RC Airstrip State Trust Land

There are three types of public land in Arizona where dispersed camping is permitted - BLM land, National Forest land, and Arizona Trust land. Camping on BLM land and NF land is completely free but Arizona Trust land has a small yearly fee. The time limit is different too. While all of them allow 14 day at one location, Arizona Trust land allows only 14 days for the entire year. This can be split between locations but it's still just 14 days in total. 

We've stopped for quick overnights on Arizona Trust land a couple of times without getting a permit, risking a fine, but since we planned to stay at this site for several days we decided we better do it legally. The permit is easy to get by applying online, then either printing out the receipt or saving a photo of it. 

The RC Airstrip was originally the Catalina Mountain School, a boy's juvenile correctional school, that was in operation from 1967 until 2011 when the boys were transferred to other facilities. All of the buildings were removed leaving parking lots, foundation slabs, roads, and large trees intact. This gives campers an option of places to park. There's a large paved lot near the entrance and a large dirt lot a little farther in. The slabs vary in size from room for one vehicle to large enough for a group. There are also spots under the trees if you want shade. The roads around the slabs are in fairly good condition but the outer edge roads have some rough patches. Walk them first to be safe. The entire area is about 200 acres so there's plenty of room for everyone. 

We really liked this spot for the beautiful scenery and the roads that made good walking/rolling trails. It's also very clean and quiet except for the traffic noise from Oracle Road. Grocery stores, Home Depot, Walmart, a free dump station and fresh water, and almost anything else that could be needed or wanted is within ten miles. 

We camped in the dirt lot. If you chose that location, park along the long sides and leave the ends open for the old guys that come every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday morning to fly their remote control planes. The trust land is also used by horseback riders, walkers, and occasionally kids on dirt bikes and ATVs. Camping  32.47014, -110.92091

Route 79 Pull Off

This large pull off is good for a quick overnight spot. I think it's BLM land but it's close to the road so it's not a place were we would stay for days. If we come this way again I'm going to check out Freeman Road which is about 1.2 miles north on the opposite side of the road and travels through BLM land for about a mile. This a very pretty part of the Sonoran Desert, overflowing with various kinds of cacti, trees and bushes.  

 Hard packed ground makes rolling fairly easy.

The pull off is large enough for any vehicle. BLM  32.76311, -111.15012 

McFarland State Historic Park

 McFarland State Historic Park is an historic museum is housed in the 1878 Pinal County Courthouse. Originally the sheriff's office, the courtroom, the judge's chambers, and the jail were all in the courthouse. The park, created in 1979, was named after Ernest W. McFarland, the governor at the time, who bought the building and helped fund the renovations. 

Museum exhibits include local history on sheriffs and criminals, details about the local WWII prison camp for captured German soldiers, and an exhibit about McFarland's important contributions to the state of Arizona and the country. 

All exhibits are on the first floor. A ramp provides access to the porch, the first museum gallery, and gift shop. To access the other galleries a member of the staff must unlock an additional door farther along the porch.  The threshold at this door is slightly high. 

The parking lot is too small for RVs but street parking is available. Park  33.03618, -111.3881

 

Gila River | Wild Camping

Sandwiched between farmland, canals, and mountain foothills, this patch of land is popular with ATVers. I don't know who manages the land but it's obviously well used. The camping area is huge so we parked far away from a large group and closer to a single fifth wheel. As it turned out the large group was quiet and the kids camping in the fifth wheel were the ones buzzing around in the dirt for several hours. :D This was during the week and I'm sure weekend will be pretty noisy with a lot of activity. 

The ground is hard packed so rolling is fairly easy.

The area is large enough for any vehicle, The road down to the camp area is rough with large rocks but should be navigable with any vehicle. 

Camping     33.08068, -111.31207

Casa Grande Neon Sign Park

 A very nice collection of restored neon signs from defunct Casa Grande businesses have been erected in a landscaped lot donated by the owners of the local newspaper. The neon shows up nicely at dusk. We stayed later for the full night effect but I'm not very good at taking night photos.

The site is accessible with paved paths circling around all  of the signs.

The main lot is gravel without a ramp to the paths but there are three paved lots and street parking that can be used. I recommend the lot behind the Covenant Church for easy wheelchair access and RV parking. Vehicles longer than 40' should be parked in the gravel lot. Park   32.87821, -111.75401 

Dwarf Car Museum

 I was poking around on Google maps looking for boondocking spots when I noticed the Dwarf Car Museum icon. The museum is out in the middle of nowhere and even after looking at the museum website I wasn't sure what to expect but since we stop everywhere, off we went!

What an unexpectedly interesting stop! Ernie Adams started building wheeled contraptions with scavenged bicycles parts and appliance motors when he just a kid. At 22 he built his first dwarf car using old refrigerator sheet metal and simple tools,. 

There are about a dozen cars in the museum, each built on a 11/16" scale with everything but the engines and transmissions made by hand. The attention to detail is amazing especially considering that many of Ernie's tools have been made or modified by him and one of the most used tools is a hammer. Watch at least part of the movie that runs in a continuous loop to see construction details. 

 

The museum walls and shelves are filled with antiques and memorabilia. Visitors are welcome to roam the grounds where old metal appliances and other scrap metal is stored for future projects, although, at 82 Ernie is probably not going to do any more building. He is, however, on site most days and willing to answer questions. I spoke with him briefly and wanted to take a photo of him but unfortunately he went home before I got the chance. 

Make sure to check out Ernie's original workshop. 

 

The museum is accessible. There are several ramps where visitors using wheelchairs may need assistance and the grounds are rough in spots. 

The parking lot is large enough for any vehicle. Museum  32.89585, -112.13603 

Sonoran Desert NM Boondocking

Route 238, which connects Maricopa to Gila Bend, travels through the Sonoran Desert National Monument. Several dirt roads on the north side of Route 238 venture into the monument. Most of the roads have sign boards with all the rules and information. As far as we could tell vehicle travel is limited in this area to dirt bikes, ATVs, and jeeps. There are also signs blocking access to open areas but we found an large area without a sign that had been previously used, possibly for offloading ATVs. Use caution when camping here because we may have been breaking rules. 

 

We were only about 600' off of Route 238 but we walked/rolled a short distance farther before we came to places where the road was too rough for easy rolling. Monument  33.04208, -112.33112