Searching for the perfect place to pitch your tent near Canjilon? Find the best information on tent camping near Canjilon, including sites, reviews, and tips for getting the most out of your camping experience. Each tent site offers quick access to one or more of Canjilon, New Mexico's most popular destinations.
Many people enjoy the solitude and primitive experience of camping away from developed campgrounds and other campers. Dispersed camping is camping anywhere in the National Forest OUTSIDE of a designated campground. It means no services; such as trash removal, and little or no facilities; such as tables, fire pits and toilets are provided.
There are extra responsibilities and skills that are necessary for dispersed camping. It is your responsibility to know these before you try this new experience. Camping rules and regulations apply to make your experience safe, and to keep the natural resources scenic and unspoiled for other campers.
With two outstanding Wild and Scenic Rivers and three developed recreation areas, the BLM’s Taos Field Office is a great place to experience a whitewater rafting challenge; enjoy a breathtaking view of a river gorge; hike miles of developed trails; camp under the stars; view wildlife; or visit important prehistoric, historic, or active cultural sites. Come and explore over 594,000 acres of your public lands. The Field Office also administers over 4 million acres of Federal mineral estate.
Guide
Rio Chama RV park in Chama, New Mexico, is at the intersection of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad and the upper Rio Chama. A nice place to stay May 1 thru mid October. The train passing by twice a day is an exciting event and it's a short walk to the train yard.
Pull through sites have great shade and full hookups with 30 or 50 amp electrical service. Spacious tent sites with full service restrooms nearby. Pet friendly with dog park and free wifi. A great place for fishing, train watching and relaxing.
Scout
This is one of the places to camp in New Mexico
Traveler
$10 tent camping in desert behind groovy glamper park. Fantastic people. In walking distance to Taos brewery Oasis. On the road to the gorge. Cool summer nights
Scout
Mostly RV sites, some tent sites. Some with no hookups, partial hookand full hookups. Awesome staff. Full bathroom & laundry facilities.
Ranger
This is an artist paradise. So many beautiful land formations and gorgeous sunsets. The campground includes a bath house with laundry room and electric hookups if needed. $30 to tent camp (no electric). Lodging, yurts and cabins, are also available.
Guide
Only had 3 or 4 spots for camping. A spot was big enough for an RV while the others were mostly for tent camping. We found some waterfalls brushwhacking along the creek but be prepared to get your feet wet.
Ranger
These coordinates are a rough estimate, but this entire forrest road is filled with amazing campsites you can simply pull off and camp in. currently there’s a fire ban, so it makes it hard to stay warm at night, but the stars are amazing. it’s quiet. it’s lovely. there’s canyon walls for miles. it’s really amazing. some of these pics are from the nearby canyon that’s a bit of a walk up the road, but most are from our campground. loved our first experience camping in New Mexico!
Traveler
The Juniper campground is perfection. The layout of the campground allows for both RV and tent camping, while still having you own quiet area. Plenty of water filling stations, and bear boxes. The evening ranger presentations, held at the amphitheater, are informative and interactive.
TravelerNot good for large trailers but if you have a smaller one or tent camping, this place is great. When it is full it is still fine as it seems people there are decent and know their manners. (becoming unusual these days) Will stay there again.
Traveler
Had a great experience here, stayed 3 nights tent camping with my dog. Bathrooms with showers, laundry room, store, and coffee/tea available in the office. The whole property has a friendly/family culture and the couple who manages the campground is very personable and knowledgeable about the area. Will be back!
Guide
This was a wonderful spot! We tent camped with our family of 4 for 4 nights. Camp hosts were awesome too! We haven’t ever done a site with no shower so that’s the only reason it didn’t get a 5 star. But! The river made for great bathing :-D
Nearby to tons of hiking spots and great outdoors experiences.
Guide
We had a great time camping here. Very cheap only $6 to camp all ages all year. They have nice grills at the tent sites along 28th tables. Bathrooms were nice and clean and a close walk. With lots to do including fish and hiking trails. We look forward to going back.
RangerSites are exposed, and summer is hot. I imagine fall or spring would be more ideal weather. Definitely planning a trip back later in the year. Each tent site is small, relatively flat with picnic table. A few pull through sites are available. Firewood is pre-cut and can be purchased for $1 a log (cash only, drop box).
ScoutThis place is cool. Its made up of about 15 1960-70's trailers, all updated and stylish, on the wide open Taos Mess. There's also tent camping available for $10 a night. Showers (indoor and outdoor) and bathrooms are all really nice and clean. The owners and employees are all a joy. 15 minutes to downtown Taos. There is a brewery right across the street with live music and an awesome patio.
TravelerThis place is so cool. There is a “hotel” made up of old airstreams and other RVs, a solid brewery and a music venue that brings pretty serious acts in.
We paid $10 to park our van essentially. Parked in the gravel lot, had acces to showers and bathrooms. There was also tent camping for $10 a night as wel and that looked really legit with unobstructed views .
10/10 will 100% go back to this spot and support what they are doing
Guide
Stunning spot, lots of tent sites, room for maybe 12 campers of modest length, mine is 26' spot #9 is prime for a camper with a driver side slide/kitchen table. unknown if it's seasonal but the biting flies, primarily deer flies are beyond bearable, I survived 4 days, most other campers left after one night. The camp host is very friendly, and knows the best fishing holes.
Guide
Fenton Lake is usually busy and reserving months ahead of time is a good idea. We like spots number 1 and 17 for tent camping. Rangers patrol the campgrounds and in general people are usually well behaved. Nice hikes along the creek. Getting a fishing spot may be hard to find sometimes as the small lake is usually circled with people fishing. Fishing is usually good though as it is well stocked. Temperatures at night can get down in the low forties after being in the eighties during the day.
Traveler
Tent camped in July and could not get into the water; but did freeze my ankles off. Have nice latrine commode and that is all. There are no specific sites. Just find a place and set up. Longest stay is 2 weeks.
Photographer had a pop-up trailer, solar cells, (trees everywhere). He said 2X per week he would get a shower in town somewhere.
There is sufficient room for 10-15 families. Remove all trash when leaving.
Obviously, camp in warm weather or you need to have a snow plow since drifts 3-5 ft deep.
RangerI’ve been coming to Fenton Lake for camping with family since I was little and we’ve always loved it. It’s beautiful and well taken care of. Park rangers are always making their rounds and always friendly and helpful. Plenty of tent sites; only a few have some good privacy. Not many electrical hookups though. Trash bins and vault toilets are usually close by. Love the trail that runs along the side of the camp and the stream that runs adjacent to the campsites. Fishing is fun but get there early because spots fill up quickly. Only downfall I’ve seen is that theres only one water spigot and it’s right at the lake.
Traveler
I pull a small trailer and the road in was rough. I was concerned about being able to turn around. When I got to the spot where there are six or eight camping spots, finding one suitable for a trailer was difficult, but I did it. This is more suitable to car camping.
There is an open area that would be good for group camping. There are three or more RVs that appear to be permanent features. That was strange. Looked like fishing camps. I didn't want to drive the steep road down to this area.
Personally, I wish I had stopped a the forest service campsites up hill from this location, but if you are in a car and want to tent camp here, I don't see a problem,
Guide
This is a larger RV Park. They provide full hookups, spaces for tent camping, and some small cottages. I have not used their restrooms, but the laundry is clean and reasonably priced. Many of the spaces are pretty close together, but we’ve had worse! They have nice picnic tables and fire pits. There is a creek that runs behind the park and the spaces along this creek cost more. We stayed in Space 20; which is supposed to have the creek behind it (so we paid more), but there’s a bunch of electrical boxes there so you can’t see it or access it and there’s also a huge manhole sticking up in our space! So don’t take Space 20 unless you are desperate! That is the reason for my 4 rating. The grass is sparse, but there are big grassy areas throughout the park. Some of the spaces have the shade of large trees. I would stay here again, but would avoid #20.
GuideReally nice campgrounds right inside entrance to Bandelier National Monument. Self serve/first come, so get here early to snag a spot. We stayed in Bear Loop and found those sites the nicest for vans, car camping, tents.
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Scout
I did a fair amount of research online regarding walk-in tent camping at Heron Lake, during the week. See the great maps and detail at https://newmexicostateparks.reserveamerica.com/camping/heron-lake/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NM&parkId=430012 . I called the visitor center to confirm that being a walk-in would not be a problem during the week. Once one arrives as a walk-in, look for the campsites with a green tag on them.
The Heron Lake camp sites shown at the above reserveamerica website all have a fair amount of trees for shade. What the reserveamerica site does not show is a few more Heron Lake campgrounds southwest along Highway 95 (beyond the dam). The southwesterly sites are way more exposed to the sun than the first four campgrounds. Otherwise, the southwesterly campgrounds have fine views of the lake.
I was at Island View campground, in a loop that was convoluted enough that I do not think a trailer (with its inevitable noisy generator) could get in. I guess that this is the point. As a result, all I heard from time to time were muffled voices and no generators. It's the first tent spring-summer-fall camping I have enjoyed in years that was generator-free. I had at least one empty campsite on either side of me as an additional buffer to noise.
I walked along the lakeshore. It did not seem that low. I saw large fish jumping in one cove. I hiked the Salmon Run Trail to the dam. The Salmon Run Trail is a beautiful hike, not all level but not too steep for this older person's knees and walking poles. On the lake side of the dam, walking along the highway to get a good look at the dam, I saw several schools of large fish.
The vault bathrooms and the flush-toilet bathrooms were fine. Not super clean and not super dirty. I did not try the shower but it looked like people were using it.
This time of year, bring some bug repellent or wear jeans and a light long sleeve shirt at night. New Mexico has had a lot of moisture this season, so I think the bug-giness is higher than usual. Still, I sat outside and read for an hour or so pretty comfortably.
The camp host was lovely.
GuideJoined the family down in Chama, NM for a fun 4-day, 3-night stay at this RV park. Good size RV park with all the amenities you need to camp with your RV, Tent or rent a cabin. Friendly staff and clean restrooms and showers. The owners have a spot right at the park and are very nice. Rio Chama river runs right next to the park so you can fish or wade through the creek. We have a roof top tent so we reserved a back in RV site. We were parked right next to the power sub-stations so at night we heard buzzing from the electrical boxes. The owner allowed us to move to the tent sites so that solved that issue. We didn't need any of the hookups so no biggie. They had no problem with us moving there. No bugs and the temperature was reasonable in the 80s and cooled down to 60-55 at night. Pack rain gear if you're camping in July/Aug because the monsoon flows up with some pretty good t-storms. Chama is a nice little town that draws train riders from all over to ride The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad into Colorado.
Ranger
I tent-camped off of Carson NF Forest Service Road 578 in mid April 2022. FS 578 is south of Tres Piedras about 5 miles on the west side of Hwy 285. There are several dirt road turn offs but FS 578 is clearly marked with a brown NFS sign (see photo) and has no gate but there is a cattle guard/grate. Here is a NFS road use map that shows dispersed camping along FS 578 and many other NFS roads: https://www.fs.fed.us/r3/gis/mvum/Carson/CarsonTresPiedrasCanjilonElRito.pdf (see also screenshot). My Tacoma had no problem on the dirt road, which has ruts and might be tough for an RV. There were few clearings suitable for dispersed camping but I found a nice spot with a small fire circle in a small clearing on the south side of the road just past a fork in the road. I carried two black boulders over to serve as a table and chair. I didn’t see anyone else camping or driving by. The forest is a nice mix of sage, juniper, and pine trees. I saw two elk across a swath of sage. I could see the snow capped peaks of the Sangre de Cristo range on the eastern horizon when I walked farther up the road. It got cold at night, like 27 F. It was a nice waypoint on my trip between Gunnison CO and El Paso TX but it didn’t look like many people camped there. I had intended to drive to Taos the next day on Hwy 64, but didn’t.
Legend
General: 54-site campground in four loops; the Pedernal Loop has water and electric hookups, the Chama and Puerco Loops do not and there is a walk-in tent site loop. There is also overflow camping.
Site Quality: Sites appeared to be mostly level (at least in the Pedernal loop); most were paved but a few were gravel. Most were back in, but some were pull-through. There are two ADA-accessible sites in the Pedernal Loop. Many have reservoir views. Site 14 has a generous-sized paved driveway. Completing the site is a lantern hook, BBQ, and covered picnic table. Too bad it was so darn windy that we could not enjoy these amenities. There was also a garbage can at the end of each site but no recycling that I saw. If you do not need hookups, sites 34 and 39 (in the Puerco loop) provide excellent water views.
Bath/Shower House: Basic with two shower stalls, two toilets, and one sink. Very clean. There are also very clean vault toilets located throughout the campground. Did not use the shower so cannot comment on how well it works.
Activities: The Abiquiu Lake Vista Trail is a 4-mile hike and bike stacked-looped trail (so you can add or duplicate interconnected loops). Boating access is one mile away. Fishing is also popular. There is also a volleyball net and a very nice modern playground. We were there at the end of April, so it was very quiet (which is the way we like it). Shout out to great camp hosts – we were greeted upon arrival and they made sure we didn’t have any questions or concerns. For $16, this is affordable but with the senior pass, $8 is a bonafide bargain!
Legend**Campground Review: **
Imagine 1.25 Ma ago an eruption blew apart the landscape of Northern New Mexico that would rival the shear volume erupted by the world famous Yellowstone hotspot! Jemez Falls and its namesake campground are the closest, largest, and most developed CG to the Valles Caldera proper and the entrance to the caldera's access roads. The Jemez Falls CG is more developed than the nearby primitive (dispersed) sites that surround the flanks of the caldera proper, this CG offers 50 single sites and 2 double sites, $10 and $50 respectively. Most of the sites can accommodate RVs and trailers up to 40' in length with good options for tent camping as well. Each site has the usual metal fire ring, along with picnic tables and a paved driveway/parking area. You can reserve sites from mid May through Mid September.
Even if you plan to stay here for a couple weeks (which is the limit) you'll have more than enough to keep you preoccupied! If you want to drive around and hike or fish in the caldera proper then you will need to go to the Valles Caldera Visitors Center and buy a pass. They typically cost $25 but when we visited during the International Balloon Fiesta the fee was waived. If they are charging when you arrive, you can also use your National Parks Pass to get entrance. Be sure to arrive early on the weekends as they restrict the # of permits they hand out.
Now with all this exposed rock you know there's going to be some amazing climbing! All of the rock in the immediate area was created by the caldera and related volcanic and magmatic activity in the area in the past few million years. This gives you the opportunity to climb on some "bulletproof" welded tuff (hardened volcanic ash) much like what exists at the world famous Smith Rock State Park in Oregon. If you want to find out more about the interesting geology of the area you can look Here
Product Review:
Being a Ranger for the Dyrt allows us to test and review gear from time to time! This time we got to test out the Men's Free Rein Jacket by Red Ledge.
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Score: 4/5
Nestled in the scenic Carson National Forest, Canjilon, New Mexico, offers a variety of tent camping options for outdoor enthusiasts seeking adventure and tranquility.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Canjilon, NM?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Canjilon, NM is Carson NF - Forest Service Road 578 - Dispersed Camping with a 4.4-star rating from 5 reviews.
What is the best site to find tent camping near Canjilon, NM?
TheDyrt.com has all 30 tent camping locations near Canjilon, NM, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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