Nine Mile Ranch & Bunkhouse

This is my wife's new favorite campground. It is the type of camping we like to do. There were no hookups but there is water available to fill up your tanks and a dump site to empty them. The campground is mostly grass covered with gravel roads. Spots are well laid out and easy to find. There are large pull thru sites as well as smaller sites perfect for smaller units or tents. Fire rings and picnic tables were available at each site. Many of the sites that were away from the trees had covers over the picnic table area. I suggest you go to the official website and watch the video that describes this area. The book they speak of was for sale at the campground. It is $30 but with it we want on an adventure to try and find as many of the petroglyphs and other historical items listed in the book. We spent all day and found almost everyone. It was very entertaining trying to locate everything highlighted in the book. You can walk right up to many of the petroglyphs but others are best viewed with binoculars. In the end, the price of the book was well worth the entertainment value we received. At night we realized this is one of the best dark sky areas we have been to. The star gazing was amazing. When we were there in mid September there were only 4 or 5 other campers. It was nice and quite. There is absolutely no cell phone service in the canyon. This could be a great adventure for a family to get everyone's face out of the screens and realize the beauty around you.

We tried finding 9 Mile Ranch with our GPS which took us to a turn out. Google maps said to keep going so we did. Finally saw the signs that we were entering 9 Mile Canyon and the Ranch sign is right at mile marker 24. The turn into the ranch is tight but we were OK in our 35' 5th wheel. We checked in and filled our water tank at the house/office and pulled into our site B (pull through). Although we were not in shade, there was a covered picnic table and we were a short walk from the bath house. We made reservations on-line (seems they use a reservation service now) The campground was full on Memorial Day Weekend but emptied out during the week. The showers had very low water pressure but were adequate for a quick clean up. Bathrooms were adequate - dated but clean.The one negative is that there is NO cell service (T-Mobile or AT&T). The great thing about this place is the drive up the canyon to see several stops with hikes to amazing petroglyphs. Would stay here again if I were looking to totally unplug and enjoy nature. The prairie dogs provide lots of entertainment!

Warning: DO NOT TAKE BIG RIGS FARTHER THAN THE RANCH ON THE CANYON ROAD. There are numerous "DIPS" where spillways for water control were put in and some are very narrow and deep.

Right on the Nine Mie Canyon road, this is a working cattle ranch with a few dozen sites pleasantly located under the trees next to the creek. Many of the sites are attractive, nicely private and treed. There are several loop-through places for big rigs, and many that would work for groups (try the last one on the road). They also have cabins. The family running the ranch also provide showers for $3. They also will cook for you and lead tours, if arranged in advance. The flush toilets are clean and well maintained. I don't think there were any hook-up sites, but check their web site.

Reservations are problematic. They didn't answer our phone call so we just drove there and all was fine. By evening most of the spots were taken, in late September. It looks like they do try to hold special sites for big rigs (as we were kicked out of our first choice!).

This IS a working ranch - cow pies in the sites! (But nice lawn) At one point a cowboy chased a pack of cows out of the campground with an ATV! All part of the fun.