We left our daughter's place in Grand Junction, CO with the intention of returning there in late January to support her recovery from surgery at that time. We headed to Quartzite, AZ to take advantage of the BLM opportunities there, particularly the LTVA. Public camping, whether local, state or federal, to my knowledge is usually limited to 14 days before you must move to another location. The BLM LTVA's are an exception. You can stay at an LTVA for the winter season from mid-September to mid-April for a fee of $180, although there are rumors that the fee may increase substantially to $600 in the future. You can also stay for two weeks for a fee of $40. If you elect to purchase a permit for the winter season it covers all the LTVAs so you can move among the various LTVAs during that season. All the LTVAs have trash receptacles but only the La Posa and Imperial Dam LTVAs also have (potable) water, dump station and vault toilets (see page 2 of https://www.blm.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2020-12/LTVALongTermCamping.pdf).
We stayed at the South Section of the La Posa LTVA. There are four sections: North, South, West and Tyson Wash. There is a welcome booth at the entrance of each section. They are not all manned at the same time - the attendant at the South's booth told us that if the US flag is flying at the booth then it is open/manned. The La Posa LTVA campground is approximately 11,400 acres in size. It is quite massive. There is a clothing optional area of the South called the Magic Circle. I incidentally encountered some nudists out for a walk one day on one of my exploratory bike rides. We found a camping spot about 3 miles from the entrance. Here are some pictures of the camper. I took the pictures before the sun rose above the mountains surrounding the valley on the day we departed so the lighting isn't the best.
After several exploratory bike rides, I found a dirt road, named Old Yuma Road that connected the Tyson Wash section of La Posa with the West section. Both of these sections are west of the main road, AZ 95. The entrances to Tyson Wash and the South section are directly across each other on AZ 95. The entrances to the West and North sections are also directly across each other on AZ 95. After putting all that together I was able to map out a loop bike ride among all four sections once I found a double track trail that connected the North and South sections. The double track trail was developed by the side by side off highway recreational vehicles that numerous campers utilize. Those vehicles are used for trail riding as well as getting water and transporting "blue boys" to the dump.
We were able to comfortably stay for two weeks without moving the camper. The soap we are using with our shower recycling station leads to sanitized soapy water after a few showers so we are going to try to find a soap that the filters do a better job of filtering in the future. we did run low on bananas and milk so we rode into town one time to replenish those items at one of the local mini-marts.
The South Section of the LTVA is the only section that had dumps and water. There are some newly constructed stations at Tyson Wash but they aren't open yet. The water and main dump are about 1 mile from the South Section's entrance. There is often a line for the dump station. The two times we used it, there were only two or three users in front of us. But they are set up for much longer lines perhaps when they have the big RV show scheduled in January (
https://www.quartzsitervshow.com/). The South Section's dump station can accommodate two campers at a time. There is a "blue boy" only dump stations closer to the entrance. There are four water stations adjacent to the main dump station with each water station capable of accommodating two campers. Here are some pictures of the signage for the main dump station.
We plan to go to the adjacent BLM Road Runner Campground next. There is no permit fee for that campground but it is subject to the 14 day limit. After that we plan to return to La Posa for another two week stay.
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