Best Campgrounds near Counselor, NM

We stayed here just after Memorial Day weekend in late May, and again in mid-June. Such a great campsite! Although at 8,000 feet of elevation, prepare for cold nights and intermittent rain, hail, and high winds, even during the "summer" season. We experienced day time temps of 70s - 80s and nighttime drops to the low 40s on both trips. There was a burn notice in effect in May, which was lifted for our June trip - probably because the significant afternoon hail storms on the first two days of our trip nicely saturated everything!  ;) Day time weather was usually clear until noon, and then intermittent afternoon storms would set in, usually clearing by 6 pm. Basically, typical New Mexican mountain weather! 

The sites are very well maintained, and the Camp Host was incredibly friendly and made regular rounds. FYI - there is NO cell signal at any of the tent sites, although we were able to get a signal (Verizon) within 50 feet of the ranger station if you need to check your phone.

A note about the various campsites. There are four main loops past the RV/electric hookup section. Loop 1 (sites 1 - 9), loop 2 (sites 10- 14), loop 3 (sites 16 -18), and loop 4 (sites 19 -30). Each of the four main areas have their pros/cons and would be ideal depending on personal preference. 

Loop 1 - this is where we stayed in both May and June. It's the easiest walk to the lake, but also has the oldest vault toilet. This toilet locked itself a couple times after people left, and we had to ask the camp host to open it back up. Ultimately, he taped the lock in the unlocked position which worked fine. Several of the toilets have been upgraded throughout the site, but this one is still on the list.  

Loop 2 - there's a playground next to site 14 and this is a GREAT loop for folks with kids. If you're not a kid person, you'd probably prefer a different loop.  

Loop 3 - this is a beautiful loop with a brand-new vault toilet. With only sites 16, 17, and 18 sharing this loop, it seemed a little quieter.  

Loop 4 - the final loop. Furthest away from the lake, you'll get less traffic from folks going up and down the road to their site. 

Honestly, all of the sites are beautiful and your favorite site will depend a lot on personal preference. The river runs along the south side of the campsite road and we saw folks fishing - and catching fish! - at those campsites that backed  up to the river.  

This is a beautiful campground and we will definitely be back!

I was on a long road/camping trip and knew I needed to pull over to catch some sleep. This spot was about 20 minutes out of town and was perfect. There were about 4 pullouts off this forest road for camping, only two were occupied on Memorial Day weekend. The spot I chose was the fourth one was nice little clearing not visible from the road. It had several great tent spots, tall trees, lots of shade. There were rock fire circles for when there wasn’t a burn ban. I only heard two cars in the entire 12 hours I was there. The path into the clearing had some deep ruts, but I stayed to the side and my little Corolla did great.

I have metro T-Mobile and had signal depending on where I stood.

We were there for 3 nights. On the arrival day, two of the women's toilets had no toilet paper and one seat had feces on it. The men's bathroom had an overflowing trash bin, dirty floors and toilet paper almost out. I contacted the office and they said they'd get right on it. By days end the women's room was fixed. However, after 3 days and numerous calls the men's bathroom only got worse. They never came in to clean. Same filthy floors, toilet paper out in all but one of the stalls, paper towels out, and an out of service stall. All sinks ran only cold water, in both men and women's bathrooms. On each call or person to person complain they said they'd take care of the issued but never did. Obviously, they really didn't care. The sites were nice with shade trees, but if you need the bathroom avoid this place.