Las Cienegas is about 45 miles east of Tucson. The Conservation Area is administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the Empire Ranch Foundation is responsible for the preservation of the historic ranch buildings. There is still an active cattle ranch on the property. It is open range so white-faced cattle can be expected to visit your campsite. Of which there is a total of none. But that is a misleading statement. On BLM land, you are typically allowed to camp just about anywhere--as long as you don't expect many amenities--of which there are none-- for the camping fee--of which there also is none. That is, BLM typically means "boondocking"-- camping without a campground. If you want something--anything at all--you'd better bring it with you.
Shirley and I are enthusiastic boondockers. Not just because it is free but because it usually means solitude and restful quietude. We know there are RVers who can not live without full hookups for water, electricity, and sewer plus shuffleboard and pickleball and pot lucks with 300 or 400 of their closest friends. That ain't us.
On our way home from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument we typically stop for a couple days or so at Gilbert Ray Campground just over Gates Pass from Tucson. We go to Trader Joe's and Total Wine to restock our pantry. Then we go all the way to Las Cienegas. The whole 45 miles. We just can't leave Arizona cold turkey, so to speak, in late March or early April. Sure, we know people who just get on a plane in Phoenix and are home in a few hours. We pity the fools.
Now, Tucson is in real desert as it is normally defined with millions of saguaro cacti and prickly pears and ocotillo. Las Cienegas is in a transition zone between the Sonoran and Chihuahan Deserts. The 45,000 acres is mostly grassland with some big thickets of mesquite and, near streambeds and along some ridges, live oaks. In those Western movies about Tombstone (of which quite a few were filmed in this area) you have probably noticed a lot of cowboys. How could the desert support enough cows to support all those cowboys? Grasslands! Just see the pictures below.
Looking for privacy, peace, and quiet? Try boondocking.
Many people, however, are somewhat unnerved by solitude. What do you do if you get bitten by a rattlesnake or eaten by a bear? Or perhaps they have seen too many chainsaw massacre movies.
During much of the day, whiteface cattle are hidden back in the mesquite. What do you mean you don't see them?
They're right there, plain as day.
Who gets the steak and who gets the chicken tonight?
Notice how crowded the neighborhood is getting.
A ranger came by and suggested we might want to try "the canyon" (which must have been 15 or 20 feet deep) for the shade of several old live oaks.
The shade was nice but we had to sacrifice the view of the Santa Rita Mountains.
Lots of little vermillion flycatchers flitting about, though.
Desert pronghorns appreciate the grass as much as the cattle do.
So, the next year we went back to an area with a better view and rolled out the awning for shade.
See, I told you there were cows in the mesquite.
Indians collect mesquite pods and grind the dry beans into flour. We bought a bag on the Tohono O'odham Reservation. Doesn't taste bad at all--but rather pricey compared to Pillsbury.
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