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Submission
From Nogales, Arizona: Take I-19 north for about 4.4 miles. Exit onto AZ 289 (exit 12). Turn left (west) onto AZ Highway 289 (Ruby Road) and continue to the Pena Blanca Recreational Area.
Great site, 5 or so fire pits, large trees for shade, plenty of tables and spots. Bring your own wood to burn, you won't find it there.
Large campgrounds with huge fire pits for large groups. Clean restrooms and close to Peña Blanca Lake. We had a great time with family and friends! Well worth the trip from Tucson!
Campsite is great, location is a bit shady. We saw a group of guys that we can only assume were drug mules quickly hike through, pick up backpacks hidden in the brush and keep hiking. Cell service was not good enough to call or alert authorities in a timely manner (you have to hike to the top of the hill to get reliable cell service.)
This a nice large site with enough room for several campers. It’s close to Peña Blanca Lake which is small but quite scenic. It’s mostly catch and release because of too much mercury in the water.
The campground has a locked gate for security. I probably wouldn’t stay just by ourselves because of the illegals crossing and the vigilantes trying to stop them, but with a group it’s fine.
Two other minuses: The campground is surrounded by open range and even though it’s fenced, the livestock have no problem entering and leaving their calling cards everywhere. So take a shovel. Also, the restrooms, (pit toilets) were pretty nasty so we had to clean them when we arrived. They could do a much better job of keeping the grounds clean too.
Finally, one other positive, is the ghost town of Ruby is about an hour away. It’s privately owned and you need to get a permit in advance to get in. It was an interesting day trip
