Best Tent Camping near Caballo, NM

We parked our cargo van in the tent camping spot since we dont need water or electric hookups. The tent sites are up in the rocks and they are very cool. The bath house is new (located at the visitors center) and has clean showers and toilets. We really enjoyed staying here for the night.

Caballo Lake State Park has several campgrounds that aren’t represented on the Dyrt app map. We tent camped at the Riverside campground below the dam over Easter 2014. See my screenshot of the park map. Google map has 100s of reviews of this campground. It was ok. Kind of crowded and the Rio Grande flowed shallow and muddy (unlike in Del Rio, Texas, from where we had recently moved, where the river is beautiful, above and below Amistad Dam). Alas, at least it was nice to be outdoors.

Stayed at the Appaloosa Campground. Was surprised when we should up that we had water. Electric works great. Ground is pretty hard and rocky so wouldn’t be good for tent camping.

This campground is right off the highway, but not too much traffic. The small creek bed has nice water depending on the time of year. Too hot in the summer. Gets cold I. The winter, but it is a nice place when the weather is too cold to go further up the mountains to other campgrounds in the Gila. Vault toilet is clean. Only a couple of camp spots. We tent camp, but I think you'd be able to park a small camper or trailer.

I spent two weeks here at three different sites, and while I was ready to get back to civilization (the park is fairly remote), I genuinely had a relaxing time.

The bathrooms/comfort station are clean and fairly new—the only downsides are they’re only open from 7am-5pm to conserve water and it’s a bit of a trek by foot if you’re at one of the far campsites. I also had strong enough reception with T-Mobile to work remotely, and good service through Verizon as well.

Site 25 (Crab): a truly iconic site within a park where nearly every site is a gem. Downside: very little privacy and no shade from the afternoon sun. Upside: Site is level, great sunset views and a quick walk to the pit toilets.

Site 24 (Hercules): Connects to site 25 via a the rock formations, but more private as it’s not directly on the main loop. Again, close to the pit bathroom. There’s a fun and semi private climb up into the rocks to the left of the picnic table that will give you a stellar sunset view. Site is level and protected from the worst of the south/SW winds. I also saw the most wildlife from this site (marmot, roadrunner, jack rabbit, and more). Downside: the site curves rather drastically and is best suited for vans, tent camping, or very small RVs; little shade as the tree that used to offer shade was removed.

Site 30 (Triangulum): hands down, the best site in the park IMO. Lots of shade and privacy as it’s set far back from the main road; it almost feels like you have the park to yourself. Pit toilets are conveniently at the end of the drive. Downside: people climbing through the rocks occasionally end up near your site, but no one ever wandered too far; the windmill does makes some noise but it’s really not too bad; this site has FULL shade, which is ideal unless you run on solar panels. For a few hours a day I had to back my van into the sun, which put it at a fairly severe angle as the drive slopes once you back out of the sweet spot by the picnic table; very little protection from the wind, but there is some.

You can't beat New Mexico State Parks. Water and electric hook-ups for $18. Great views and a concrete picnic shelter to boot.

Like many New Mexico State Parks, Leasburg Dam offers beautiful views and nice facilities. We have the facilities here to be among the best. We love the adobe shelters!

Caballo is kind of hidden between Percha and Elephant Butte but has lots of places to camp and is well maintained. This has a nice paved road leading to it, tons of spots where you can have privacy and trees. During the spring, it would keep you out of the wind.

Convenient spot when driving south in New Mexico. Nice campground. The water level on the lake was pretty low. There is some good hiking nearby and also a bike trail that goes around the lake which is quite long. We were there early in the season so there was a lot of accessibility for campsites.

Elephant butte is great for a short getaway. You can rent kayaks, jets skiis & more while you're there. I bring my own kayak and go at least 2X a year. My favorite part is grabbing a floaty and float down to caballo lake a smaller lake that connects by river.

We stayed for Christmas weekend and the park is very well taken care of. There are numerous trails outlined by rocks, and there's a variety of trails to go down to the Caballo Lake reservoir. We stayed in the Palamino Loop which has a nice view of the lake with full RV hookups, but the spots did feel cramped.

A little confusion at the park enterance sent us to the incorrect loop, discovered shortly after we were in place. But camp host made a few calls and as it worked out we were able to remain in location. The helpfulness of each person along the way made this an excellent spot. We used this as a base to explore south central New Mexico.

Nice area, and probably one of the best areas in central New Mexico. I however prefer the areas more to the north of the state. This campground is clean, cheap and right on the lake. The amount of people varies. Good place to chill or swim. There is a place to launch boats as well, but the lake itself isn't all that big. I've seen people dish there before, but never seen anyone catch anything. Isn't too much to do around the area, and basically would just make a nice weekend trip if you were in that area.

Tucked in next to the Rio Grande, Perch Dam Campground is quiet, clean, and enjoyable. The bathrooms were spotless and well maintained, as were the pit toilets in the dispersed area.  Most sites easily can fit a 35 - 40 foot rig.  There is water and electric (15, 30, 50 amp) at all reserved sites.  The only drawback, no RV dump station on site; you'll need to go to Caballo SP to dump.  Had great Verizon cell service while there.  We will return!

Beautiful campground in Santa Fe New Mexico. We came to stay one night to go to Meow Wolf and ended up staying 3 nights I liked it so much. Would be 5 stars but the water spigot only worked intermittently, and it was difficult to get a site due to online reservations, some of which weren't even used but sites were still considered occupied due to reservation. I dislike National Park Campgrounds utilizing online reservations, it makes it hard for those of us who wish to ramble aimlessly.

The birds are abundant here. I wore a red winter hat and had at least 10 hummingbirds buzz my head in one day. I could hear their wings and feel the breeze from them they came so close. Tons of shade here, and nice cool days with chilly nights in May. We had a night of sleet after a rainstorm with hail but the next two days were gorgeous. Conveniently located to Santa Fe amenities. I highly recommend this campground. Pit toilets were minimally smelly and relatively clean.

Situated on the edge of a sprawling reservoir along the Rio Grande river, this park is the perfect place to enjoy the vast landscape of the area. The nearby town of Truth or Consequences, NM is small, but has all the services you might need for food, gas, supplies, or soaking in hot springs. 

The campground is well spaced out, each spot has a picnic table with shade/rain structure (I’ll let you guess which purpose gets more use) and nearly all have electricity and water. That means NO generators! The bath house is clean and offers flush toilets, running sinks and warm showers. All sites are reservation only, but you can do that when you get there as there is plenty of LTE cell service.  We've never seen this place crowded in the winter months.  For what you get at this campground, it’s a bargain at twice the price. 

The campground is ideal for solar power, as is the New Mexico weather. We also had no problem connecting with Starlink.  Hiking, mountain biking, boating, fishing and all other sorts of desert recreation is available right from the campground.  Definitely worth the visit!

Last week I visited Faywood, New Mexico which is located about halfway in between Silver City and Deming, and I came across a unique terrain with structures of Boulder rocks that are “formed of volcanic ash and sculpted by wind and water into rows of monolithic blocks”, according to stateparks.com; I had never seen anything like it.

This unique and tucked-away gem has all the perfect essentials for a State Park including a Visitor Center, hot showers and clean restrooms, dry camping, picnicking and a Botanical Garden .

I absolutely enjoy being in a place that is preserved in its authenticity and City of Rocks State Park is all of that and a bag of organic chips. It is not just another “area of attraction”, but it is a place for healing, stillness, discipline and community. The miles of hiking and biking trails through rolling grasslands gives you an opportunity to reconnect with yourself, walking into the fields to sit in stillness and listen to the migration of the numerous bird species disciplines your senses, and for those of you who enjoy making new connections you will quickly find yourself in conversations with humans alike or vastly different in ways that allow you see yourself, and others, in the form of how God sees us all — in love and in truth.

This review is for dispersed camping. The lake water is murky, goathead thorns are everywhere, and you will hear and see Hwy 25. The park is old and not maintained well. The hosts don't use the restrooms and the paid staff don't care, so toilet paper dispensers go unfilled, lights burn out so you need a flashlight at night (bring one anyways because they're on a timer), showers don't work or work poorly, the buildings aren't heated in winter, the water is too hot to shower with in July/Aug, etc. If you say anything you are regarded as a complainer and will receive either an apathetic or a hostile response. The rangers are the worst- they drive around in trucks with blacked-out windows like wannabe feds, and won't stop if you try to flag one down. Someone destroyed the sidewall of one of my new tires when I was parked near the boat ramp, watch your belongings. Locals intentionally walk right through your site (along the lake adjacent to boat ramp) between your vehicle and the picnic table, so their kids can mess with your stuff. If you say anything, do you remember being mercilessly bullied in grade school for not being of a certain group? You can relive that garbage here, parents encourage their kids to be truly stupid and hateful. Welcome to NM. If you stay at Caballo long enough maybe you can appreciate why many people who grow up here can't wait to get out as soon as they can. Locals come out in droves weekends, so visit weekdays if you value peace.

We camped here for 5 days. Water and electric on every site. Beautiful view of the lake. It was very quiet. The camp host was wonderful. We had some stakes that came with the tent and they didn't work. He gave us some heavy duty ones that didn't bend.

Pretty lake but too busy. Went on a what we thought was a slow weekend and campers/tents were side by side at the shore line all the way around the lake. It's also surrounded by soft sand which a poop ton of people get stuck in if you don't have the right vehicle.

Beautiful scenery and nice sites. Had a power outage for a bit, no running water or lights in restroom was a pain at the time. Obviously camping there are critters, but when my daughter saw a large black widow on our tent she had a little freak out. Just check your picnic table and keep an eye out.