MITTRY LAKE, Yuma, AZ

MITTRY LAKE,  Yuma, AZ

RUN BY:  Dept. of Interior

LOCATION:  32.819206  -114.485348 north of Yuma. 

UTILITIES:  NONE

COST: NONE

DISCOUNTS: N/A

OUR RATING (1-5):  Category II.  Rating 4.0

NOTES:  We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Mittry Lake.  We were at the south end of the lake near the outlet and just around the corner from Betty’s Kitchen, a wildlife viewing area.  We were on a small channel and our nearest neighbor was across the channel. The coordinates will take you to our spot.   We have been told that mosquitos can be really bad, but we didn’t have any trouble in February. It has a fourteen day stay limit and BLM trucks go by frequently.  The roads in are dirt and washboard in many places.  We had a friend join us who has a very low Winnebago on a Toyota truck chassis. She had no problems.

Environment:  A lake in the middle of the desert. 

Amenities:  NONE

Dump:  NO

Public Water:  NO

Toilets:  NO

Showers: NO

Laundry: NO

Phone Service:   Verizon 4G. 3-4bars

Nearest Propane: There is a Love’s with dump and propane 14 miles away at Gila Ridge Rd and South Ave 3E.

Location:   (1) From Hwy 95 on the way to Quartzsite, you can turn left onto Avenue 7 ½ which becomes Laguna Dam Rd. and follow it to camping.  (2) Coming south on Hwy 95 from Quartzsite you can turn wests on E Imperial Dam Rd into the Yuma Proving Grounds. Landmarks – big guns!  Follow that to just past the main gate to the fort. You will cross a canal and turn left.  Be watching. It is easy to miss.  Follow this road (Laguna Dam Rd) to camping. 

Proximity to shopping:  Yuma shopping within 12-18 miles.  Walmart is 16 miles away.

Camping Population:   Lots of locals.

Sites:   Dispersed so vary widely.

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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.