CROSS ROADS, Earp, CA

Sorry. No pic of camping area. This is why we were here.

CROSS ROADS CAMPGROUND, Earp, CA

RUN BY:  Bureau of Land Management

LOCATION:  34-211602  -114.205606

UTILITIES:  NONE

COST:  $5

DISCOUNTS:  Senior Pass 50%

OUR RATING (1-5):  Class II.  Rating 3.0

NOTES: This was a small campground managed by BLM.  There were a handful of sites on the Colorado River and people end up waiting days in the over-flow lot to get one of those spots.  Even the riverfront sites are small and have no real access to the river. The other regular sites are not far from the river but do not have a particularly good view.  We weren’t impressed because, even if you had the best riverfront site, you had no access to the river, were looking across the river at condos and developed areas, and had to put up with high powered speed boats. There was an overflow area, out of sight of the river, where we stayed. Actually, the advantage of the overflow is the burros, but I understand that they do go down into the main camp. We stayed here strictly for the burros and did not attempt to get a riverfront site.

Environment:  Small area along the Colorado River across from condos. Burros roam through the campground in the evening on their way to the river for water and may beg for food.

Amenities:  NONE

Dump:  NO

Public Water:  NO

Toilets:  Pit Toilet

Showers: NO

Laundry:  NO

Phone Service:  Verizon 4G, 1bar

Nearest Propane: Parker, AZ about 8 miles away

Location:  From Parker, AZ, cross the Colorado River on S. California Ave to CA-62.  Just over the bridge turn right onto Parker Dam Road. The campground is about 6 miles down this road.

Proximity to shopping:  Parker has good shopping and is only about 8 miles away.

Camping Population:  Limit of 2 wks.  Lots of snowbirds and full-timers.

Sites:  some are small and close together. Difficult to get spot near the river.

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RATING KEY:    category - score 

Categories:  I - established campgrounds where one might spend a vacation or several days

                    II -  boondocking, dry camping where there are no designated sites and no amenities but

                               one might choose to stay for more than a night.

                    III - over-night areas 

You must remember that we are scoring 1 thru 5 according to things which are important to us: the environment, cost, amenities, location, safety, camping population, site, phone service 

* There are people who are not full-timers and van-dwellers by choice. We try hard not to be demeaning or assume that they are bad people but sadly, as you find in the poorer parts of a city, there seems to be more crime. Many call these people van-dwellers. That isn’t really accurate even though they do often live in vans. We know quite a few van-dwellers who have good incomes, are full-timers by choice and prefer a van to other types of vehicles. To try to show some respect for people who have a difficult lot in life, I’m calling them ‘residential campers’.  It is only when you get a high proportion of residential campers in an area that you find an increase in petty theft, etc.