Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Cloudcroft, NM

Went 12/28-12/30 and the actual campground area was packed the whole time even with it being 20-30 degrees outside. Extremely windy and most areas only get an hour or two of sun. Do not take the route via Mayhill, take the sunspot hwy route in cloudcroft (mayhill route will be 9 miles of horrible unpaved road while cloudcroft route is only about 2 miles unpaved). If you like to be away from people and have a 4x4/AWD vehicle, take the right at the fork when it turns to unpaved road. The area is basically surrounded by neighborhood, especially the east side of the campground. No cell coverage but is not far from Cloudcroft where you get signal. If you like being away from people, this probably isn’t your spot. Traffic up and down the roads. Elk, mule deer, and turkey were seen.

Beautiful sites, the road is very rocky and goes on some steep cliffs but I did see a sedan make it in towards the back. The top of the loop is where you'll find the best spots with plenty of open space and a few pits for fires. The loop is not clear road all the way around like Google suggests, I tried to drive around the loop to get out and the dirt road stopped at one point on the way back down. When you come in the route to your left is the one that breaks at some point and just generally looks like much rougher terrain. Overall I really enjoyed the area and did see some deer as well. It's not far from Cloudcroft but it is a good drive from any large stores so make sure you pack well or stop in Alamogordo before you get there.

This is right off of highway 244. From CloudCroft take highway 82 east to highway 244 about half mile past designated campgrounds is a dirt road to the left. There is a large grass/dirt area right off the road on the left and a couple of spots further down. To the right there are a couple of more"secluded" spots though the generator noise and the chainsaws are still loud. One generator ran all night long. The chainsaw eventually stopped after the guy had maybe enough for a log cabin. 

You can continue up the road which is a nice hike and there are a few more pull out site along the road. The road Ys and to the left are more sites that are private but the road is a bit rough. This place is FREE which we usually look for but this is probably one of the loudest we've been to. Both roads at the Y offer a nice hike with minimal traffic, there was only a single vehicle we came upon. Very nice.

Good cell reception AT&T and Verizon. No water, garbage or bathrooms. PACK IN AND OUT! Multiple rock fire rings in random places as this is a dispersed camping area and watch out for the multitude of animal limbs and carcasses laying around from hunters.