El Camino del Diablo

What the route is, and what it crosses

Cabeza Prieta holds 803,418 acres of designated wilderness, which the refuge calls one of the largest wilderness areas in the contiguous United States and which its rules page puts at 93 percent of the refuge. Wilderness is closed to every motorised and mechanised vehicle, so the refuge opens just three roads to the public: El Camino del Diablo, Christmas Pass Road and Charlie Bell Road.

The refuge publishes a road log for El Camino del Diablo and notes the primitive campsites along it. The history is not decoration: the refuge leaflet reproduces an 1855 report by an Army surveyor describing a route marked by the remains of animals that died along it. Nothing about the modern road makes that warning irrelevant.

West of the refuge the route crosses the Barry M. Goldwater Range, which the Marine Corps and the Air Force use for live air combat training. The range is not a park with a military neighbour. It admits the public under permit, and it can close any part of itself at any time for safety, security or training.

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The permit: mandatory, free, and issued by the agencies

Every visitor aged 18 or older must hold a permit before entering. The refuge says that in order to visit, visitors must first obtain a permit, that permits are free, and that they are obtained online. The Bureau of Land Management, which stopped issuing them over the counter, confirms that one Barry M. Goldwater Range permit covers the range’s eastern and western public areas, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and Area A of the Sonoran Desert National Monument.

The BLM describes what the process asks of you: create an account online, watch the required safety video, acknowledge the stipulations, and print a permit. The range adds that you must acknowledge a hold harmless agreement and check in through the same system before entering. Its permit site states that each individual needs a new permit every year, expiring 365 days after issue, and that anyone under 18 must be accompanied at all times by a permitted adult.

Carrying it is a rule in itself. The refuge leaflet says one copy must be clearly displayed in the vehicle and a second must be on the visitor’s person at all times, and that visitors must register at an entry kiosk before entering. If you take one thing from this page, take this: the agencies below issue the permit and set its conditions, and they can change both. Get it from them, read what you agree to, and do not rely on any third party’s account of it, including this one.

Do not skipThe Barry M. Goldwater Range is an active military training range. Its regulations say unexploded ordnance may be encountered anywhere on it, that no location should be assumed free of military hazards, and that entering without a valid permit may bring a fine or a ban. Apply through the agencies, not through us.

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The eastern approach, through Organ Pipe

The way in from Ajo crosses Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and the National Park Service describes that road itself. Bates Well Road runs 23 miles from Highway 85 just south of Ajo to the boundary with Cabeza Prieta, and NPS says it provides access to the Bates Well ranch site and to El Camino del Diablo. It strongly recommends high clearance vehicles for it.

Pozo Nuevo Road, which joins Bates Well Road from the Puerto Blanco Drives, is 14 miles long, and NPS highly recommends a high clearance four-wheel drive vehicle there. It notes that water is not available anywhere along these drives and recommends one gallon per person per day within the monument.

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The route in the order the refuge logs it

The refuge publishes a mile-by-mile road guide running west from Ajo. It starts at Darby Well Road, 2.4 miles south of Ajo Plaza, keeps left at the junctions at miles 2 and 10, enters Organ Pipe at mile 13 and passes Bates Well at mile 17. At mile 26 it reaches Cabeza Prieta, where it tells you to sign in at the kiosk.

The guide also gives two ways in from Interstate 8, and notes that both cross the Goldwater Range and require the permit. From Wellton, exit 30 leads by William Street, Los Angeles Avenue and Avenue 25E to the range entrance, from where the guide gives another 32 miles to the refuge’s western entrance. From Tacna, exit 42 leads south and then east 6 miles to a four-way intersection, and south from there a further 23.2 miles to Christmas Pass Road.

One rule governs every one of these approaches. If a road cannot be driven, you turn back: both the refuge and the range prohibit leaving the roadbed to get around flooding, mud, deep sand or a closure.

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Vehicle and driver requirements

The refuge is specific. For El Camino del Diablo and Christmas Pass roads, vehicles must be four-wheel drive with high clearance. Charlie Bell Road is the exception: two-wheel drive vehicles with high clearance may use it, though the refuge recommends four-wheel drive there too. Its leaflet adds that all public use roads are primitive, unpaved and minimally maintained, and the road guide repeats the requirement in a line of its own.

Only street-legal motorcycles and street-legal off-highway vehicles, as Arizona law defines them, are allowed, and they must fly an 80 square inch high-visibility flag at least 8 feet above the ground. All operators need proof of insurance and current registration. The speed limit is 25 mph and the refuge says it is strictly enforced, dropping to 15 mph for a mile past the Sonoran pronghorn recovery pen on Charlie Bell Road, about 11.5 miles west of the Cabeza entrance. Groups of more than four vehicles are not allowed without contacting the refuge. Trailers are not allowed, apart from stock animal trailers to Tule Well under a Special Use Permit.

On preparation, the refuge asks visitors to carry two spare tires and spare mechanical parts in case of a breakdown. There is no cell reception, so a satellite messenger is the only way to call for help from most of the route.

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Water, fuel and camping along the way

Water is the first constraint. The refuge leaflet says there are no sources of safe drinking water on the refuge and that you must bring your own supply, recommending a minimum of two gallons per person per day with a two-day reserve. Wildlife waters and tinajas are not a supply: the range prohibits entering them, and the refuge bars camping within a quarter mile of any water source because animals will not approach while you are there.

There is no fuel, no restroom and no service of any kind, so range is arithmetic you do before you start. The refuge advises carrying enough fuel for unexpected turn backs, which is the practical consequence of the rule against driving around an obstacle.

Camping is allowed. The refuge encourages the established primitive campgrounds, which have no amenities beyond picnic tables, and also allows dispersed camping. The limit is 14 days within any given 28-day period, vehicles must stay within 50 feet of the centre line, and none within a quarter mile of wildlife waters.

Fires have their own rules. Wood fires are allowed only at the designated campsites at Papago Well, Tule Well and Christmas Pass, using wood you brought that is identifiable as non-native, such as pine, juniper or construction lumber. Use the established rings and do not build new ones. Anywhere else, the refuge requires charcoal with a ground pan, or a propane stove.

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Hazards the agencies name

Heat and cold come first. The refuge says summer temperatures can soar well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit and winter nights can drop to 20 degrees. The range puts its summer daytime figure above 120 degrees, says winter nights fall below freezing, and warns that the intense summer sun can burn unprotected skin after brief exposure.

Flash floods are next. The range warns that dangerous flash floods occur, mainly in the late June to September monsoon, and says not to camp in washes when rain threatens and never to cross a flooded wash by vehicle or on foot.

Then the ordnance. The refuge was used by the military as a gunnery and bombing range and its leaflet says many types of ordnance still remain: if you encounter one, leave it alone. The range goes further, saying unexploded ordnance, flares and other munitions may be encountered anywhere, lying on the ground or partly or completely buried, that disturbing any of it is potentially lethal and prohibited by federal law, and that no location should be assumed free of military hazards. Abandoned mines and well shafts are closed to the public for the same reason.

Last, the border. Both agencies note that undocumented migration and drug smuggling occur here, and ask visitors to use discretion when choosing where to hike or camp and to secure vehicles and belongings when away from camp.

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Leaving it as you found it

Vehicles stay on the roads open to the public. The refuge allows no travel into wilderness by any motorised or mechanised transport, and the range says to drive only on roads designated for public use, because vehicle tracks compact fragile soils and can remain visible for decades.

Pack out everything. The refuge prohibits dumping litter, sewage or liquid waste, and says human waste and paper should be buried well below the surface, at least 200 feet from water sources and camp areas. Emptying a portable toilet anywhere on the refuge is illegal.

Take nothing. Prospecting, rockhounding and removing sand, rock, gravel or minerals are prohibited, as is disturbing or removing any plant or animal. Collecting artefacts or vandalising rock art is prohibited by federal law, and the range notes that historic artefacts include such ordinary-looking things as glass bottles, cans and lumber. Geocaching is prohibited on the refuge, and drones on the range.

If you see pronghorn, both agencies ask the same thing: stop, and let them move at least a quarter mile from the road before you drive on.

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Questions people ask