Karen N.
Guide
GuideSanta Barbara Campground
Beautiful weekend
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
Equestrian Camping near Chamisal, NM
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Jacks Creek Horse Camp provides primitive equestrian camping on Forest Service land in the Pecos Wilderness. Sites accommodate riders with horses, featuring basic camping areas suitable for tent and small RV setups. While no official horse corrals are present, the camp includes areas where horses can be tied or contained with portable corrals. Riders access the Beatty's Trail directly from the campground, making it convenient for backcountry horseback excursions. The campground has vault toilets and trash collection. Campsites are positioned with adequate space for horse trailers, though large living-quarter trailers may find access challenging due to the forest roads. The campground typically fills quickly during summer weekends when trail conditions are optimal.
Forest Service Road 578 offers dispersed camping options for horse owners seeking more remote locations near Chamisal. These primitive sites lack formal facilities but provide direct access to Carson National Forest's extensive trail system. Horses must be managed using highlines or portable corrals that campers bring themselves. The road conditions can be challenging for larger rigs, making these sites better suited for experienced backcountry campers with appropriate equipment. Water for horses must be packed in or accessed from natural sources along trails, subject to seasonal availability. Trail access from these dispersed sites connects riders to high mountain routes with significant elevation changes, typically requiring horses in good condition accustomed to mountain terrain.
Best Equestrian Campgrounds near Chamisal (12)
1. Santa Barbara Campground
"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"
"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."
from $30 - $80 / night
Check Availability2. Agua Piedra Campground
"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."
"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."
from $30 - $175 / night
Check Availability3. Borrego Mesa Campground
"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."
"Campground is a little off the beaten path, about 30m from the High Drive highway. Dirt roads were nothing to worry about, should be fine for any SUV or sedan."
4. Iron Gate Campground
"During rainy seasons, ruts form with deep mud on some spots driving up."
"It's a nice little place tucked away in the woods. The road to get there is a bit rough, hence the title. By no means, Not a road for a large trailer or 5th wheel. Wild life everywhere.."
5. Jacks Creek Horse Camp
"The sites on the outside of the loops are decently wooded, smaller and not well suited to RVs. The sites on the inside of the loops have longer, RV sized pull in and little trees."
"Great overnight spot to use as a "home base" with lots of trail access. Multiple units of corrals and plenty of parking and turnaround space for large trailers."
6. Jacks Creek Group Area
"Beautiful drive out, creeks on both sides. Nestled deep in the Pecos Wilderness. Camping overlooks the mountains. Beatty’s trail head is nearby. Made a fire and had electric to charge my phone"
from $100 / night
Check Availability7. Carson NF - Forest Service Road 578 - Dispersed Camping
"Many open areas to camp right off the highway. The views of the mountains across the valley are best after the fork in the road. Please pick up extra trash if you use"
"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."
8. Big Arsenic Springs Campground
"The location is isolated and you need to bring plenty of water. The advantage is being able to walk into the Gorge, which if you fly fish, is an amazing thing."
9. Ghost Ranch
"The whole ranch has been turned into a top notch facility with campgrounds and motel rooms, horses for rent, classes, and great hiking. The campground is large with several interconnecting loops."
"Recommend arriving not too late to see if you can get a good spot, we didn’t have shade so had to go find a nice shady bench away from our site for eating lunch / relaxing after our hike."
10. Hopewell Lake Campground
"My wife and I have stayed at Hopewell Lake twice now. The first time we stayed here, we stumbled upon this little gem of a site while driving from Durango, CO to Taos, NM."
"No luck fishing but several people around us were catching very nice sized trout. Vault toilets were well stocked and clean."
from $24 - $125 / night
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Drive Time
- 1 hr 1 min from Santa Fe, NM
- 1 hr 51 min from Albuquerque, NM
- 3 hrs 20 min from Farmington, NM
- 3 hrs 23 min from Pueblo, CO
Equestrian Camping Reviews near Chamisal, NM
63 Reviews of 12 Chamisal Campgrounds
Tyler G.GuideHopewell Lake Campground
Wonderful Campground in the scenic Tusas Mountains
My wife and I have stayed at Hopewell Lake twice now. The first time we stayed here, we stumbled upon this little gem of a site while driving from Durango, CO to Taos, NM. It was enchanting enough that we made sure to make it back for an opportunity to take in the scenery and relax during a long weekend. The only issue we ran into was an abundance of mosquitos, but this should be expected during the late Spring/early Summer in northern New Mexico and can be easily addressed with a citronella candle and a bit of bug spray. Our most recent stay was on one of those rare nights where you can pull off the rain fly and not worry about a midnight downpour, which left us with a wonderful view of the stars, and the sites are private enough that, as long as you don't set up next to the table, it's comfortable with an open tent and away from prying eyes.
The campground is nice, very well maintained, and the site host is friendly and helpful. The grounds are a
- D
Dorrs T.
ScoutIron Gate Campground
Not as great as I thought it would be.
Based on the reviews I thought this place would be a cool oasis up in the trees. Alas, it's not. There's a loop with 14 total sites. Unfortunately, at least half the sites in the inner ring are unusable because of road runoff making it tough to get to them, and we have a Toyota Tacoma. As a result, they do not get used and are, therefore, overgrown with New Mexico ground cover, which is not comparable to soft grass. That immediately bumps it down to about 10 sites. When we arrived, there was one site available that we could access. It was behind the main trailhead parking area and completely shaded. All in all, not bad, just not our ideal choice since it's right there close to any and all foot traffic. Luckily, as we walked the rest of the loop to see if there was anything else, a couple was just finishing packing up so we were able to snag their spot (#13), which we felt was the best one. Score!
Now, let's talk the road to get there. Absolutely do not try to take a camper of any size to this campground unless it's a legit overland type tear or squaredrop, ideally with an articulating hitch. People are not kidding when they say that's not a good idea. We had our Tacoma in 4L and I'm honestly not sure how some 2WD vehicles make it. There are many spots where the incline is pretty good, a number of deep crevices as a result of water runoff, many sections that are absolutely one lane only, and at least 6 spots where there was a small pond of standing water to drive through. Were any of the ponds show stoppers, no, but the water in one dip came up past the bottom of our doors. All in all, the road is no joke. Yes, I get this is a forest road, but the road snakes through multiple pieces of residential property (albeit they are probably summer homes but we saw people at almost every house when we drove past), and there's a hiking trailhead at the campground, so I expected it to be not THAT bad. In my book, it's not officially 'offroading' but it's worse than other forest service roads we've been on. Oh, and the couple residents we passed driving in their vehicles (you can tell by looking at them they are not campers or hikers) made it abundantly clear they weren't happy with us being on their road. All in all, nice campground with great trailheads but there are too many other beautiful places to hike and camp in NM for us to want to go back.
- Jeff K.Guide
Borrego Mesa Campground
Great campsite!!
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.
Steve & Ashley G.
LegendAgua Piedra Campground
Great Northern New Mexico Camp
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.
marine J.
RangerRV Park at HIPICO Santa Fe
Great location close to Santa Fe
This is a very spacious private campground southwest of Santa Fe with access to public land. Located 20 minutes from downtown Santa Fe. There are probably 50 sites with restrooms and showers. I saw a few tent but this is really geared toward RVs. They have discounts if you stay 4 to 6 days it is 10% off and 7 to 14 days it is 15% off. There is really nothing to it but it is so spacious and quiet, great vibe and the staff is super nice and helpful. They offer overnight stabling for horses too.
Tammy V.
TravelerAgua Piedra Campground
Excellent campground!
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.
James F.GuideSanta Barbara Campground
Beautiful Hiking
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.
Robin T.GuideSanta Barbara Campground
Great location but small noisy campground
This campground has a PERFECT location, right on the border of the Pecos wilderness with fabulous hiking. There is also fantastic fishing there, which many guests took advantage of all weekend. However, this campground only has 15 single sites, but most were occupied by double the amount allowable.. There were huge parties at many of the campsites all weekend, with cards zooming around all day. IT was NOISY and CROWDED.
If the camp host (who didn't seem to care) controlled this, we would have given this campground 5 stars.
The hiking was AMAZING. Views AMAZING....
This campground has a huge backpacker parking lot and when we arrived on Friday it was overflowing out onto the main road. The reason is that this campground is the entry point to the NORTHERN end of Pecos wilderness with access to amazing backpacking, high mountain peaks, and literally dozens of groups of backpackers daily going up the trail or coming back out from their adventures.
Guide to Chamisal
Carson National Forest offers equestrian camping near Chamisal, New Mexico at elevations between 8,000-9,500 feet. The region's ponderosa pine forests provide shade during summer months when temperatures typically range from 70-85°F during the day and 45-55°F at night. Camping areas are situated along forest roads that connect to wilderness trail systems, though road conditions can deteriorate significantly after rainfall.
What to do
Hiking the Pecos Wilderness: Access trailheads directly from Santa Barbara Campground which borders the northern section of the wilderness area. "The hiking was AMAZING. Views AMAZING.... This campground is the entry point to the NORTHERN end of Pecos wilderness with access to amazing backpacking, high mountain peaks, and literally dozens of groups of backpackers daily going up the trail or coming back out from their adventures," notes Robin T.
Fishing mountain streams: Catch trout in the rivers near camp during summer months. Karen N. at Hopewell Lake Campground reports, "Very nice campground... several people around us were catching very nice sized trout."
Exploring forest roads: Navigate the network of forest service roads to find secluded camping spots. "Many open areas to camp right off the highway. The views of the mountains across the valley are best after the fork in the road," says Ian O. about Forest Service Road 578.
What campers like
Cool mountain temperatures: Even in summer, the high elevation keeps temperatures moderate. At Agua Piedra Campground, Megan E. notes, "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."
River access: Many campsites are positioned near flowing water. "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," writes Jacqueline D. about Santa Barbara Campground.
Stargazing opportunities: Clear mountain skies offer excellent night sky viewing. At Agua Piedra Campground, Marcela R. shares, "At night, when everyone is settling, with a clear sky, you get an amazing view of the stars."
What you should know
Limited services: Most campgrounds lack amenities beyond basic facilities. "Primitive dispersed camping... 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," explains Jacob W. about Carson NF - Forest Service Road 578.
Road conditions: Forest roads can be challenging after rainfall. Timothy N. notes about Borrego Mesa Campground, "The road up to the campground is in good shape, 4x4 not required. Overall traffic was very low. There was a little bit of firewood cutting nearby, with a few trucks making multiple trips."
Wildlife encounters: Expect various wildlife in camping areas. At Santa Barbara Campground, Phillip A. warns, "There are herds of cows that roam the campground. They defecate EVERYWHERE!!! The cows keep you up all matters of the night."
Tips for camping with families
Choose developed campgrounds: Facilities make family trips more comfortable. Donaji R. recommends Santa Barbara Campground: "Such a nice well maintained campground. Stayed here in a single tent site which was large enough for 6 adults and three kids to hang out comfortably. Went exploring in the river next to the campground and then took a short hike up the river to some amazing river canyon views."
Watch for water hazards: Monitor children near streams, especially during spring runoff. "Santa Barbara river runs right by and can really flow fast in the spring (watch your kids!)," cautions Barbara H.
Pack extra supplies: Remote locations have limited access to stores. Sara S. shares about Hopewell Lake Campground: "This is our favorite spot for our annual big family camping trip. It is gorgeous! The views are spectacular. It's nice and cool even in summer. The trout fishing is fun and always a success at the lake."
Tips from RVers
Size restrictions: Most forest campgrounds limit the size of RVs. At Iron Gate Campground, Cory M. advises, "Tent camping and popups/small campers are fine. No room for RV's and larger travel trailers."
Access challenges: Forest roads may present difficulties for larger vehicles. "Road isn't terrible going up, saw many 2WD vehicles. Good amount of spots but many have no shade/not level," notes Nathan M. about Iron Gate Campground.
Limited hookups: Most sites offer no utilities. James F. explains at Santa Barbara Campground, "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."
Frequently Asked Questions
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Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Chamisal, NM?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Chamisal, NM is Santa Barbara Campground with a 4-star rating from 8 reviews.
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What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Chamisal, NM?
TheDyrt.com has all 12 equestrian camping locations near Chamisal, NM, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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