Fort Stanton Cave Campground

Very small campground with beautiful spots. Trash bins and awnings.

It is a small but very nice campground. No electricity water or sewer but trash toilets and privacy. Would be hot in high summer and cold right now end of November but if you have a generator and can be off the grid what a cute place to be.

Secluded camping about 1.5 miles in from US Rt 380!  On BLM land, the dirt road in is wash boarded in spots, but hey it's free.  Three sites with room for bigger rigs, have picnic tables under shelters and trash cans.  There are also pit toilets.  Moreover, there's undeveloped dispersed sites further in, but high clearance vehicles is advised.  Great Verizon cell service. We were there in November, and it got cold at night (one night down to 14 degrees F), during the day temps were in the mid 60's...so be prepared for cold nights and comfortable days.

For motorhomes and big rigs the three main campsites are really the only ones I would recommend camping in. 

There are some small boondocking campsites further up cave canyon trail road but the road was pretty rough in spots. 

Cell phone service was great in the campground and we got good data speeds. 

The vault toilet was clean and there's a few garbage cans spread out the campground. 

In October there were other campers there but there was an open site every day. 

Some jeeps and OHV's went by during the day but it was still a great place to camp that was quiet at night.

This is the free campground. There's one that costs money with hookups a few miles away on the road that leads to Fort Stanton.

Very quiet little park with just a few spots, has water and electricity and a dump site. Close to Lincoln, NM. Historical Fort Stanton just down the road.

We tried to stay at this site on a Tuesday in late May, all 3 spots were filled. So we continued down the road where there are lots of other dispersed options just right off Cave Canyon Road. No facilities just rock fire pits. Lots of access to trails (hiking, biking, and horse access only). There's a good map of the trails located at Fort Stanton if you happen to visit there before heading here definitely take a picture. It gets hot here starting in May and not much shade available. As a side note the caves located just by the CG are closed.

Stayed here back in May 2020. It's on BLM land so no fee, first-come first-serve. Very small little stretch just off the side of the road with a bathroom, tables, and small firepits.  Also some concrete slabs to put your tent on if you want, including some sites with covered slabs to keep the sun / rain off you, or to hang a hammock on. Not every site has those though, and in be careful with the firepits, this area is quite dry and the pits are not well-protected (see my photos). Definitely check local status of having campfires if you're headed here.

Nice because it is easy to get to, will 100% work in a pinch, and is quiet, especially if you have it all to yourself. According to the website it is near a cave system, something I didn't realize at the time (I suppose the name was a pretty big clue, but hey, I'm nothing if not dense in moments...).

All in all, nothing particularly amazing, but functional and comfortable. And hey, if those caves are something special, maybe the proximity of this campground pushes it up into 4 or 5 star territory. Alas, I'll have to find out next time I'm in that part of the country.