Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area

We arrived at 3pm and found one of the last spaces. There were 9 of us, 3 with small trailers, 2 vans, 2 truck campers, a small class A and a tenter. The protocol is to park sort of close to each other so there’s room for everyone. Pretty quiet at night except for the distant sound of the birds. Most arrive back between 4-6pm and they flew away about 20 minutes before sunrise. Set your alarm! Good vibe here, people seek this place out and are happy to be here. GPS( from Tombstone) had us driving down Coughlin Rd. We kept going past it, took a right at the next paved road and another right on Bagly, to Coughlin. It was a lot shorter distance on the dirt road that way.

We just happened onto this place when trying to find somewhere close to bisbee. Simple circle campground with pit toilets that stayed fairly full but there was overflow down the way if there wasn’t a spot. Saw so many birds in the morning and evening and spent the days in bisbee. No water and dust was the biggest downfall but so worth it if your in the area.

We woke to 18 degrees. We were toasty warm inside our camper but our pipes froze. We had planned to stay two nights but the cold changed our plans. We camped in the over flow camping area, room for at least six campers. This campground is just a large gravel lot, mainly level. It is about 1/2 mile down the road from the main area. There were four here. I would suggest you don’t even try camping in the main camping area, it’s too congested. We were here January 12th, during the week. Seeing the cranes take off in the morning is amazing. We had them fly right over our camper when they returned in the evening. We slept great, the only sounds were the animals. The birds were very noisy, but quite while sleeping.

You do not come here for the campground, you come for the sandhill cranes. They nest here during the winter. Day trips to Tombstone and Bisbee are doable; however, you will not want to miss the cranes when they come back around lunchtime.

There are a handful of picnic tables in the "campground" - three on the left; one on the right. It does not mean that there are only four campsites. We had no need for a picnic table (we brought our own) and so we parked nearer the information kiosk (top left of the area) so others could use the tables. There were four to five other campers on the west side of the camping area.

There are two more small single-RV parking areas closer to the main road. No picnic tables there.

Relatively flat - up two inches on one side. No fires.

The second parking lot does not allow camping. We saw an RV there one night and they were gone the next morning. Day visitors speed through the camping area and kick up dust. Keep your windows closed during the day. At night, crack a window so you can hear the cranes and coyotes.

There is a dumpster. Due to COVID there were five Porta-Potties.

No drinking water. Douglas has a massive Walmart. If you miss the driveway you will end up at the border. You are following customs signs as you turn for Walmart.

We visited this refuse in 2015 for a day. It made an impression and so we wanted to stay here for several days. It’s quiet, there are a few cars a day in and out, but no big deal. I think during Sandhill Crane season (Jan-Mar) the traffic is higher and the camp spots are harder to get. There were two other campers here when we arrived Apr 11, but both left the next morning. The cranes have all headed north already, but we enjoyed viewing the ducks, owls, ibis, and myriad Other birds.
There are 4 parking spots with picnic tables, and room for 2-4 other campers, depending on size. The pit toilets are clean (but no TP). The hatches on the back side of the latrines are not locked, and one could use these to dump waste tanks if need be. We did not. There is a small dumpster next to the latrine. The roads into the area are dirt/gravel, and some washboard. Not bad though.

This spot gets 5 stars with us because our expectation was more than met.
It is a safe place to stay for free, it had a dumpster for trash, and a toilet (nf).
Exactly as advertised.
There was even hand sanitizer in the bathroom :-)
There were only a few other campers parked here, so getting a spot was easy.
The other reviews are correct about the washboard gravel road, but we went slow (30 mph) for about 3 miles to get here.
We walked around the pond but didn't see the cranes, only ducks.
This was a peaceful place to sleep, and we would certainly stay here again.
This spot was our choice to be close to Bisbee.