Camping on BLM land

[jorboy]

Is there any restrictions or safety issues we should be aware of if we camp on BLM land in the southwest (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona)?

 

[Jeff]

BLM seems to create a lot of local regulations. Around Quartzsite AZ they have LTAs that charge for a two week permit ($20) or a season pass ($140 I think) and free areas that limit your stay to two weeks, the LTAs have generator hours and other rules because of the concentration of RVers.

 

[halfwright]

Google the BLM website for the state you want to boondock in. It gives the rules and locations, plus the ohone number of the state office.

 

[Kevin Means]

I don't know about TX or NM but Jeff is correct about AZ. Each year for nearly 20 years, we've headed over to an area called KOFA, which is about 30 miles south of Quartzite (My favorite place on planet Earth). You're allowed to camp there for free for up to two weeks. In that particular area there are no camping permits available that would allow you to stay longer.

Kev

 

[jorboy]

Jeff, what is an LTA? and how about safety? Also for Quartzite because of the enormous amount of RVer's is there room for all and is it 1st come?

 

[Barb]

Long Term Visitor Area. Usually LTA's have dump stations and potable water you can take on. That's why the price is higher.

 

[Wendy]

LTVA = Long Term Visitor Area

Cost in the western Arizona/eastern California is $40 for 2-weeks, $180 for season, with several free areas with 2 week limits.

Never felt unsafe. Never saw a lack of empty space.

 

[Larry N.]

...is there room for all and is it 1st come?

I guess it's first come in the sense that you don't move someone out of your way, though you can park next to them (if you want to -- not necessary, since there's lots of room), and there are no reservations -- they're not needed. It's a BIG desert, not a parking lot or three, or even a hundred. It'll hold several times the number of RVs that show up now (in the tens of thousands now -- doesn't crowd things at all). Other than "don't park on a cactus"...

Note that we had upwards of 30 rigs in the RVForum "area*" and there was room for at least twice that many again without crowding (and a lot of room left over, too) -- more, if we expanded the area. If just nearby, hundreds more could park within easy walking distance of our campfire. And there are many square miles of parking.

* Our "area" was mostly defined by a gap in the bushes/brush/cactus that was something over a couple of hundred feet wide by a few thousand feet long. See the first attached pic which shows a portion (far from all) of the RVForum "area." The second pic is looking in the opposite direction from the first, and shows others out of our "area," along with the entrance "road."