Best Equestrian Camping near El Morro National Monument

This city-operated campground is bordered by highway on one side and red rocks on the other. There are events at the open arena, featuring rodeos, Native American celebrations, and an annual balloon festival in early December. It's beautiful to watch the balloons float about the red rocks in the park and there are a lot of places to scramble on the rocks yourself. 

The campground itself is dusty and relatively open; you will hear road traffic. I was there in early December and most of the campground was reserved for the balloon festival. There are electric and water hook-ups, but not sewer. Arrive before 4:30 to obtain the key to the rest room if needed.

They don't provide much information at all on the website, you need to call to get it or just stop by. If you need a place to park overnight, this is a reasonable option. The Petrified Forest is another 90 minutes down the road; El Morro National Monument, Acoma Pueblo, and El Malpais National Monument are a few of the interesting places to visit.  We enjoyed dinner/take-out at Dickey's BBQ just 4 miles away. And Jerry's Cafe is popular Mexican restaurant, may require a wait, but it's the sort of place where the locals eat and the waitresses know them by name.

This was the only lake we saw on our trip to the cattle ranch in New Mexico ;) The park is lovely and we truly enjoyed our time here. There is a nice beach as well as boating and fishing. The campground is broken up into a couple areas. Our site was somewhat shaded, which was nice in the heat of the summer. Very cool sites overlooking the lake. I wouldn’t say the sites are secluded, but it’s still a neat place. I haven’t been to many state parks in New Mexico so it was a unique experience!

Great rate for 30 A. I love to see the wild horses roaming the park.

The camp sites are well laid out with picnic table. The bath room was primitive and I didn’t check out the showers. The lake and the area is enchanting!! It was my first visit to New Mexico and for sure I will be back! The lake is large and has fishing.

Area is very well maintained! Restrooms and showers were immaculate.

Watch out for the wild horses and their droppings.

Plenty of spots if you’re sleeping in a hammock.

Lake was muddy brown, not blue. First come, first served and we arrived before noon, but no electric sites were available. Views of lake and surrounding juniper covered mesas was good. Early in morning horses grazed right through our campsite.

Very nice park & camping area. Wild horses & jack rabbits present. We dispersed & parked our truck camper right on the shoreline for $8. The hook up sites over looked the water (paved pad, pavilion, fire ring, 30&50 amp electric) bathrooms, showers, dump station. Boat ramp. Nice Pike and Muskie for the anglers.

Bluewater Lake SP is a unique campground in regards to the layout. You can pull up to all of the sites, and you can overlook the lake, be on the lake, be a little further away, private, have neighbors, really what ever you want. Checking in was very easy and the folks were quite nice. Also there were random horses and donkey’s walking around??? So that was a fun surprise.

Found this campsite heading west on I-40 on a memorial day weekend road trip last minute. Had 40 designated campsites with about 1/2 reservable online and 1/2 first come first serve. They also allow dispersed camping along the lake and there were probably 50+ groups of people in RVs and trailers comfortably spaced.

Wild horses roaming around the lake were also pretty cool.

We took a designated campsite overlooking the lake and added this park to the list of places to return to.

Great campground. Not far off I-40. Lots of sites. Most have a level, gravel tent pad, table and fire ring. Vault toilets in abundance. One bathroom with sinks and flush toilets. Separate shower house was closed when we were here. Some electric sites. Some large level pull thrus. Most sites have at least a glimpse of the lake. There were horses roaming through the campground. Mostly empty this April midweek. Good trails for hiking. I only saw one water pump in the park. There is an EV charging station.

So we were very lucky that we decided to check out this campground, it is absolutely gorgeous! There was not a single other camper here so we got a nice level spot with power. It was a bit cold, got down to 15, there was some leftover snow in some spots but nothing that was a problem. Last night something was bugging the dogs so I looked outside to see a herd of wild horses grazing next to our camper! There are lots of good hiking trails. The water is still on here and the dump stations are open if needed.

Nice and clean park very nice

Great state run campground with options from primitive to full hook ups at great prices. The primitive camping is all along the lake so you can park and walk right in with your canoe or SUP. Playground for the kiddos, lots of areas to explore with the puppers, and plenty of bathrooms and Ramadas available for day use. Boat ramp for those so inclined and good fishing for any anglers out there. The staff running the camp were so enthusiastic and friendly, you’ll want to plan a trip back ASAP.

There aren’t many electric sites if that’s important to you and some say they’re no level. Ours was.

Fishing, camping, hiking! During Pinon season you can expect some yummy seeds!

Uncrowded when we were there State park located right on a man-made lake. unfortunately, the lake level is extremely low! Decent sites each with picnic table and fire pit some with shade canopies others with a little natural tree cover, not a lot of privacy. Pit toilets, no drinking water available except at maybe the RV sites with hookups and at the pump outstation? Weak cell signal. Seems more suited for RV's.

This is a wonderful campground. Our site (A) was perfectly level on a concrete pad. The site came with a large fire ring conveniently located in the rear part of the concrete pad and a picnic table covered with a roofed shelter. The site was clean, spacious, and even though it was not a lake side site, it had a beautiful view of the lake. Right now I’m watching a mix of snow and rain create a misty and magical landscape. My Verizon service varies from 2 - 4 bars. I would definitely stay here again!!!

We stayed away from lake because of our dogs. They tend to bark if people go by. The space was nice but the sites were too close for us. I preferred more space for privacy but we’re new to RVing, so perhaps this is normal. Park Ranger was very nice and helped us settle in. The view to the canyon and hills was beautiful. I’m not sure we’ll stay again because we’d like more space and water hookups. But other than that, it was a beautiful spot!

Beautiful lake, wonderful views, great staff, and spacious sites. Wished there were a bit more trees though. Will be going back when we can.

Great area to camp in although it is monsoon season so we got rained out for six hours the first night. This park has a lot of campsites primitive, no electric, electric, full hook ups, seen a lot of RVs parked right next to the lake. They have showers facilities with warm water, bathrooms located throughout the park,



Great for fishing, camp sites have easy access, a d easy boataunch

Lovely clean campground. $10 for non reserved, or $8 for on the shore. Large sites, some reserved sites have electricity.

Very clean and warm showers. Vault toilets are very clean as well. A lot of very scenic campsites. Some well shaded with juniper and pinion trees.

Looked like a cool place to stay, but when we arrived at 5:45pm the gate was locked!!

Not sure why they need a gate, but it closes at 5pm in the off season