Best Tent Camping near Jemez Springs, NM

This was our first time at this lovely National Monument and we simply loved it. The campground was small with only a few spaces for bigger rigs, but we fit without any problem. Love those small spaces! 

The campground is perched on the mesa above the monument’s protected dwellings, artifacts and trails at the valley. You can get there by walking about 2.5 miles from the campground along a stunning trail, or driving around the road. We simply loved hiking here, choosing a different way each day over the four days we were there.  So much to explore!

Campsites have the standard picnic table, bear box locker, and fire ring. The trees were mostly shorter scrub junipers and other high desert trees so there was lots of sunshine for solar powered rig, but no electrical service at any sites.  Nice privacy between sites.

The bathrooms were clean, heated, and had flush toilets and running sinks with potable water, plus a small dish cleaning sink, but no showers. 

The Visitor Center is an awesome CCC structure from back during the depression as are many of the hiking trails in the valley.   We were here for Halloween, so carved our pumpkins in memory and celebration of the people who lived here so many years ago.

Nearby Los Alamos has all the services you need as far as supplies, services and restaurants. But if you can plan your hike to end before 4pm, the cafe at the VC is really worth it!!

Camped 2 nights at site #38 on the Puerco Loop. Reserved thru rec.gov while at the site. Wonderful campground hosts. Site was not quite level for our campervan, but close enough. Good views of lake & surrounding area from site. Vault toilet & drinking water a short walk away. Juniper provided minimal privacy. Site has lantern poll, fire ring, trash can & table. No hookups at this site. $6/night with senior pass. Restroom/shower house within walking distance. Facilities & vault toilets were very clean. Hiking trail in campground. AT&T & T-Mobile service. Overall, quiet & peaceful stay.

This adorable little campground just 3 miles south of the village of Jemez Springs, NM is situated in the in a wide canyon with expansive views of the mesas to the east and west. Some of the sites have a full shelter over the fire ring and picnic table. Many of the sites can accommodate larger RVs or motorhomes, but do not have water or electricity hook-ups. Potable water is available as well. The vault toilets were very clean, and well maintained. This campground had the best recycling and trash containers we’ve seen in months. We were able to recycle just about everything!

This area is perfect for anyone who loves to do any of the following: hike, bike, climb, snowshoe, ski, view wildlife, fly fish, soak in hot springs, gallery shop, or just hang out at your beautiful campsite. The town is within 30 minutes of Valles Caldera National Preserve and just a few more miles to Bandelier National Monument and Los Alamos Skiing area. The town of Jemez Springs has just a few restaurants, be sure to try Olga's Famous Chile Rellenos at Los Ojos, the quirky and quaint little bar that looks like it came from a movie set.

The campground is open all year round and typically has a camp host. The sites are non-reservable, and are very inexpensive for the beautiful views you get!

Note: Despite how beautiful this place was and how much we enjoyed it, we had a scary incident happen that we reported to both the county sheriff and forest service office. If you want to know more, visit our blog. They told us that they had never had a report like this before, so this could have been a random incident, as we were there when there was no camp host. So, stay alert, especially if you are the only camper in the campground.

A nice campground set north of the town of Jemenz Springs. There was a fire ban in place and the Forest Service was planning on closing the entire forest the morning after I showed up. I had enough time to camp and get in one hike to a social spring before they came through and closed everything up for safety. The campground was nice, but there was no water available (it had been shut off in preparation for the closure). The campsites were nice and well spaced with lots of pine trees around each site, so there was a lot of privacy. There was an abundance of pine needle duff covering the ground which would have been great until you considered the fire danger. Each site had a picnic table and fire pit (with bright tape over it to remind you not to use it).

We were very excited on our first night to settle into our campsite after a long day of adventuring. Just a short drive to the outskirts of Santa Fe in mountain country we found our campground, Rancheros de Santa Fe.

Upon entry the staff was very friendly and welcoming and we felt like this would be a great place to call home away from home.

The campsites were laid out well with room between campers and because it was the end of a weekend, they were not entirely at capacity which made for a pleasant sense of space in the great outdoors.

Our campsite was positioned in the "high road" tent site area which is a primitive campsite without additional amenities. Each campsite has a fire ring and also a picnic table for campers to utilize and a pad site for tents slightly raises from ground level.

It made for a beautiful night sleep under the chilly New Mexico skies.

By morning we ventured up to the public showers and restrooms which were clean and had amazon water pressure and hot water to set the morning in motion perfectly.

The facility also offers a pool and theater room during summer months so while we didn't get to take advantage we were excited to know upon return we would have these features available.

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Overall we give this campground a 4 of 5 Bunniea! The only things we noticed which kept it from a 5 were the lack of wifi reach in the back sections of the campground, wouldn't have been a big deal but cell service in the off grid location was also patchy so the wifi would have been handy. And the pad site was not designed for a tent quite our size. Our tent is a 12x8 and had a little side hang on on the 12 foot end.

Ok so for a person staying in a tent, this place ins't ideal year round. They receive snow and are a known New Mexico ski area. So if you are planning a visit during the "off prime season" you might want to check into one of the other options for stay in the park.

The park has 50 camping sites designed for tent or RV campers and a few scattered sites for larger RVs as well. While only a handful of locations actually have access to electricity for those wanting of a nice stay without all the extras this place is quite nice. Water stations are scattered throughout camp along with vault toilets.

Something which does set this park apart from others in the area is the Yurt accommodations for those wanting to try something new or wanting to get outdoors but not so much that they are renting an RV and dealing with maintenance or sleeping in a tent which might be a bit overwhelming.

When I visited, it was not yet prime season so many of the amenities were limited. The regular season runs from May 1 to October 31, at this time the Lodge and private picnic shelters are available for rental and from what I have seen the accommodation there is quite spectacular. The lodge plays host to a lot of beautiful weddings and retreats.

While in partial winter shut down mode however, the access to trails is still available and I found that the trails were pretty spectacular to see as you would find native vegetation poking through snow patches, beautiful fluffy snowflakes to play in and plenty of options for enjoying your version of winter activities.

I was a bit concerned about road conditions in the ongoing snow, but even the roads were taken care of with a certain level of detail which made this park enjoyable as a 4 season park.

My only real concern would be some of the campsites did have pretty close proximity to the roadway. I could see this becoming a bit concerning for road noise as even though on my visit it was a weekday and also during a slower time for tourism, it remained quite busy on the road near the camp.

Tip:

• Book in advance online, especially if you want one of the only 7 campsites with electricity.

• Try to snag a spot away from the main road to make your stay a bit more quiet.

• Bring layers year round, despite being less than 10 miles from Santa Fe where weather is often very warm, the elevation is much different and considerably cooler.

• Try the waterfall trail it is a short hike of less than 3/4 mile round trip with great pay off at the end

Given the area described has piles of trash and little else to recommend it, it seems a shame to be close to gorgeous wilderness and stare at rubbish.

Head out just a bit further and turn onto the well maintained dirt Buckman road?  There are canyons to explore and access to the Rio grande at the road's end, offering water in an area with next to none otherwise. 

If these lowlands are too hot in the summer, drive up Artist Road to Big Tesuque or the ski-way at the end of the road, where shade, cold streams, and elevation keep nights pleasant even in July or August. 

You won't be any further from Santa Fe, although it can take awhile to drive from the river or ski-way to town if you park as far away as possible.  

All of the above sites have fire rings and vault toilets, and Big Tesuque and the ski-way have some sites with picnic tables as well.  Firewood can be scavenged, especially if one gets away from the immediate campsite area.