Fortuna Pond

A Lake popular for fishing. Saw trout and catfish coming out. A couple of "residents" despite 14 day limit signs. Generally clean area with a dumpster. Sherriff came by daily - checked fish permits. North shore (all sun) most accessible to trailers but gets crowded. South shore has shade or sun and there's a narrow little peninsula where I sat by the lake and watched lot of birds. Cell service is poor but my Orbic hot spot picked up Verizon just fine.

First off, accessing this site is strange. One way takes you down an unpaved farm access road for MILES and the other way, a gravel access along a field. The sites were not marked well and kind of oddly scattered. The first thing that put me off was several of the obviously homeless long term (well beyond 14 days) tent sites that were overflowing with trash, which I don't understand because there are TWO DUMPSTERS on site within walking distance. There was also a huge site of an entire family that I assume were homeless based on the amount of trash and junk accumulated. According to some campers that have stayed a while, the portable toilets on site are regularly emptied at least once a week, but manage to get filled to the brim almost immediately by lazy, disgusting folks who dump their black water into the facilities rather than make the 15 minute trip to town to dump FOR FREE. Plenty of sketchy looking folks in and out, and apparently it gets jam-packed on the weekends. To make it even more appealing, there are LOTS of tires, couches, mattresses, etc just thrown along the side of the road. Whoever does this should be tarred, feathered, and drug by their ears behind a horse down a gravel road.

Too long to read? The sites were gross and we didn't even bother staying for more than an hour. Go somewhere else.

I stayed here a week in early November. The previous review mentions homeless, but when I stayed there I didn’t catch a bad vibe or meet anyone threatening, and it was patrolled daily by local rangers. It felt very safe. The sunsets and sunrises are breath taking here, especially if you take a walk along the fields. Really close to everything Yuma has to offer and it felt like we had our own private little oasis. The only drawback are the flies. Insane amount of flies. Almost comical. If you can get past that, I definitely recommend camping here.

I did not stay here too many homeless and too much garbage. Around the pond. The dirt road in was rutted and very hard on my 29 ft motor home. 3.2 miles in and the same out. About 14 miles from Yuma, AZ. I would not recommend this spot for a single woman. Might be good if you wanted to take a chance on your safety. Homeless aren't dangerous but I wasn't taking a chance.

About 4 miles from Yuma. Close distance to a chevron with free water and air. There is also a machine to purchase purified water.

The road in is a little bumpy, and lies on top of a canal bank. Road can be narrow certain areas, especially if you have a large rig. Drive carefully if expecting rain. It rained for 3 days while I was there and having 4x4 helps. Lots of mud and huge puddles from all the rain.

Lots of people but everyone was respectful. Generator friendly. Calm and quiet in the evenings. Dumpster and portable toilet on site. 14 day camping limit for free.

Note: bring your fishing pole and some night crawlers for some excellent cat fishing. I wouldn’t eat them tho, it’s a small pond next to a canal bank amongst agricultural fields, so their diet isn’t really the best for catch and eat.

Easy to get to from Yuma, about 4 miles down a dirt road running through agricultural fields. Really pretty pond with lots of beautiful bird life.

We came in January, on a Monday night and it was quite full. Everyone was still reasonably spread out But all the spots around the lake were taken.

We found a spot under a tree only to realise it had the prickly branches from hell that stuck to our shoes and nearly punctured a tire so we left that spot, found another among the brush but neatly got stuck in the sand, so ended up camping on one of the back roads on the harder sand.

It was nice. Quiet. Pretty. There is a portal potty and a dumpster so that was handy. AT&T was the best reception in the area, Yuma was terrible for our phones. All in all a convenient spot for a quick stay but not my style for a a long time.

We tent camped here one night before crossing the border to Mexico at Los Algodones. There isn’t much beauty in this area, but this is it!

Lots of campers but all super friendly, most long-stay residents.

Dogs loved swimming in the pond, our spot was quiet and secluded, and it was nice to walk the dirt roads.

Access is a bit of an issue. Dirt roads and steep hills to the campsites. Not sure I’d bring a large RV but there were plenty of them down there. I hear the fishing is good.