LORDSBURG: Free BLMGilaLowerBoxCanyon near Lordsburg , Camping, boating, wildlife watching, fishing, hunting, hiking. No Facilities. Location To access the Gila Lower Box Canyon, take U.S. 70 West from Lordsburg 1.5 miles to New Mexico 464. Go North on NM 464 for 14 miles, and turn West on the bladed County Road. There are three access points to the river -- by turning North off the County Road at 3.5, 6, and 8 miles. The first road (3.5 miles off NM 464) goes North 3.5 miles to the river at Nichol's Canyon, where you can park and camp under majestic cottonwood trees. Motor vehicles are limited to three access routes to the river in Nichol's Canyon, and off-road use is prohibited. The other access roads (at 6 and 8 miles off NM 464) take you to the canyon rim at Fisherman's Point and Spring-on-the-Bluff, where you will need to take fishing access trails down to the river.
Just got back from this one. We took the first turn off. The road is pretty hard on vehicles and this is a massive understatement. We made it as far as the Y junction, right drops down a very steep road to the river, straight, well could not tell you first hand, the truck would not make it. We were able to find some level ground at this junction and set up camp. Very remote, took some nice hikes. Dragged the back rub rails on the way in and the front spare tire and the back end on the way out. Lots of big rocks to massage your tires and keep your knuckles white.
The whole problem is that once on the road, you can not turn around, period. I would highly recommend no longer than 22' to be safe, 4x4 TV, and don't pay too much attention to your paint and absolutely do not go past this junction. We hiked down to the river, that road would tear up your rig. Truck alone would be OK.
Yes I towed my 34' with a 2WD, but had the wheels spinning good at one point and if I had lost forward momentum I would not have gotten out without a large wrecker and a lot of $$$$. Also, as metioned, practiced a little rust removal on my rub rails and the back tray is a little bent.
But hey, it was FREE! The LUVs in Lordsburg has free H2O and dump, water pressure is no good. I can't wait to see the repair bill at Oasis for my FREE experience at camping.
Ended up dumping again at Mr. T's in Tucson, not the TTT, they are exactly next to each other, but technically TTT does not have an RV dump, The water and dump is just behind the fuel island of Mr. T's good water pressure. We wanted to do a good clean out, so needed the additional dump.
Used our Honda EU2000i, very good size. You can just barely run the microwave if everything else if off and you turn off the eco throttle. Otherwise, plenty to power everything else sans AC and MW.
Met the rancher who holds the grazing lease, very nice guy, just wants to make sure you pack out what you pack in.
So to conclude this critique of one of Mr. Thompson's recommendations, very remote, absolutely did not have to worry about the neighbors making noise since as far as we could tell the nearest neighbor was at least 20 miles away, decent weather, road is far too rough and risk of damage too great for this particular BLM spot, maybe stay at a Silver City RV park instead. Or leave the TLR behind and take a tent.
