Looking for a rustic and comfortable horse camping experience near Los Ojos? Finding a place to camp in New Mexico with your horse is easier than ever. Find our top-rated horse campsites from other campers like you. Plan the perfect trip in minutes.
Campground is closed for current season of use. Coyote Ranger District @ 575-638-5526 for current status
The Rio Chama is a developed no-fee campground where reservations are not required. Located along the Rio Chama Wild & Scenic River, the developed campground offers a great place for families,
Ten individual campsites each include a picnic table and a campfire ring. RV's up to 20 feet can be accommodated in only a few sites. No potable water, or hookups.
Hopewell Lake Campground sits next to its scenic namesake lake between Tres Piedras and Tierra Amarilla in northern New Mexico. Visitors enjoy horseback riding, hiking, fishing and canoeing.
The 14-acre lake is perfect for canoeing and is regularly stocked with rainbow and brook trout. The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail goes through the campgound, and is popular with horseback riders and hikers.
Hopewell Lake is a small, man-made lake, set high in the Carson National Forest at an elevation of 9,500 feet. A forest of conifer and aspen trees covers the area and offers partial shade in the campground.
For facility specific information, please call (928) 537-8888.
$24 / night
Ponderosa Campground is located at the northwest end of the Soap Creek Arm of Blue Mesa Reservoir. 28 tent and medium sized RV sites can be accommodated at Ponderosa. All sites are first-come first-served.
Note: During dry conditions, the first 7 miles of Soap Creek Road are passable to trailers and RVs. Rain can make the Soap Creek Road hazardous or impassable.
$20 - $65 / night
Come and experience majestic mountain views! Fish our clean ponds chock full of trout. Ride horses, hike through the beautiful San Juan Mountains, or just relax on a porch swing, enjoying the hum of hummingbirds. Bruce Spruce Ranch offers an RV campground, tent camping, and rustic cabins outside of Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
Think of this as your sanctuary, a little spot of peaceful life that you can return to year after year.
Isn’t it time you “got away from it all?”
$34 - $190 / night
We are in Beautiful Pagosa Springs Colorado.
We take pride in being a independently owned and operated RV Park, open we now open all year, with a kind, courteous staff. Our RV Park is situated on 20 acres, with open sites.
Pet friendly, we also have a creek for your viewing enjoyment.
We are located off of Hwy. 160 only 5 miles West of town. The park is approximately 45 miles from Durango.
We are an ideal place for families. For your convenience, we also have laundry facilities.
Traveler
There are 20+ campsites along FR667. Some can accommodate RVs, some only tents. We parked a popup at the 1st campsite past the bridge near the trailhead. 2 waterfalls are close, Pagosa Springs is 30ish mins away. Our kids tubed down the creek. Lots of ATV traffic, some bikes, but overall quiet.
Traveler
Our truck broke down 1 mile from the ranch and we weren’t sure what to do so I hopped on my mountain bike and rode to the welcome center. I met a wonderful lady who offered a gentleman who worked there to help me. He grabbed his truck and towed me and my trailer to the campsite. We ended up staying there for about five or six days while the truck was being fixed in Albuquerque. Couldn’t have broken down in a better place. The scenery is beautiful and the people are nice. It’s true they had meal plans, but we were prepared to camp off grid so we didn’t need anything. Instead, we enjoyed the views and the museum and the, swimming pool and horseback riding. Completely unplanned. It’s probably important to know this is not a remote campsite because there’s lots of amenities and if you’re the kind of person looking for a flat asphalt pad to park is your camper on them, you might wanna move on. We definitely love this place and would recommend it to anyone looking for secret little area to chill out. The vibe was perfect. looking forward to coming back.
GuideGreat boondocking sites about 45minues from Pagosa Springs. These sites are completely primitive. No restroom facilities, electricity, potable water or trash service. No cell service. Its worth it, so plan accordingly.
Follow US160E about 10 miles, turn right onto USFS 667. Pass by the entrance to East Fork Campground and continue on the forest service road. This is where the road becomes fairly rough. Dispersed sites begin about 2 miles further. Most sites are clustered together in pockets near the river.
We arrived early in the day and found a great site near a vertical rock face. Campsite was at 8000'. We stayed a week and only saw other campers on the weekend. The weather was perfect with day time temps in the 70s and overnight temps in the 50s. Ideal hiking and fishing conditions.
The forest road gets busy with Jeeps and UTvs during the day on weekends. Our site was far enough away from the road that we weren't bothered.
Access to several trails, beautiful valley views and waterfalls nearby .
GuideWaterfalls, atv trails for miles some novice some very experienced trails, hiking, creeks, fishing. Hands down my favorite CO spot. With kids or wanting some beauty this is hands down the best! We did camp passed the east fork campgrounds. All the way down to the beginning of the ranch road way you have plenty of dispersed tent areas and rv areas (no electric).
GuideIf you're in the area and they have availability, it's hard to beat Ghost Ranch for value. RV spots with hookups are $45 a night!
Most guests stay in housing/lodging, so the ranch has a dining hall that serves three meals a day. $16 per person per meal but $30 for three meals on a "meal plan" whe you book, and kids eat for free! All in all we got three meals for our family of 4 and a nights stay while we hiked around trails on the property for less than $100 all in, and the food (upscale summer camp type) was very good.
Georgia O'Keefe lived in the property for a while, so there's a lot of history about her, and there's a small dinosaur and anthropology museum on site.
Chimney Rock hike is not to be missed!
Guide
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!
Guide
We found a secluded spot, not on the river. It was nice due to the area being overwhelmed with people. Overall it was enjoyable but can be a long winding journey for those that are impatient.
Guide
Stunning spot, lots of tent sites, room for maybe 12 campers of modest length, mine is 26' spot #9 is prime for a camper with a driver side slide/kitchen table. unknown if it's seasonal but the biting flies, primarily deer flies are beyond bearable, I survived 4 days, most other campers left after one night. The camp host is very friendly, and knows the best fishing holes.
ScoutThe 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.
TravelerA nice secluded little forest road. RVs will not make it, so it's nice and quiet.
AWD/4WD needed on the rutted rocky road.
Stayed one night and saw no one else.
Multiple pulloffs for unmarked campsites, but the one I picked was right off the road.
Cell service drops completely pretty soon after leaving the highway. I sporadically received some messages at my camp site but not reliably.
TravelerCampsites are close together but far enough to maintain some privacy. The bathrooms were well-maintained. Definitely worth the visit!
GuideThere was a storm coming in so I was one of the only fools out here so unsure how busy this place gets. There are several spots on the water with 2 large areas that have multiple fire rings within them. Would be to close for me if all spots were full. The ground holds rain and I had to get a ditch going around my tent. Worth it though as the sounds of raging water put me sound to sleep.
TravelerStopped at Ghost Ranch for a quick night to catch some sleep, wish we had more time really great location!
TravelerThis is a beautiful campground in a unique spot with incredible hike. Great amenities - showers, ice, refrigerator, sink for washing dishes - only downside is that the sites themselves seem a bit crowded in and not all have cover. Some are larger than others and it’s a bit of a pint what you will get. Recommend arriving not too late to see if you can get a good spot, we didn’t have shade so had to go find a nice shady bench away from our site for eating lunch / relaxing after our hike.
Guide
Nice campground right next to the San Juan nation forest. Could use a little landscaping. However, it is very peaceful and we would stay here again
GuideWe did a night here and it was amazing. Even though it rained it did not deter our trip. It was still dry enough to do all things camping. They also have a restroom which is a nice bonus.
Traveler
They were super responsive to all our questions! It was a beautiful property along the river. Definitely recommend camping here!
ScoutMany open areas to camp right off the highway. The views of the mountains across the valley are best after the fork in the road. Please pick up extra trash if you use
RangerI tent-camped off of Carson NF Forest Service Road 578 in mid April 2022. FS 578 is south of Tres Piedras about 5 miles on the west side of Hwy 285. There are several dirt road turn offs but FS 578 is clearly marked with a brown NFS sign (see photo) and has no gate but there is a cattle guard/grate. Here is a NFS road use map that shows dispersed camping along FS 578 and many other NFS roads: https://www.fs.fed.us/r3/gis/mvum/Carson/CarsonTresPiedrasCanjilonElRito.pdf (see also screenshot). My Tacoma had no problem on the dirt road, which has ruts and might be tough for an RV. There were few clearings suitable for dispersed camping but I found a nice spot with a small fire circle in a small clearing on the south side of the road just past a fork in the road. I carried two black boulders over to serve as a table and chair. I didn’t see anyone else camping or driving by. The forest is a nice mix of sage, juniper, and pine trees. I saw two elk across a swath of sage. I could see the snow capped peaks of the Sangre de Cristo range on the eastern horizon when I walked farther up the road. It got cold at night, like 27 F. It was a nice waypoint on my trip between Gunnison CO and El Paso TX but it didn’t look like many people camped there. I had intended to drive to Taos the next day on Hwy 64, but didn’t.
GuideViews are amazing! Very quiet and the star gazing is some of the best. Stayed right on the water. Host was knowledgeable of area and things to do. Red Lake hike was awesome and easy.
Traveler
This is our favorite spot for our annual big family camping trip. It is gorgeous! The views are spectacular. It's nice and cool even in summer. The trout fishing is fun and always a success at the lake. We've only stayed at the developed camp ground once, and it was nice especially with the toilets. We prefer to stay in one of the dispersed areas now, though, because we have such a large group.
GuideSpent two nights here in August. There were 4-5 spots in this area, which is right on the San Juan River. I was here on a Sunday night / Monday night and it was not crowded. There were a couple of other folks who were there. There are a couple of trailheads (about 1/2 mile up the road). I took the Quartz Ridge trail - which was nice - except having to cross a creek .20 miles into the hike).
I have AT&T and had no cell coverage at all.
ScoutThis was a great spot right along the river with bathrooms only about 20 mins/8 miles from the Hwy. This spot has a lot of potential to make it however you want, had we of had more time we would’ve gone further up the river because I think there were better spots along the river about a mile up but we found three trees to hammock from and that’s all you can ask for in the desert. Will definitely come back here but go further up stream and bring fishing poles and kayaks.
RangerTent and RV sites are large and spread out. Some sites have livestock pens, but I’m not sure on the campground policies. Hopewell Lake has tables for day picnics and is a popular fishing location. Be prepared for summer monsoon rains.
GuideI actually deleted my other review because I thought I had the wrong campsite but I checked and it’s all good. The only amenity we had was a vault toilet with a nearby water pump, a fire pit, picnic table and bear boxes. The vault toilets were probably the nicest I’ve been too. They were clean and didn’t smell at all.
The view was beautiful and it’s a short hike down to wade in the cool water. I really enjoyed the quiet here. There were only a few other campers and it mostly felt like we had the place to ourselves.
Guide
We had a great time camping by the river over Memorial Day weekend. There are a lot of sites all down the dirt road leading up to this more defined campground area. Definitely have some sort of raft or kayak or SUP to put in the river upstream and float down to the boat ramp or to your campground. The dirt road is easy for all cars/trailers.
ScoutThe tent sites were large and well spaced. Well maintained and equipped with a great fire ring. Bathrooms very clean and great hot shower. Don’t go if you need to be connected digitally at this moment that is not up and running, but they did say by the end of the summer. The family was friendly and gave good advice when asked.
Horse camping in New Mexico offers a unique opportunity to explore the stunning landscapes while enjoying the company of your equine friends. With a variety of campgrounds catering to horse enthusiasts, you can find the perfect spot to set up camp and ride the trails.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular equestrian campsite near Los Ojos, NM?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular equestrian campground near Los Ojos, NM is Rio Chama Campground with a 4.8-star rating from 14 reviews.
What is the best site to find equestrian camping near Los Ojos, NM?
TheDyrt.com has all 10 equestrian camping locations near Los Ojos, NM, with real photos and reviews from campers.
