Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area

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.

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.