Gunsight Wash

Maybe our standards of peaceful, quiet and empty are different from other reviewers or maybe we were just there at an unusually busy time (mid-February) but I found the place to be zoo-like and overcrowded!

It felt more like an RV park with lots of people crammed in, especially up front. There were some better spots further back, but the road washes out in places.

All that said, it’s a totally fine spot - we enjoyed ourselves and found everyone to be very pleasant and respectful, it just isn’t our ideal boondocking environment.

Location can’t be beat if you’re heading to the monument. You do have to go through border patrol each way, but no biggie. And, as another reviewer said, the campground at Organ Pipe is pretty crammed, it does have water and showers, but we preferred staying here, just don’t expect to have the place to yourself!

Great site only a couple miles from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

So much nicer, less congested and quiet than the campground in the park. Please don’t misinterpret me, the campgrounds in the park are fabulous. They are some of the best in any NP. We just prefer the quiet Boondocking.

Great sun exposure for those chasing the warmth or solar power capability.

We have 4 bars of cellular (Verizon).

We will definitely be returning to this area and this campsite.

Despite having lived across all of Mexico for a year and a half, my wife found something disturbing about Gunsight Wash. I did not share her sentiment, but I can appreciate it nonetheless. We sleep with our van doors open completely, two young children in tow, and this is how we have done it every single night regardless of what state, country or setting we find ourselves in, for years now. So if she says she’s uncomfortable, it warrants attention.

Thus, we moved the second day into the park proper. And I’m glad we did, for no other reason than Twin Peaks is paradise for $16 a night while Gunsight Wash is just a little better than just okay. Big cottonwoods cast lovely shade and previous campers have constructed impressive fire pits. A variety of animal waste, including much cow poo, adds a secondary lingering scent atop the creosote smell. No one else was camping there during our stay, which if there were other campers, I bet she would have felt safer.

We saw a man in handcuffs with a border patrol agent flashing his truck lights as we drove into the park. The visitor center is named for an agent who was killed by a drug smuggler. I believe in completely open borders and support any notion that Mexico is a wonderful country full of amazing people, and think if there were no need to immigrate illegally we would have a safer, more well rounded and diversely powerful nation. I don’t imagine most folks are trying to cross this harsh land with the intentions of hurting anyone and thus increasing their odds of being caught and tossed back to Mexico. All of that said, and while we actually had absolutely no problems, I believe those who are concerned that some amount of true danger could exist are not necessarily wrong.

I just don’t think 99% of us will ever run directly into it, and while we were alone here, i saw evidence that this place serves as a Winter snowboarding retreat for more than a few RVers at a time.

Very easy access to many spots that are level. Good star gazing at night. We felt very safe here. Good bike riding and easy access to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We have a 44 foot fifth wheel and had to problems finding a good spot. There were about 20 Rv's when we were there....plenty of space! Make sure you do not attempt to drive in at night when you are initially arriving. It is way too dark and there are huge holes and washouts.

Room for lots of people here. I would say we saw at least 30 rigs here. Fairly quiet. A few generators run at what I would call inconsiderate hours, a few minutes of loud music,a couple of family squabbles...

It can be hard to get out of sight of other campers here, but there are some spots along the edge of the main wash which are quite secluded. Worth looking for.

This is a great location for going to Organ Pipe NM.

The entrance to Gunsight Wash is right at mile marker 55. Go over the bridge over the wash, and turn right at the end of the fence. Snake around to the right, cross the cattle guard, then turn immediately left for the south side area, or go straight on for the center and north side. The camping area goes in at least a mile, and is perhaps a mile wide. There is a maze of good quality dirt roads, but Google maps knows them, and if you set your site location as your "home" pin, it can navigate you right back to your site in the dark.

This is quite a pleasant camping area, but not very scenic. Its main benefit is being right outside Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. There were fewer than 20 campers in mid-December when I was there, so I had complete privacy. I got to talk to others who were walking or cycling. The site I chose was completely level.

A camper told me that BLM does not enforce the 14-day limit, and he and some others were there for the winter. There was a camp host when I arrived, but he left while I was there. The Why fire department and residents at Coyote Howls RV Park arrange a schedule of pot luck dinners, Bible studies, card games, hikes, and a Christmas dinner. The schedule is posted on a board at the Gunsite Wash entrance.

You can dump your tanks and get water for a fee at Coyote Howls RV Park. I was told there is a free faucet at the closed-down gas station in Why, but I did not go look for it. I bought water at the Glacier machine ($1 for 5 gallons) at the Circle K gas station in Ajo. There is one good grocery store in Ajo, a combined IGA grocer and ACE Hardware on Hwy 85 at the north end of town. The other grocers were pretty bare.

If you are concerned about illegals and smuggling, this is probably one of the safer areas to be. There is a Border Patrol area headquarters compound just to the north, and a Border Patrol inspection station two miles to the south, close enough that you can see its lights at night.

It was quiet most of the time, but it is just to the south of the Barry Goldwater Air Force Range. The week I was there, the Singapore Armed Forces were visiting, and the range had announced increased operations. There were flight operations some evenings, and it was interesting to watch the lights of the jets dogfighting and doing ground attack runs.

It's a decent camp area, a bit of a maze, but plenty of spots. Stay on the road to the south side for the best spots and access. Not real quiet with the highway and air traffic. Border Patrol stays very busy here. We did see signs (in Organ Pipes) of trafficking, but none near this camp.
Two years later we stayed here again. The place has shrunk because of flood damage though there are still many sites. This is likely our last visit because of the overall lack of privacy and noise.