Empire Ranch (Las Cienegas)

Corinne Boondocking, National Parks & Monuments 4 Comments

After Big Bend (was that really a month ago?), we wandered back to Las Cruces to check in with our home builder, then decided to head back to Arizona because, well, it was warmer there. This has been a travel season of wandering all over the Southwest to “chase 70 degrees.”

We reached out to David and Celia whom we met last summer in Bend, Oregon. They were with us that fateful weekend when Jim got sick. We thought it would be nice to see them when Jim was not ill! (By the way…blood work for Jim from last week showed no signs of infection. He has one more doctor’s appointment next week and hopefully THAT chapter can be put behind us. But I digress.)

We agreed to meet David and Celia at the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area. “Cienega” is a mouthful that I can’t pronounce nor remember. Instead, I’m calling the area “Empire Ranch”, referring to the historic ranch in the area. HUGE thanks to Wade and Debi for alerting us to this spectacular area.

Premier boondocking on a high desert plain.
Lots and lots of room!

Las Cienegas consists of more than 45,000 acres of rolling grasslands and woodlands in Arizona’s Pima and Santa Cruz counties. It is southeast of Tucson and due east of where my parents used to live, Green Valley, AZ.

I’ve stared at this peak so many times from the west while visiting my parents. Now I got to see it from the east side. The snow on the peaks was gone by the end of our week there.

This is all BLM land, which means no hookups. FREE camping on a high desert plain….Wowser!

We were surrounded by grasslands and mesquite bushes. David and Celia were just a bit down the road from us.

This location had everything a boondocking site could want.

  • Ample sunshine for our solar panels.
  • A strong cell signal for Internet and phone calls.
  • SIXTY, count’em, sixty TV stations out of Tucson for when you got bored looking at the scenery.
  • FREE, but I already mentioned that.

Empire Ranch

The historic Empire Ranch has been a working cattle ranch for 140 years. Its rich history includes successive ownership by two prominent ranching families, two corporations, and finally by the federal government on behalf of the general public.

https://www.blm.gov/visit/historic-empire-ranch

The Empire Ranch is still a working cattle ranch. The house, dating back to 1870, is open to visitors.

The rambling ranch house. It was built over a series of decades.
David is an excellent photographer. Celia is an excellent artist. So when they pulled out their cameras to take a picture of something, I pulled out my camera. All the credit for this cool photo of a ranch door goes to them.

Wildlife

There was more than us humans out on the grasslands….

We saw Pronghorns a couple of times and had been told to expect them in our campground, but that never happened. Our theory is the removal of many of the mesquite bushes destroyed some of their ground cover and discouraged them from visiting our area. But that’s only a theory.
While the pronghorns were shy, the cattle were not. They were everywhere, including on the road.
I had purchased a suction cup hook for my hummingbird feeder. After attaching it to my dinette window, within a few hours I had visitors!

Wildfire

On our last evening, while enjoying the company of our friends, we spotted this smoke in the distance. We had seen a prescribed burn earlier in the week, but this smoke appeared different. When we could see visible flames (yikes!), our campsite neighbor called 911. This was NOT a planned fire; emergency services were aware of it. Through our binoculars, we could see the emergency vehicles dealing with the blaze. We were mentally working through what needed to be done if we had to quickly leave. Fortunately, it didn’t come to that. But it’s a useful exercise to mentally evacuate occasionally so you are prepared if you really need to!
Later, we could see the area that burned. It was sizeable. We were grateful the firefighters were there so quickly.

Sunrise

On our last morning, I rolled over and looked out the window at the head of our bed. Sunrise was just starting. I opened the window and the screen, grabbed my phone and started taking pictures. For the next 45 minutes, while warm and comfy under the covers, I watched the most amazing sunrise. I took so many pictures! I’ll spare you from all but a few.

The sky starts to lighten.
The full moon would occasionally appear, along with what I assume is a planet. Don’t ask me which one.
Every couple of minutes the sky look looked completely different.
The grasslands became visible.
The sky lit up just before the sun came over the mountains.

Now this is the way to watch a sunrise! The only thing that could have beat it is if I had been in a hot tub with a cup of coffee. And yes, we have experienced that too.

We departed early. Goodbye David and Celia. Thanks for a wonderful week!

Alas, after a week, it was time to leave David and Celia. I know we will meet up with our friends again, and this time we will make sure Wade and Debi are with us too!

We are now back in Las Cruces. Cross your fingers, we may be seeing our lot cleared this week. We requested they clear a level spot for the Blue Flame. It would be nice to be able to park on our own property and save that campground fee! Stay tuned.

Marking the area to be cleared.

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4 thoughts on “Empire Ranch (Las Cienegas)”

  2. David

    Great post!

    We had so much fun together in this wonderful boondocking spot. Hope everything goes smoothly with your new house adventure. Believe it or not we are still in Las Cienegas! Take care.

  3. Amy

    Thanks for sharing your very peaceful retreat, complete with wildlife, mountains and sunrises. So glad to hear that Jim’s results are positive. Your new locale looks equally peaceful! Send photos of Blue once he has his level resting spot.

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