Dispersed Camping on the Old Airstrip near Caliente

As we were boondocking our way along our Nevada road trip, we found a cool opportunity for dispersed camping on an old airstrip. After living on the road for over seven years, this was a first. Camping on the old airstrip near Caliente was the perfect spot for getting some work done while providing a home base for some nearby adventures!

Since we spent time camping on the abandoned airstrip, its history sparked our curiosity. It seems that the Caliente Flight Strip Airport was constructed in 1943 for military aircraft use during World War II. After the war, it became a civilian landing field then appears to have a history of being open and closed several times. Even the name of the airstrip seems to have varied over the years. It’s named Caliente Flight Strip Airport on google maps but can also be seen depicted as Delamar Landing Strip on recent BLM maps. All I really know for sure is that it is currently not in use.

Quick Info: Camping on the Old Airstrip Near Caliente

Cost: Free

Ownership: BLM; 14 day limit

Directions: From Alamo, head north on US-93 for about 35 miles then turn right. Follow the dirt/gravel road for about 1 mile to get to the old abandoned airstrip.

Solar: Great

Miles From Town: About 21 miles from Caliente

Water: None

Road Conditions: Short drive on well maintained gravel road

Cell Service: Yes

Our Experience Camping on the Old Airstrip

Camping on the Old Airstrip near Caliente was a fun home base for about a week on our road trip through Nevada. The spot itself, was flat and open but we appreciated the vast views and the pretty surrounding scenery. The are two gravel strips that parallel each other separated by some plants and bushes. Camp spots aren’t super obvious but just find a place to park and settle in. This Old Airstrip is large and level so it can accommodate any size rig.

We had good service so we could get some work done and saw only one other camper during our stay. There was very little through traffic out here. That is, until one morning we woke up and were surprised to see about 40 ATV’s and numerous rigs parked at the end of the airstrip. We found out that there was a long distance ATV race event going on the following weekend and they were out practicing. It looked like a pretty cool desert race, but we had to move on before the event.

While we were camping here we had some wildlife encounters. We saw several pronghorn and had several mice try to make homes in our truck air filter boxes. So if you camp out here, definitely be on the lookout for critters under your hood.

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Adventures Nearby

Camping at the Old Airstrip was a nice home base for seeing some of the many cool places in the surrounding area. And we didn’t even have to drive to see some serious beauty!

Exploring Around Camp

Whenever we find a new place to camp, we make sure to get out and see as much as we can. While we were camping at the Old Airstrip near Caliente, we really enjoyed the surrounding dirt roads. We walked them, ran them, mountain biked them, mini biked them, photographed them, and even frisbee golfed them.

Luckily, there are several dirt roads that we could access that were pretty close to where we were camped. But these roads go on and on so we never made it to wherever they actually went. Several of the roads led through one of the most incredible Joshua Tree forests that we have ever seen! And we’ve been to Joshua Tree plenty of times. This Joshua Tree forest was not only really dense but the trees themselves were massive! Some of them were incredibly tall, some had a surprising number of branches and some were a combination of the two. We were very impressed.

The sunsets out here were pretty amazing too. Beautiful colors, cool clouds, desert mountains in the distance and dancing Joshua’s made for incredible evening walks!

On our random adventures near camp, we found lots of machine gun shells and smoke grenades. Shane was able to put together links and blank shells to make a machine gun belt.

Big Rocks National Monument

Just across the highway from our camp spot on the Old Airstrip was Big Rocks National Monument. With a name like that, we had to check it out! We ended up driving the big loop through the monument, stopping several times to get out and explore.

Basin and Range National Monument

Although a bit of a drive from where we were camping on the Old Airstrip, we were so glad we were able to spend some time in Basin and Range National Monument. The monument is huge, so there is a lot to see and we just scratched the surface. But from what we did see, wow! There are some of the most impressive petroglyph sites we have ever seen plus some really cool landscapes.

Thanks for Reading About Camping on the Old Airstrip!

If you would like to see more articles about some great camping experiences check out the articles below:

• Camping Near Oatman
• Free Campground at Hartley Springs
• Camping near Mini Bike Track in Nevada
• Camping and Climbing at Indian Bread Rocks

Feel free to leave a comment below – say hi, let us know about somewhere that you love to camp, climb or hike!

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