Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area

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.

What an amazing area with all of the cranes and other bird life. Busy with day use vehicles in the morning and afternoon but quiet at night. Not sure if generators are allowed but no one had one on and the other RVs had solar like me, so all was great. Road in was graded but only a few places with mild washboard. Vault toilet and dumpster.

We really enjoyed our stay here and the ability to watch all the Sandhill Cranes! The camping is basically a circle with a (clean) pit toilet in the middle. We were here on the weekend and there were lots of people driving in and out to see the cranes all day, and kicking up quite a bit of dust. This is the reason for only 4 stars. But it was amazingly quiet here at night and we could hear the cranes inside our trailer. FYI - to the tick story, they only live in long grass, so if you stay on the trails, there should be no problem. A tick check after being out if you are concerned should also help, as ticks don't lock on very quickly and can be easily removed. Coming in via Bagby was shorter gravel and less washboarded than coming in from the north.

Our dog got at least 4 ticks. We are looking for more. We had to go into town and wash all our bedding. This is the only time in a year of traveling we’ve experienced ticks.

Besides, this is far from town and the town is awesome and best experienced at night. It’s worth paying to stay at an RV Park.

Don’t stay here.

Update: We found more ticks and read up. There is an invasive tick species here that can give humans diseases too. In order to get rid of the ticks we have to have our entire trailer bombed and dry everything cloth in high heat for 30 minutes. We will also have to be out of the RV and my truck, which also has to be bombed, for 24 hours. Thus this ends our RV Life for now and we got an apartment. Really warning you, don’t take the risk. It’s just not worth it.

We came in because it was so close to Tombstone and Bisbee which we wanted to explore and we heard about the cranes so we were even more excited. However, we only saw one crane. Maybe we came at the wrong time? All the lake beds were dried up except for one small one. But we are still happy with our choice to be here. It's beautiful and peaceful.
Roads getting here are a bit rough on the trailer but just go slow.

We enjoyed a lovely sunset walk around the lake to view the cranes in the evening and woke up early the next morning to catch the cranes in flight. Even getting up at 6am in March we will still missed most of them, You really need to be up before dawn!

We had a neighbor that ran their generator all night long, and the cranes are noisy, but overall it was a great experience for overnight.

There are officially four campsites at Whitewater Draw. Parking is on a gravel surface and a metal pipe barrier loosely encloses a picnic table within the greater open space. A tent easily fits within this barrier, and a 35ft Class A, plus tow vehicle, can comfortably park within the designated site. Maximum stay is three nights. Many campers leave early in the morning, and although it fills up in the afternoon, many people are amenable to sharing a site for the night. No services available at Whitewater Draw. It was not overly busy while we were there in early March 2015.

We stayed three nights with inclement weather, and on the third night, thousands of cranes returned to the lake just before 5:00 p.m. They were not as active in the mornings, but that may have been due to the stormy weather.

Dogs are permitted and we greatly enjoyed taking a family walk each day. There are some other trails in the area that lead toward the nearby ranches. Some folks on horseback passed through on one of the days. There are coyotes in the area, so just be cautious at night.

The nearest dump station is at Double Adobe Campground and Shotgun Sports.
$4 for water fill and $8 to dump
5057 W Double Adobe Rd, Mc Neal, AZ 85617
http://www.doubleadobe.com/
Phone: (520) 364-4000

Avoid Bagby road, which was very washboard. Lee Road was much smoother.

AT&T 4G coverage may have been available, but our device is not capable.

The camping area at Whitewater Draw is a round parking lot with a vault toilet in the middle. There are a few picnic tables with tent spots.

When we were here it was packed. RVs were parked parallel to the perimeter and cars were parked perpendicular in between the RVs.

If it's too crowded when you visit, the sportsmans access north of here was pretty empty during our stay.

We saw a few cranes fly in before sunset, but for us, the cranes put on the big show right as the sun was rising. I recommend going out to the viewing area before sunrise so you don't miss anything.

Be sure to visit owls that live in the covered pavilion!