Best Dispersed Camping near El Rito, NM

This is a free dispersed camping site located right along the Chama River and the colorful scenery. Super starry sky at night as you're in a remote area.

Be sure to drive the 13 miles to the Monastery of Christ in the Desert at the end of the road. It's built to reflect the location and the scenery is stunning in this off grid location. (This isn't a religious post. The monks welcome anyone to visit this unique site.)

Here's a video of a drive through the Whirlpool dispersed camping area: https://youtu.be/cvV_IwcH2l8

Rio Grande del Norte National Monument is BLM land so it is all dispersed camping. You will need to make sure you aren't on someone's property or nearby any roads. There are plenty of turn offs. 

This isn't a "get away" more like a stopover spot. I stopped here on my way back North to Colorado to see the bridge over the Rio Grande and so I wasn't so high up in elevation that I would freeze. 

But if you can find a quiet place it is a beautiful dispersed spot where there is civilization nearby and toilets at local businesses  and picnic areas that you can use. See map on review. 

Be careful roaming at night. The drop into the river is quite deep so offroading isn't just ill advised for keeping the flora and fauna safe…but you as well. 

There are picnic ares around the monument too, just not established camping spots.

Great boondocking spot @15 mins from downtown Santa Fe.

Zero amenities but clean, huge open areas, and safe.

Your are behind a huge solid waste transfer station but you’d never know besides the huge hill. No smell or garbage anywhere.

Pros-

-HUGE open area -WIFI is great (pull in and go to the left down by the cattle coral) -Clean areas -Safe -Bathrooms (Didn’t Use) -Tons of hiking -15mins tops to downtown Santa Fe -Free

Cons-

-Windy -Dusty -No water -No Dump Station

We got water at the dog park up the road with our water bladder bag. Try to go during dusk as it is way less busy with fewer spectators watching and wondering what you’re doing, we had zero issues! 😊

It’s a great Free spot for a night or two weeks also surrounded by BLM land so you can’t really go wrong.

This area is well big enough for any size rig, just stay to the right on the gravel road pass the cattle guard where the road is gravel and smoother for sure!

Enjoy! 😊

This is dispersed camping with mostly RVs, some vans, and a few tents and teepees. There are no hookups but near the entrance there is a building with two enclosed bathrooms. There is no trash collection so you must carry out everything you bring in. This is great free camping or just free overnight parking if you are self sufficient with your own water and solar power. There is lots of space but it seems like a lot of people just pull in and find spots near the front. We camped in August 2021 and days got up to 90 degrees. We hung out in SantaFe until about 8pm and it dropped to 80 and the breeze picked up. It is dry in the desert so 80 is very comfortable. Another nice thing about desert camping is there are some flies, and a few mosquitos but compared to the moist midwest we seem fine without having to use a lot of bug repellant. We will stay here again.

The location on Dyrt maps is wrong, forest service is NW of 285 & 64. Beautiful dispersed camping spots plentiful. Park ranger Melissa was the top notch. Couldn’t have been more helpful and friendly. Definitely stay there again.

The area is right next to a landfill which worried us at first but turned out not to be a problem, I imagine it gets worse in the warmer months. You can drive around and find some cool and private spots but there is trash seriously everywhere. We even found shot gun shells a little further out all over the ground. When you pull up to the area you can either turn right into the blm land or go straight past the signage into the National park area. I think it said El Camino Real. This is where the toilets and shelter is. The toilets were actually well kept. There were some nice people but I can imagine if you drive further out away from people it feels a little sketchier. It wasn’t the best, but it was definitely free.

My friends and I were climbing at the Cattle Wall all day, and decided we wanted to disperse camp. While we pulled up to Jemez camping nearby, the park rangers told us it was closed because of Covid, but we could go down the road to this unmarked, unnamed, dispersed camp site. 

when we did we drove to the left, followed the path until we saw an opened gate, and turned up to a site on the right. It was well-used and had a fire pit, but you're not allowed to have fires right now. 

We wandered down to a cliff, and the most BEAUTIFUL view awaited us. If it was known, it would be a better view than the jemez falls and people would FLOCK to it. Instead, it was our campsite, free, and people-less. This is just a new mexico thing, I guess. finding best kept secrets everywhere. 

PS: weather was perfect, no sounds from anywhere in the campsite, completely amazing! Definitely go here.

This is a massive dispersed camping area. I’m not really sure how far in the camping spots go, but so far I’ve seen over 100, with about 1/4 of them taken right now. Many, but not all, are level spots. Roads vary depending on which spots your getting to. Great cell service. Great views. And minutes away from stores and gas stations.

All camping spots here are right off the roads where you can find one or two spots that are less close. Arroyo Seco is the town close to the camping, but you keep going straight from the coordinates to get to Cuchillo de Medio and Cuchillo. It’s not truly “dispersed” camping because there aren’t many sites and your pretty close to your neighbors. Cuchillo Del Medio does have some fire pits, picnic tables, and a bathroom. You do get to camp right on a clear river that is beautiful!

There are a bunch of different roads you can turn off to camp on if you’re driving from Taos to Durango. We mapped Forest Road 578 and it took us to a dirt road with a lot of flat spots you can camp on. We spent the night there and it was very quiet and peaceful. If you keep going to Durango you’ll get to Carson National Forest, which is not too far from the coordinates on The Dyrt. That’s where more people are camping, you can pull off right before the 64H road marker. You’ll keep passing camping spots as you drive to Durango so you can really go almost anywhere!

There are a ton of campsites here, and even more options if you have a high clearance vehicle. 

If you have a low clearance RV I recommend taking the first road to the left after crossing the cattle guard. That road leads around most of the camping area and you can avoid the side roads with the steep entrances. 

It is right next to a landfill which is interesting but there were no flies or smells in October. 

For a free camping area right next to a city the area felt safe and was surprisingly clean.

We stayed here 3 nights over Memorial Day weekend. Got in Thursday night and there were plenty of sites to choose from. As other reviews have said, the sites are spaced out well and there were always sites available throughout the weekend. We camped on the road that immediately turns to the right. Along the entire length of this road dispersed camping is allowed. If you go to the left (high clearance is good to have but could make it with 2wd) dispersed camping isn't allowed till you're about a mile in (see map picture). There are some fun single track trails (Water Canyon and Perimeter Trail) accessible from the campsite if you plan on mt biking or running/hiking. Bandelier National Monument is about 15 min drive away and is a fun place to checkout and climb in some cliff dwellings.
Just as a side note we saw 3 coyotes our first night in and heard them howling in the AM and PM, so keep pets leashed if you bring them and keep small kiddos close!

Lots of open space for dispersed camping

Overall, this is a good spot to camp. It was simple to find, there was plenty of space for dispersed camping, and was a quiet place.

Dispersed camping on the edge of Santa Fe. Easy access. Some former homeless camps and trash scattered around. Go further in for a more scenic vista on high ground.

FSR 181 B is a dispersed corridor, and on the little stretch of road there are like 6 sites. They aren't super close, but closer than I expected from dispersed camping. Travel further down 181 across the little canyon and there are more spread out sites, but they are also more exposed.

Not too far out of Santa Fe. There are multiple places for dispersed camping along the same road, including a few trailhead campgrounds like Diablo Canyon (rock climbing hot spot).

20 mins from Sata Fe, lots of open roads and land for dispersed camping. Can get a bit crowded and hard to find a spot away from people, but plenty of room.

No amenities except some great river side places.

Dispersed camping along the road (though it’s not a busy one, especially not at night so not noisy) right on the river.

First coms first served with mostly tenting spaces.

My first time dispersed camping was a success! Enough space for people to spread out, little trees help with privacy. Freezing here at night but it is winter! Beautiful views and just enough service for t-mobile! Couldn’t ask for more really! Just remember Leave No Trace as I did see some litter, nothing crazy tho. Awesome spot.