Boneyard Vista RV Park

I agree with the previous review. We have been going to Davis Monthan (DM) for nearly 15 years.  Over that time, we found the system that was in place for managing the sites to be better and fairer than any other campground we have ever experienced.  As witness to this success, Davis Monthan has won best US Military campground many times over previous years. There was a change in both management style and policies this year and it has taken the luster off the reputation of the campground.  The management decided to allow anyone to “contract" for a long term stay in any single site (homesteading), where in the past there was only a small, designated number of long term sites.   This new policy eliminated the availability of the most desirable sites and cut down the number of sites available for shorter term stays.  Historically, DM gets very busy after January 1st and they start a process of rotation in and out of dry camping every 21 days (overflow). Because of this new policy of  a greater number of “contracted” sites, and an easy policy of medical deferrals for rotation, the wait in dry camping has been extended far beyond what was experienced in past years.   DM management has decided to put non-seasonal and shorter term visitors in a position where they are relegated to the least desirable sites and very long waits in overflow during the busiest times. Because of the problems these new policies caused, the help at the campground office has become rude and adversarial.  The attitude is particularly negative given they are dealing with career military personnel and veterans and have little personal RV experience and understanding. DM, once the jewel of the military campgrounds, has become the epitome of poor management decisions that have taken a near perfect RV Site Management System and degraded it. If you are coming to Tucson for only a short stay between January and March and you do not wish to contract for a long term site, you should think twice and possibly  look for somewhere else to stay, I suggest the Pima County Fairgrounds, great place that caters to RVers. You should be okay other times of the year. I do not recommend that DM be selected for best campground this year.

We used to love this Famcamp. Those who pass through here frequently will notice a big difference. The employees in the office are young and always on their cellphones - or making out with their boyfriend over the counter. Have a question? They don't know the answer and don't care to find out. They do not replenish the coffee machine that is available for campers and shrug their shoulders when you ask when it will be refilled. The ice machine was not working when we left and the internet had been down for over a week and we were told in the office that FamCamp is last on the list of priorities for the base commander, though we were also told the base commander talked about "milking the cash cow" that is the Famcamp. The pool has very limited hours, even in the summer. The Wilmot gate has very restricted hours more so now than before. No one is available for emergencies on the weekend, so if something goes wrong (like the ice machine being broken), well, tough luck. We have been coming here since 2009 and this is the worst customer service we have ever experienced. Many base FamCamps are getting better and better while this one is going downhill. We finally decided to move to an RV resort on the west end of Tucson - cheaper, better amenities (pool, 2 gyms, laundry rooms with 20 washers and dryers) and fast, working wifi and $150/month less than the Famcamp. Such a shame, this used to be a great place to visit.

We have been spending 3 months Jan - Mar at Davis-Monthan Fam Camp for the past seven years. It deserves all of the high ratings and awards it has received. Last spring, 2015, new management was installed. Rather than continue a successful system the new managers had their own ideas and began to vilify previous procedures and camp hosts to implement their new "system". Their oft told anecdotes about the problems they were resolving are largely fictional - no one we know that is a regular here can confirm them. They are claiming they "fired' the camp hosts, when in fact the hosts all resigned when management violated the written rules in order to give preferential check-in to favored parties. Managing the Fam Camp from the spring of 2015 through the end of the year probably seemed easy, given that the camp is far from full then. The trouble started as the camp filled up in Dec 2015 and Jan 2016. Then the overflow crowds presented situations that the camp staff was not prepared for. Rather than stick with the tried and true, hugely successful and widely accepted rotation system that had made Davis Monthan a legend in fairness, they started "winging it". The short list of overflow rules they posted raised more questions than it answered. They lost track of open sites, resorting to driving around and counting vacancies at 10 am instead of using previously reliable computer data. We often saw sites set empty overnight, some for 2 days, when there were many people in overflow waiting. The new arrivals told us they had just been notified and were unaware the site had set empty. This happened almost every day during the January rush. The office staff offered varied excuses when the empty sites were pointed out to them. To be fair, some empty sites were those of 3 and 6 month campers who took a day or more to travel elsewhere. Their empty sites were not assignable we were told.  Different staff would announce different times to come in to get assigned from overflow to hookup sites, "around" 10 or 11 a.m. Twice we witnessed them start assigning sites 15-20 minutes early, before everyone had the chance to show up. There were no consistent rules. At the end of January they published a full page instruction sheet that helped resolve some of the uncertainty. Yet nearly everyone we met had tales of disgust with the lack of professionalism and clear rules in the camp office. The manager herself was vocally and physically confrontational to anyone she felt was being critical. Even her husband got involved in one shouting incident outside the office, declaring that Fam Campers were just a bunch of whiners. The sad fact is that the folks in charge appear to not really like people and do not understand that they are dealing with military professionals who expect rules to be clear, posted, and to apply to all. Maybe they will learn from their first season and re-establish order for next year. Maybe. This is too great a military campground to allow it to descend into the chaos so many experienced in winter of 2016.

This CG still has one big thing going for it - location - but unfortunately, there have been some changes for the worse since I visited last year.  The wait to get from the dry camp area to full hookups is now 5-6 days during the busy season, and the dry camp area was full or nearly so the whole time of my visit (so be advised to have a plan B, since there might not be space in the dry camp area when you arrive).  This appears to be the result of them opening up more spaces for 3 and 6 month contracts.  When the dry camp area is full, you might as well be parked in a truck stop, with the generator noise that results.  Another negative change is that they no longer publish a list every day so that you can see what your chances are of moving to full hookups.  The whole process is very secretive. Worst of all, the woman who appears to be in charge of the office is surly and rude.  She yells at people for bizarre reasons. Everyone else in the office is polite and friendly, but its sad to watch them, because they are all walking on eggshells around the crazy lady.  They have gone to paid employees this year, rather than work campers, which means some of the people in the office aren't really understanding of RV issues. Another problem I noticed this year which was not present last year was some issues with the electricity.  I noticed my microwave operating erratically, and this cleared up after I left.  Also, for the whole time I was in the full hookup section, I noticed some of the big rigs running their generators periodically. The wifi is as bad as it ever was, but given the other issues I noticed this year, it seemed like a minor issue.  You can usually get online for simple things like email if you do it late at night or early in the morning.  Its sad to see this place going downhill.  It still is a decent value in a great location, but I think I will look for some other options in Tucson when I come back next year.

I'll start out by saying I think Davis-Monthan FamCamp is one of the best military campgrounds. It was under the old management and it still is under the new management. Most of what makes it great is the location, the weather, the overall upkeep, and particularly under the OLD management, the fairness of it. I've been traveling for 10 years and been coming here for 9 of those. I've visited upwards of 60 other military FamCamps, and for me the thing I liked the most about this one was that you knew it was going to be fair. They posted the rules, the computer kept track of everything, and you knew where you stood. I believe claims of favoritism and cronyism under the old regime are unfounded and mostly the result of past campers that didn't get the site they wanted or thought that some people didn't have to move. My answer to that is, "Do you know that the person in that site doesn't have a medical, or maybe they just got lucky and on their due out date, there happened to be no one on the waiting list. Therefore they were allowed to re-sign up". It's just the way the ball bounces sometimes. I sincerely believe they ran it as fair as they could. I'll tell you what's unfair and it was completely out of the camp host's hands. There were healthy people who went out and got medical exceptions from a doctor just so they wouldn't have to move. Now that's garbage. Bottom line, people loved this place because it was fair and they knew where they stood. To say that all negative reviews on this site are because crony's aren't able to run the show like they did in the past is nonsense and totally unfair to those previous camp hosts who strived to do a good job. I'll say it again because it bears repeating. The computer ran the show, not the camp hosts.  It showed when people were due out, and what sites were coming open.  I think the main complaint under the NEW management was that there were way too many open sites and it seemed like there was no consistency about what time sites would be assigned. I'm not buying that all these open sites were contracted sites. First of all, most people leave something, (ie. red cone),  in their site when they leave for a short time. Second of all, I saw empty sites near me all the time, and when they were filled, it was different people that moved in. Maybe if the office knew how to work the computer system, they wouldn't have to go around to physically check sites to see if they are empty. The computer would tell them which sites were opening up for that day. By having to drive around to check for empty sites, if the person who was due out that day hadn't left yet, or they just happened to miss a site, they had no idea that site was open. That maybe why there were so many open sites. I will say it's not the office personnel fault that they did not know how to use the system or get the most out of it. They were not trained properly. Maybe before all the old camp hosts quit, the person responsible should have learned the computer system themselves.  I know for a fact on January 18, MLK Day, there were at least 9 open sites. This does not count sites that had something in them designating a contract site. And yet there was a sign on the bulletin board that said no full hookup sites available on that day. The office was closed that day for the holiday, but if they had used the computer properly, they would have known that some sites were coming open, and could have listed those as first come, first serve. The temperature that night got down into the mid 30's. I'm pretty sure, that some of those in overflow would have liked to have electric that night. This never would have happened under the old management.  I also believe that every person in that office tried to do a great job and accommodate everyone. Whenever you have a management shakeup, there are going to be growing pains. For about 10 months of the year at Davis-Monthan, running the FamCamp is probably pretty easy because the campground is not full. It gets complicated when you have 250 guests for only 200 sites or whatever the exact numbers are. I believe the current office people were not quite ready for this. I'm sure in the future, they will be much better prepared.  My next point is how does publishing a list of open sites and/or where you are on the list violate any ones Privacy Act. It may well, I just don't know how. I do know that by keeping that information to yourself, it allows you to have unlimited unaccountability. No one knows how many are on the list, what sites are open, or how it's being managed. Maybe it's just me, but I like transparency. It's obvious from the comments here, others do as well.  I have to address the previous comments from a "Pepper", who by the way sounds an awful lot like the new manager. If it isn't, I would be amazed since they know an awful lot about the previous administration and violations of the Privacy Act, etc. If it is, then shame on you for not identifying yourself as such. I have no problem with a Manager making comments about their FamCamp. They have as much a right as anyone else does and many times they can clarify issues, bring other points to light, and let the community of travelers know what is going on. But they shouldn't pretend to be a camper.  On the topic of the previous reviewers comments, and I quote, "I like the changes on the rotation to dry camp it made it fair with a quicker turn around.  The overflow policies didn't change, they just eliminated harassment throughout the FamCamp by not posting names and site numbers". Since you said that overflow policies didn't change, what is it you did that somehow made the turn around in dry camp quicker. This is absolutely hogwash. If you have a set number of sites, with a set number of people that want to move into those sites, and everyone is allowed to stay in a site 3 weeks, and then has to move into overflow and wait to come back into the park, there is nothing you can do that will change that, or make it quicker. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Unless you add more full hookup sites, which is outside your capacity as manager.  THE ONE THING YOU DID CHANGE, HOWEVER, MADE EVERY ONES STAY IN OVERFLOW LONGER. By allowing all sites open up to contracts, you subtracted from the number of sites available for rotation. Instead of say having 170 sites available for the 3 week rotation of people from overflow you now have 120 sites. That makes those that do not sign contracts, spend that much more time in overflow. For the last few years since they put in the new sites, no one has had to spend more than one, possibly two days in overflow. This year you were telling people 5 and 6 days in overflow. For some people just passing through, they will not get into an electric site.  This is exactly opposite of what you purported to have done. I also believe that the new manager has done many things that are positive for the FamCamp. As I said at the beginning, it was and is a great place to stay. The one thing people really like is knowing that they are being treated fairly. But when they think they are not, and there is no transparency or what appears to be consistency, there are going to be problems. And these are valid concerns.  In closing, I think Davis-Monthan FamCamp is a great place to stay and will remain so. I expect the office personnel to get more familiar with the system, and the problems of the past winter to be resolved for the most part. I really hope so, because I'll be back there.

We love this place. It is convenient to Tucson shopping and restaurants. On base, the commissary is very good, well stocked, and there is a convenience store for after hours. The bowling alley is terrific ( we used it a lot during our stay) and it is easy to keep fit with two gyms. The laundry facilities are nice and clean as are the bath/shower rooms. The one thing I object to is that the contract workers who come over early in the morning use the campground bathrooms before going to work. I like the system at Yuma Proving Grounds where you get a key for the facilities - keeping out the civilian contractors. It is a one mile walk from the campground to where the sidewalk ends, and this path is lighted, so you can walk after dark. We were told that after October 1, prices were going up to $27/night for everyone, which we think is high for a military campground. Otherwise, this is a great place to stay and they have figured out how to make it nice for everyone. I like the no-reservation policy. If you have ever tried to get a site at Nellis, you will know what I mean. They are reserved for folks who may never show up - keeping others from getting a place for the night. 

Can't say much about this place that hasn't already been said - this place is an ideal winter location and a great FamCamp. I like the "no reservations" policy and the waitlist procedure; this is a fair way to do this for such a popular park. With that said, it would be nice to be able to get a full-hookups site if you're just passing through, (i.e. maybe make 5-8 full-hookup sites short term, like max 2 days). It took us 4 days in overflow area to get a full-hookups site (overflow is dry camping). Facilities are kept clean and in good shape and the park itself is kept clean and orderly. We had no issues with this park and would definitely come back. One drawback, getting to the main gate off of Golf Links Rd could be nerve-racking if you arrive during high-traffic times. We left through the Wilmont Gate to Kolb Ave and headed south to I-10 - this was much better than dealing with Main Gate & Golf Links Rd to I-10 South.

Since I have been at the D-M FamCamp I have seen some major changes that have improved the overall quality of mine and other camper’s enjoyment. It’s the little things in life that make the biggest difference and quality of life.  I have traveled to many FamCamps, State Parks, County Parks, ect., and believe that other places could do well by following this camp as an example.  So I would like to list the positive changes to this campground that stand out  and makes it second to none.  Eliminating winter/summer camp host: In the past there were winter camp hosts that created a very hostile environment to other campers and staff, they had access to personal information of campers that violated the Privacy Act that they shouldn't have been privilege to as civilian volunteers and not government employees.  They spread rumors and showed favoritism  towards their select group of cronies, all of which have written negative comments on this site because they no longer have control and are allowed to run the FamCamp as they see fit.  By eliminating hosts the DM FamCamp was able to create jobs for the Base Community, in turn supporting the military family members on the base, and hiring retirees, how can you go wrong by providing jobs to the military and taking care of our warriors and their family members. The past camp hosts and their cronies spread hate and gossip around the camp for too many years, recording private information i.e., license plates numbers, due out dates, etc., keep in mind these are civilians regardless of rank, although I would think they would be more mature?  I felt they were stalking certain campers, treating them as whiners and complainers, only because of what their cronies would tell them or from one encounter, this creates a hostile environment.  Good riddance to them and their cronies who got everything and anything they wanted.  Dry Camp: I like the changes on the rotation to dry camp it made it fair with a quicker turn around.  The overflow policies didn't change, they just eliminated harassment throughout the FamCamp by not posting names and site numbers.  So you can't move from overflow to a full hookup before 10:00am, and yes they do go out and check sites at 10:00am to ensure when they assign one to you the other camper is already vacated the site, again so the campers aren't harassed by those who think they run the FamCamp.  Water and soda machine at the bathrooms was a great idea, thanks for the additions.  I would prefer giving my change to MWR then the stores down town. Creating a paper weight for all the picnic tables so they could leave flyers and other information on the table without it blowing away was a great idea.  Having the local schools to participate by painting the rocks and adding their touch shows pride not only with the MWR staff but with the local community and campers.  I would also like to thank the Flight Chief and Recreation Manager for their support of the FamCamp manager, it made possible for her make these changes and stand by them.  And to all of you who believe the FamCamp manager does not have RV camping experience, then maybe you should actually try to have a conversation instead of causing problems and making up lies to suit yourselves.