Best Equestrian Camping near Arroyo Seco, 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.

Stayed two nights and loved every minute. Took inner tubes and rode them down the stream!

Rio Costilla is an awesome place to camp. It’s a mountainous terrain with small lakes and streams running through the camgrounds. It’s beautiful! you can go fishing in all the lakes and is regularly stocked but also has native fish in the lakes too. This campground does get a little chilly in the night, even in summer, so bring a good sleeping bag. It will drizzle regularly and sometimes pours so prepare for that. There is no running water at this campground, so bring plenty. They have port-o-potties by every camping site and they keep them clean. They also have cattle that roam around the campground so keep your pups on a leash. The hikes they have at this place are great!! It’s really neat. If you’re lucky, you’ll see some deer on one of your hikes. The views you get as you hike farther up the mountain are breathtaking! But it is a hard hike and you can get lost so I’d recommend taking a seasoned hiker with you if you’re new. This place is awesome and my favorite camping grounds. There are no trash cans at the sights or while hiking so please pack out what you brought. There is a big dumpster on your way out that you can throw your trash there.

The Rio Costilla Park is definitely a hidden gem. Awesome hiking trails for avid fishermen and hikers alike. From the 9 Lakes or Latier lakes however you prefer to call them to the hidden Little Blue Lake. A must visit for nature enthusiasts!

The park is HUGE and just so beautiful. 10,000 acres of aspens and ponderosa pines only one hour away from the town of Taos. All sites offer a fire pits and some come with nice picnic tables under roofs by the clear river. Only $25 a day you can get to enjoy the nature. We didn’t take our TRD pro Taco coz we thought our All wheel super handling SUV would be good enough but definitely there are some off-roading you can enjoy. Be sure to bring your truck or Jeep to enjoy more. No cell phone reception. There are no water available and porta potties were not ready yet. The lake was closed but we still had so much fun hiking and exploring the acres of wonderland. Will definitely go back there!

Fishing is great and quality waters. It is fisherman’s fly fishing dream. Camping is great too as you can park next to the river. It’s pricey at 20.00 a night but worth it.

Camped here the last 2 nights and it was fantastic. For $25/night it’s a good deal. There’s not clearly marked camping areas, which is both kinda cool and a little disorienting. Some of the camping areas have small, perfectly sized covered picnic table areas which are absolutely wonderful. The campsites are nearly all along a babbling brook, stream, or river. The roads to the entrance, to the campsites, and definitely up to the lakes are best suited if not exclusively suited for trucks and 4WD vehicles. Currently there’s no restroom facilities unless you personally rent a porta-potty to be brought to your campsite. We’ll be coming back. A word for tent campers, at least during my stay the volume of RV’s virtually dominated the park.

It is very well kept and managed. The care takers are nice. It's a little more expensive to stay per night than a state park but the views are well worth it.

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.