked the first one on the left to be close enough to the refuge to see the sandhill cranes fly in each evening.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time here. We heard sandhill cranes, snow geese, and Canada geese daily and coyotes every night. The sunsets behind the jagged desert mountains were beautiful. The moon rose behind a saguaro cactus every night, and the skies were dark enough for stargazing. We spent several days exploring various parts of the wildlife refuge, and on other days we took strolls through the desert on the BLM land.

On our way out, we dumped our waste tanks at the Blythe Wastewater Treatment Plant for $7.

We highly recommend this free campsite for nature lovers, and those who like peace and quiet. We did have some people go by on ATVs to play on the BLM trails, but it didn't really disturb the peaceful setting all that much.

Very easy to get to. Off the beaten path but paved all the way in. Digital TV works great! Good cell signal. Lots of birds! Good access to the Colorado River is nearby. There is a fee area very close called Oxbow Lake CG on the Cibola NWR. I plan to try some kayak floats on the Colorado River. Temps a little cool but expected in the 80's next week!
See my YouTube video(s) on this area describing how to get there, etc. at https://youtu.be/jacYVwW4fJg

We spent five days at the BLM camping area across from the Cibola Wildlife Refuge headquarters and absolutely loved it. We couldn't believe we were the only ones camping in such a beautiful location (and free!). Just twenty minutes south of Blythe there is shopping and dining and fuel close by. The park headquarters are just across the road for information on the refuge and its inhabitants. There are trails for walking, biking, or OHV heading east into the BLM land that will take you right back to the mountains and the Yuma Proving Grounds. The geese, ducks and cranes land in the refuge every morning and evening to feed in the fields and the sights and sounds are spectacular if you're a nature lover. We also saw mule deer, wild burros, and a raccoon, had hummingbirds galore and listened to the coyotes every evening.

The camping is BLM basic but there are many level sites that are not too difficult to get into for even a large rig. We pull a 30-foot fifth wheel with a second trailer behind for our side-by-side OHV and had no issue getting in.

Cell service has 3-4 bars depending on the choice of site. The area is on a slope so the higher you go, the better the service.

If you like some elbow room, enjoy the quiet and love nature, I'd highly recommend this spot.