About this place
The Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area covers 23,000 acres, and there is water in it all year round.
Four waterways run through and never dry up: the Gila and San Francisco rivers, and Bonita and Eagle creeks.
Water in desert country brings everything else with it, and the range of plants and animals here shows that.
The canyon section that gives the place its name holds patchy mesquite woodland, mature cottonwoods and sandy beaches.
Cliffs of Gila Conglomerate stand more than 1,000 feet above the Gila River. Bighorn sheep are a common sight on them.
Bonita Creek is a key tributary of the Gila, lined with large cottonwoods, sycamores and willows. When the water is low you can walk the canyon safely.
There are a good many prehistoric and historical structures to look at.
A network of primitive roads gives four-wheel drivers and mountain bikers hours of backcountry to work through.
There are hot springs, river rafting, birdwatching and miles of trails, and the people who know about it keep coming back.
Canoes, kayaks and rafts go down the Gila on the spring runoff. The float is easy to moderately difficult.
Plenty of people run it in inflatable kayaks through the low water of summer instead.
The Bonita Creek Watchable Wildlife Viewing Area looks down into the canyon from above. More than 100 bird species have been recorded there.
It is accessible, and it has interpretive displays and shade shelters.
A homestead cabin, rock art and cliff dwellings all show that people lived along this water long before we did.
There are two developed campgrounds. Riverview has 13 units and Owl Creek has seven.
Each has tables, shade structures, grills, bathrooms and trash cans. Riverview also has drinking water.
Summer temperatures can be extremely hot. Some winter days are quite cold.
Flooding can come with the winter rains, the summer rains or the spring run-off.
Part of Bonita Creek is the town of Safford’s municipal water supply.
Nobody here can give you first aid. The nearest hospitals are in Morenci and Safford, and you can buy food and supplies in Clifton, Morenci, Safford and Thatcher.
If you are floating the Gila Box, read this next part.
Two smooth-wire fences now cross the Gila River inside the Gila Box, joining parcels of private land.
They sit 1.3 and 2.7 river miles downstream of the Old Safford Bridge put-in, which you reach from the Black Hills Back Country Byway.
The fences are built to let a raft or a kayak through. Approach them carefully all the same, and take extra care above 100 cubic feet per second. Scout them from the shore first.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp on the open land, paid campground inside
- Roads around it
- A network of primitive roads inside it, for four-wheel drive and mountain bikes
- Stay limit
- See the rules below
- Drinking water
- Yes, at Riverview Campground
- Toilet
- Yes, at both developed campgrounds
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- When it’s open
- All year
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Rules and restrictions
How long you can stay
You can camp for 14 days in a row, whether you are at a developed site or out on your own.
Camping rough needs no permit and costs nothing.
You cannot camp on the strip of ground right beside the water, and you cannot camp at a marked picnic site. That strip along a creek or a river is called riparian land and it is easily wrecked.
Getting there
You can usually reach the main access points in an ordinary car, though the roads are maintained rarely and can be rough. Many of the other roads need four-wheel drive. Ask the Safford Field Office how they are before you go.
West side: from Safford, travel 5 miles east on State Highway 70 to Solomon. Turn left onto the Sanchez Road and follow it to the end of the pavement, then follow the signs to Bonita Creek.
East side: from Safford, take US 70 east 10 miles to AZ 191. Follow 191 north 29 miles to milepost 160. Turn left onto the Black Hills Back Country Byway and follow the signs four miles.
Coordinates 32.8922, -109.4921
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
A few more of our own spots are within reach of this one, along with some better-known places.
- Black Hills Back Country Byway Directions
- Mount Graham Directions
- Fishhooks Wilderness Directions
- Mount Turnbull Directions
- Boot Heel volcanic field Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- San Jose, AZ Directions
- Safford, AZ Directions
Safford is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026.