Best Equestrian Camping near Angostura, NM

It really is beautiful here. Southeast New Mexico has mountains believe it or not. The camp is nestled up against one. It’s Memorial Day weekend and not too crowded. Highly recommend for the price (basically free). If you are tent camping and low maintenance this place rocks. If you have a huge rig I’m not even sure I would want to make the drive up the road to the camp site. Spots are small, so you would need to find the best spot if you have an RV or Trailer.

Stayed in #43. Most sites are uneven and short. BLM recommends nothing more than 23' long. Water available at host site near gate before driving about 4 or 5 mi to campsites. Road IS narrow and winding and steep in place but pave and ONE way (don't turn wrong direction). Toilets were clean and mens toilets all had soft-close lids. I am told womens do not. Campground was clean, great 4 mile loop hike, and other much more strenuous/technical options for mountain climbers. Mountain crags remind me of a mix of Tetons, Patagonia and Sawtooth in Idaho. Great views to Sacramento Mountains to the east (Ruidoso/Cloudcroft area--Sierra Blanca covered in snow early Nov.). White Sands nearby along with White Sands Missile Range Museum).  Met some BLM peeps who were very nice, helpful and provided great information re: geology of the area and other points of interest. We brought our own 5 gal of water and were fine for 3 nights.

ALSO: shout out to New Mexico Volunteers for the Outdoors who were doing trail rehab./maintenance work while we were in area, yay!

I've been on a nationwide roadtrip for a few months that now and I have tent camped alone in many sites from Florida to Arkansas to, now, New Mexico. I chose Aguirra because of its close proximity to White Sands National Park. It is a First Come First Serve site and you must pay in cash. I was lucky to find a site in the afternoon. There are many sites. Over 40. I lucked out with 43 because it is huge! It's a jilly Rocky site with no one around me and several stone fire pits, a BBQ grill, and animal proof garbage can. There are Porta John's in close proximity. I have not found any water yet. Not sure. No RV hookups. But what do you expect for 7 bucks a night. I was here over Easter weekend so it got noisy with Fiesta music and someone throwing up across from my site at midnight! Whole families come here, jam their music etc. It's Easter so whatever. There is a covered picnic table and lots of tree cover to deal with the intense NM sun. I love how this place is at the end of an ascending, remote, windy road though. It's large enough that no rangers come and bug you for trivialities.

If you do one thing in New Mexico--and it would be a shame if you only did one thing, but I digress--full moon camping at White Sands National Monument might be it. As the sun sets on the Sacramento Mountains, the valley is lit orange and red as the dunes fade from white through amazing hues of tan. The full moon then lights the sand bright white and the Organ Mountains to the west loom as black teeth in the west. Sunrise repeats the process.

Camping at White Sands takes a small amount of planning, but is well worth it. You must claim a spot the of your arrival and pay a small fee. This is done at the visitor's center which has a great museum. My advise is to get there early to get a spot then head up to Cloudcroft to the east for a cooler hike in the pines then return an hour or two before sunset.

Once at the trailhead, the camp sites are 1/4 to 1/2 mile of hiking away. This is sand hiking, so plan on a slower pace. The trail is a lollipop marked by posts every couple hundred yards with camp sites in the valleys between camp sites. No campfires are allowed, and you must camp by the post with your campsite number. You must bring all of your water (plan on at least one gallon per person per day) and pack out all of your waste. The trailhead has dumpsters and pit toilets.

Bring a camera and tripod for amazing moon shots and a decent bag because it can get cold at night.

Lots of dispersed sites but looks like a very popular area we passed over 20 campers before finding a spot. Spots are pretty well spaced out with lots of vegetation inbetween. Road is a little rough 4x4 definitely recommended.

Road and camp site were good

Bring your own wood

Go to this campsite. $7 is a steal compared to all the BS in other campsites. Beautiful views and great atmosphere. Facilities are normal for a primitive camp site and there are no RVs which is nice if you’re tired of generators or slow driving. Can have FIRE, there is shade and there are trash cans. Would recommend.

There’s plenty of campsites for vehicles to pull up to. The hike has some good elevation gain so don’t expect a flat hike. Rewards you with great views half the time and shade the other half the time. The halfway point on the hike has hella shade for grillin n chillin.

THIS IS NOT A FREE BLM site. It's only a campground that's $7 for overnight or $5 day pass. If you can figure out the map to this place, figure out what site you want to head to, otherwise you'd be like us and ended up near the exit, we decided to head to another place that's free.

Sites are a bit small and tight. It seems more for cars than RVs. I like that there's bathrooms and covered picnic tables. Not many level gravel sites.

Also, on the way near the site there's a sign saying drinking water to a right side pull over where I didn't see any spigot, just a gate that says employee only.

The Organ Mountains are breathtaking. The campground has basic amenities, but found some lack of maintenance on our last visit (overflowing trash bins, tons of litter). Also, there is a gate that is closed absurdly early, as our friends who were planning to meet us learned. They arrived at 6 PM to be turned away by the host, who didn't want to open the gate. I hope this situation has been resolved, because this is overall a nice place to camp.

Campsite is decent, bathroom and water is available. Good place to stay to prepare if you plan to hike the organ needle such as we did. Gate to enter park closes at 6 and does not grant access in until 8 the next morning.

Very affordable campground with beautiful views. Located close to White Sands and campground has beautiful trails. Plenty of sites available. They are first come first serve. Each site has a picnic table, awning, tent pad and fire pit.

Most people do not plan a vacation stop just to check out a Military Base, in fact usually that isn't something that is an option, but when I found out that the base located nearby is actually the test site for many of the warheads used today and there was in fact a museum here, I had to at least try to see it.

I found that Aguirre Spring Campground was literally at the footprint of the road to the base so it was perfect.

When I arrived I had no idea that the mountains would be so breathtaking. It is strange how they jut up different than anything else in the area and for this perfect setting for watching the world around you. The view of the area itself was worth more than the $7 fee for camping here.

So what about the facility though? I mean what can you get for $7?

Well it is pretty basic, a pit toilet, picnic tables and fire rings. It is also pretty small but spaces seem to feel comfortable despite the size of the facility probably because you don't have a lot of neighbors.

While you can see the traffic for the Holloman Air Force Base it doesn't fully allow you to see the base itself and instead you have to take the drive down the road which makes you realize that while camping here you are in fact monitored well. They have lots of signs telling you to stay on roadways because of active sites and also that there are drones monitoring the area. So while this might seem remote you are in fact probably at one of the more supervised campsites in the nation and just don't realize it.

We took a risk in trying to go see the museum, not knowing what exactly that would entail and it wasn't to hard actually, that is if you don't mind having a DOD check at the gate which takes about 15 minutes on a good day. Of course not having anything to worry about on our records we quickly passed and were allowed a permit to the museum which is on base, you do have to carry your credentials with you as you walk around however. We did see someone get turned away while we were there so not everyone is allowed access.

TIPS:

• If you are wanting to stay here and see the base make sure you have a valid license otherwise you will be immediately turned away from the base.
• When camping here there is a strict nightly curfew for closure which has been implemented and they do close the gate so make sure you are set before 6 p.m. I am not fully sure why this exists but I am sure it has something to do with the base nearby.

We stayed here for 3 nights in early April.  The campground was less than 50% full so very quiet and peaceful.  The hiking was great and it was an easy drive for a day trip to White Sands which was delightful.   The bathrooms were clean and the sites simple with no hookups but a shaded picnic table at each.  It was windy for one day but otherwise it was a lovely spot.

We tent camped at Aguirre Spring campground over Father’s Day weekend in June 2022. I don’t know. Maybe it was too hot or I was too tired, or a combination of both with a causal connection. I love the outdoors but I can’t really think of anything good or bad to write about this campground.

It seemed like a nice place and the vault toilet bathroom was clean and extremely stocked with TP. There is a great trail called pine tree loop from which you can actually see real pine trees on the mountainside above the barren desert basin. We fell victim to the one-way road that other campers bemoaned too. The camp host’s phone is 575-644-9143 (as announced on the BLM’s voicemail greeting) and he was helpful when I called ahead and told me the campground was open (as of 6/22/2022, the Dyrt has an alert that the campground is closed for the season), that there was plenty of space, and that there was a fire ban.

We pitched our tent without the rain fly. Right when we layed down for the night, it started raining, so we scrambled to overlay the rain fly and then the rain stops. In the middle of a desert drought, if such a thing is a thing. The tent pad barely accommodated our 6-person tent and it seemed like all the sites suffered the same fate. We scouted the whole campground, mainly searching for shade and settled on a decent site with a giant boulder on the western side for some evening shade. The campground was maybe 1/3 full. Overall it was good to get outdoors for father’s day despite the fatigue.

Beautiful camp grounds! There was plenty of space so we still got to have a fairly secluded experience. Some sites can be difficult to find a flat area for a tent.

They seem to be operating summer hours now, so the gates actually close at 8pm!

Watch out for ant mounds, flies, and gnats when setting up though.

Very windy road back to campground. Putable water at beginning of road. Get it if you need it before you go up. Pit toilets, just okay. Sites are awesome! Spread out. Nice fire pits and covered picnic tables. Tucked right under mountain. Great views!