Best Equestrian Camping near Angel Fire, NM

Good road all the way in. About a 15min drive from the highway. Only 5 or 6 sites. Close to the Rio Mario Trail trailhead. Campsite is at elevation over 8,000ft so it can get chilly at night. Worked great for tent camping. Sites have a small horse pen but you would need to make a gate on them. Not good for big LQ horse trailers.

Stay at Santa Barbara Campground in Northern New Mexico. Was a beautiful spot. Road to Campground was well taken care of Beautiful trails throughout area

This is the first campground I’ve found in New Mexico where I felt like I was camping in Colorado, it was so green and beautiful! The camp sites were nicely spaced, so we felt like we were primitive camping, but it was nice to have a picnic table, especially because we have a small child. Family friendly. We wish we would have brought our 4x4 vehicle because we had initially planned to camp at little blue lake, but my Subaru Impreza was not powerful enough/didn’t have high enough clearance to make it up the road that lead to the lake! We are definitely planning on camping back to check out the lakes. The only negative thing was that we found some trash at our site from the previous campers. Also, some cows woke us up early in the morning, which was cool, but also scared the shit out of us!

There is a trail head with 2 trails, one atv accessible and one hiking/horse that goes up to Indian Lake. Beautiful views and about 1200' elevation change.

Potable water available at camp host's location. It has sulfer but the smell cleared after half a day sitting in the sun. We brought our own to drink though.

Some campsites were more separated and others were close together if you were with a group. River runs along the camp for fishing, and they were catching fish.

This is a great campground if you like to take some hikes through some beautiful national forest with a picturesque river. The Santa Barbara Campground is relatively small and most of the sites can't accommodate large rv's. A small travel trailer or tent works well in most sites. None of the sites have hook ups so you will be boon docking. There are vault toilets and water available. Sign on the water spigot said not to connect a hose though so filling your rv or trailer is not what they were intended for. I guess it was good that I filled before I left home. There are lots of trees for shade and beauty. The trails are absolutely wonderful and well worth taking a few hours to walk part of them. Hard core hikers will use the campground as a starting point for a lengthy hikes. There were a few cows that got into the camping area. There can also be horses on the trails so be vigilant.The temperatures were quite moderate as the campsite is at 8900 feet. You can hear the Santa Barbara River as it is very close.

Great spot for group camping of 20-40 campers. Nice shaded/wooded area for primitive tent camping with plenty of space to spread out. Gorgeous open meadow at base of camp area perfect for group games, sports. 1930s cabin with tables for meals and cooking under shelter. Campfire ring and outdoor table. Vault toilet. Beautiful views of Sangre de Cristos and Carson National Forest. Trail to Indian Lake is an easy hike of 2.5 Miles each way and perfect for families or hikers with the need for low-impact trails. There is an awesome swimming hole just a few miles west on Hwy 518 past Sipapu Ski & Summer Resort—worth the short drive!

Only a few cons—water onsite is listed as potable but smells and tastes so strongly of sulphur that it cannot be tolerated for drinking or cooking. Make sure to haul in water. Also tent camping area in woods is not level so there will be some incline. Important for those with circulatory issues.

Tent camped at this location in the middle of September (a week before closing). Very beautiful place to watch the leaves change, trailheads close by and picnic tables at each site. The site didn’t have an actual tent pad but we easily found a spot to pitch a tent. Will definitely be back!

We stayed at this site on the way back to Texas from our Colorado trip this summer. This is a great National Forest Campground south of Taos in the Carson Forest. The campground is just off the highway and situated in a beautiful mountain pine forest and next to a great trout stream. You have great shade during the hotter summer months. It’s far enough away from the highway that you don’t hear the traffic. It has a huge meadow and group camp site which look fantastic. The individual sites have some privacy between the sites and come equipped with fire pits and picnic tables. We made a reservation but the camp had a number of open sites in the peak summer season. The highlight here is the proximity of great hiking to nearby lakes and fishing in the trout stream. They had great facilities including clean pit toilets and some historic log cabins. They have a camp host and the sites accommodate tents and smaller vans and campers. I would give this another visit on our next trip to NM.

Overall the campsite was great. I think we saw the host but maybe not, however, everything was still very well maintained. At night, when everyone is settling, with a clear sky, you get an amazing view of the stars. The only downside is that you can kind of hear the road traffic in the morning. Not too bad but it’s noticeable. I’ll be coming back for sure though.

We enjoyed our weekend. The creek is very close and accessible, which is probably the highlight. There are plenty of hammock and shade trees. Sipapu resort is very close, so I was able to take my kid for a break from camping to get some “real food” ;) at the cafe. The pit toilets were really clean. My kid mentioned that specifically.

The negatives: Our site was really close to another site, which was not awesome. I prefer campgrounds where the sites are a bit farther apart. The road was not well maintained, but it wasn’t really a problem.

ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS :) beautiful scenery and very clean! i liked the set up of the camp ground, very spacious but still felt like a nice community. 10/10 must see.

We stayed here over July 4, 2021.  The campground was mostly full until Sunday (July, 4) and then cleared out. It stayed quiet even when full, though.  I wondered how rough the roads were, but driving from Castillo to the campground and then on to Hwy 64 east of Cimarron on 1950 was all very doable in a Subaru Ascent towing a trailer despite some heavy rains.

There were pit toilets which were clean, but flies at them got thick as the day warmed up.  Flies and mosquitoes were rare at the campsite, though. The campsites were large and surrounded by trees.  A few of the outer loop had nice, partial  views of the meadow.

There's a nice easy/moderate half mile hike down to the Shuree Ponds which were stocked with trout. it seemed a fair amount of people would drive to the larger of those two ponds for day use fishing.  The smaller was reserved for kids's fishing.  Both are classied as "Green Chile" waters so only flies or artificial lures with a single, barbless hook are allowed. 2 fish limit.

The area looked like a mecca for wildlife, but we only saw 3 deer in our hikes to and from the ponds and then a muskrat at the pond.

We stayed July 1st-5th, 2021. Beautiful location in a place I wasn’t expecting it to be sooo green! Very relaxing and remote as there is zero service. It was perfect & exactly what we were looking for. Vault toilets are well kept and within good proximity to most sites. The grass was about knee high, so yard games/ activities weren’t possible. The hiking trail to the lake was reasonable and not too inclined/strenuous. It rained only in the afternoons but everyday.

Took my boys camping and had a great time. We went June 2 and the water was not on yet. The facilities were very clean and the staff agent was present and available. We had no issues. It is a long way down a dirt road but well worth the drive to be remote. No cell service at the camp site but a short 5 min drive back to the first cattle guard allowed for service to multiple cell providers. A short beautiful hike to the ponds allowed for some fishing for the kids. All artificial lures and barbless hooks. It’s not glamping but is some great camping!

I have driven through this canyon more times than I can count. The area is beautiful! The drive through the Palisades (huge Sand and Limestone faces that line the canyon wall. The camping in the area is also quite good. The vault toilets are consistently clean and the area is quite friendly.

Carson National Forest in Cimarron is absolutely beautiful. We hiked near Shuree Ponds and camped between Ash Mountain and Little Castillo Peak. The weather was all over the place, but the views were stunning. Bear precautions are necessary. Water was plentiful as the streams and creeks were rapid with snow melt. We will absolutely be returning!

This campground is really seclusive. Miles of dirt road to get to with beautiful green grass on the way. It doesn't open until the first of July sometime because elk are caving and they don't want people to bother them. The road can be tough if it is raining a bunch, but worth the trip if you have time. Campgrounds are secluded, definitely bring everything you need because you are over an hour from a good store. Lots of good hiking and potential to see wildlife. It will also be cold at night, so be prepared. Great spot!

There were 36 sites and they were all well kept

The sites here were absolutely wonderful. When I came there weren't much camper. There are around 36 campsites all included with a grill, tables and showers. You really have your privacy and is so beautiful at night. They recommend you don't burn the firewood there because some sort of insects live in there. The nearest gas station is about a half hour ride away and is where we bought ours. The sunset was so pretty and in the morning it get pretty chilly

This campground is always overcrowded, and the camping sites are too close to each other but it’s located between trees and is really close to trail heads. There is a river nearby but not to close to the camping sites that you can overlook the river. Sadly, bathroom facilities are not clean

Visited late September, about a quarter of the sites were occupied. All sites are close enough to the river to hear it from a tent. The site has drinking water and pit toilets, but no cell service. Overall, stay was very peaceful and relaxing.