Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Fort Sumner, NM

I stopped in this camp when taking a brief trip through Fort Sumner on the way back to Texas from Las Vegas. The town of Fort Sumner itself is known for its Billy The Kidd presence and there are many things to do in the area in regard to that which are interesting. But just as much as I wanted to check that out, I wanted to check out another unique spot in New Mexico to stay the night and this campsite seemed to be one of the closest.

I liked this because there were both tent and RV sites, so naturally I felt a bit more at home than I would have it had ben a park which focuses daily on RVs and leaves tents as an after thought.

The lake itself wasn't my favorite lake of New Mexico, though it seemed large everything around it was pretty dry. The banks were more of a gravel than a beach and some of the areas were rocky with larger boulders making it a little more difficult to find a recreational place to just enjoy the water. I definitely needed water shoes to get into or near the water.

I chose a primitive site although they do have some which have connections, my reason for selecting this site was its location which I thought would have a great view of the sunrise and the lake, unfortunately it ended up raining the morning so there was no beautiful sunrise. But for only $8 I couldn't really complain especially since I was able to take advantage of the lake a bit the evening before.

I noticed the lake was typically of any lake with a lot of the activities of the park centering around it, however they also had a few hiking trails, a small visitor center to check out a little light information about the location and outdoor education programs which were mostly held on weekends.

It wasn't really that busy when I was there on the weekday I passed through and camp felt pretty quiet throughout the duration of my stay.

Restrooms located near me were vault style but they did have a bathroom with running water and showers as well, depending on where you elect to stay you will be nearby some kind of accommodations. My site being primitive was really primitive and had no table or fire ring, but I did notice for $10 you could have both just a little distance from where my site was located. I personally didn't need either when staying.

TIPS:

• Check into the park office for minor supplies, anything bigger you will need to travel Into town where there are numerous stores.

• When in the area make sure to stop in at the Billy The Kidd Museum and Bosque Redondo Park both are staples of the area and contain a lot of history which will tell the story of New Mexico past in some of the most infamous ways.

Dog park, showers , laundry, a store and barbecue delivered to your camper! Level spots, a few trees.

This campground is just outside Santa Rosa. It accepts Sams, military discount. Old but clean and serviceable. Nice pool, on site restaurant serves good food. Many drive through site with electric and water. Central dump station. Small dog park.

We pulled into this campground to escape extremely windy conditions.  The park was close to empty when we got there but filled up quickly with others trying to get out of the wind.  The sites are close and they are set up oddly with some campers facing one direction and others going the opposite way.  We had full hook ups including sewer.  Our site shared an electric box with the site beside us.  We didn't use the bathrooms or showers but we looked at them and they were clean.  Old but clean.  The park does have a nice little fenced in dog park so your dog can run off leash.  I would stay here again if I were passing through.  We felt safe here.

Chris the owner had some bad reviews but honestly he couldn’t have been nicer or more accommodating. Sometimes when I see bad reviews of management I kinda think maybe the reviewer did something that made the management get to that point. They do own the park and it’s their rules!!!!! We had a very easy site to pull into, no septic but we knew that coming in- they do have a dump station. They have a nice clean dog park that mine loved. It’s laid out well, plenty of room and a restaurant that delivers to your camper. What more can you ask for? We loved everything about it. We were over nighters but it would be a great place for a stay with some R &R. Thumbs up!

The owner Chris Lamb is a piece of work has lots of problems and don’t believe he’s had a good day in a long time, that’s who you will deal with. With that said his campground as it’s called hasn’t been maintained for years, certified dump and stay at your own risk. This place isn’t “pet friendly” you can “only walk your dog on the dirt” ( yelled by Chris across the campground”and what parts are green are ridden with cocker barrels which end up in your dogs feet just going out the door and you will track them back inside and deal with them for days. Don’t waist your time as I said this place hasn’t been maintained for years. I read reviews and gave it a chance, you will be totally disappointed and where the good reviews came from I’ll never know. Good luck!!’

Overall it is what you would expect for a gas station RV spot. It serves a purpose which is what I am rating. We were initially in RV site #1 but this had to much foot traffic with everyone stopping for gas walking their pets. Also just more traffic in general. We moved to RV site 8 which was better. Had to contact Loves for both sites. No power initially at site 1 which was an easy fix on their end. Site 8 had the sewer connection locked and no code was communicated to us up front. The staff inside the Loves was very friendly.

This is a hidden gem. We were evacuated from our camping spot in Northern New Mexico due to wildfires and set out for a new spot. Exhausted from driving, we pulled into this campground. It is clean, well maintained and the dog got a kick out of doing a bit of swimming. There is unique topography and enough to explore for a night or two.

Book on Reserve America for New Mexico “Santa Rosa Lake” very pretty and peaceful. Not all streets were labeled but the directions worked to get us there just fine. Park for kids, gorgeous sunsets and the stars show off at night. Clean bathrooms. Had hookups.

I took the last site on short notice with electricity for four nights over the weekend, the handicap site. I went back and double checked, the NMSP website has not clearly state that only a van or very short class C would fit in the spot. I got my 20 foot trailer in but my truck is sticking out into the road a tiny bit. The sites are very close together and unfortunately, right after I arrived a couple of families set up right next to me complete with screaming kids and yapping dogs. Campers with kids and dogs should have their own camping loops, maybe their own campgrounds. So many people do not appreciate the quiet and solitude of a natural woods. As soon as the kids arrived, it seemed like they were told to scream as loud as they could. Disgusting. So one star for this campground and the poor layout

Very good park with full hookups. They don't have bathrooms, showers or laundry. Sites are pull through level water, septic, electricity (30/50) are in great condition. Train and RT84 are close but didn't bother us over night. Price is $30 this is a recent increase. It is well run and worth the increase. The muesum (where the office is) was a nice sureprise and well worth the $5 entrance fee. Wifi and Verison service is very good too.

Nice and quiet. Roomy spaces to park your RV. We have 40 ft Allegro Bus with tow and we fit perfectly. We unhitched our jeep but we needed to go pay up at the museum and wanted to go see Billy the Kid's grave site. Internet works just fine. We got in about 440 so not much going on. Our reserved site did have our name on it.

Plenty of room for larger groups, we had a total of 6 tents set up along the west side of the lake. Can be very windy so ensure your tent stakes are decently long. Large amounts of bugs come out during sunset but they don't stick around very long and they are harmless gnats didn't see any mosquitoes. This area has a lot of wildlife like coyotes, hogs, bobcats, and mountain lions so be careful. If you set up camp on the west side of the lake the bathrooms are quite a walk away and there are only two vault toilets. bathrooms were pretty clean and so was the park in general. Numerous shaded picnic tables with grill, and even a few fire rings. Not much shade around. Overall a great stay close to Cannon AFB for a quick weekend trip.

Stayed for one night going through NM. The site has a few picnic tables spaces out & a little pond where people were fishing. There were not very many spots & almost no trees to work with (hammocking, etc). There are ants everywhere as well, so I wouldn’t really consider bringing younger kids to this one. However, for two adults just looking for a place to sleep for the night, it was great.

I planned out a stop here on a long western tour. I planned to stop for the night. When I arrived, the park was flooded. The area that ran along the lake was not flooded was OK, but it was a road with picknick shelters, much less suitable for camping than the flooded areas would have been. I felt exposed and in-the-way, so I moved on to the next stop. Assuming it dries out, there should always be a place to stop.

Nice location, not too far but just far enough off the interstate. Good campsite options, pond you can fish in, picnic tables, atv trails you can walk. Not busy. Only problem is the bugs are HORRIBLE after sundown. Sleeping under the stars, NOT an option. It’s an ideal stop if you‘ll be sleeping in an RV. A tent might be alright too if you’re good at keeping bugs out.