Best Equestrian Camping near Magdalena, NM

You don't often find free developed camping at the end of a paved road in New Mexico, but Water Canyon is one of those exceptions.  It seems to be one of those spots that people don't take the time to get off the highway to explore -- on a weekday in July there was only one other campsite occupied.

There are about a dozen campsites, vault toilets, trash cans, a group campsite at the bottom of the hill and easy access to some great hiking trails, all about ten minutes outside of Socorro and an hour from Albuquerque.

While the campground is free for now, I did see some notices posted about the Forest Service taking public comment on levying a $10 per night fee per site.

Every year, we drive from Texas to Apache National Forest. Cibola is halfway. Every year, we make sure to stay the night at Water Canyon. First: the views. Secondly, the amenities. A level spot, with a fire ring, table and maintained vault toilets for $0. The most spacious spots are the first two, after that a six man tent is the largest tent you’ll fit on a level spot. We have never really explored further than our camp site, as our children are small and out number us. But for 12-36 hours, it is a beautiful stay that includes campfires, lizards and the occasional equestrian that lets our kids treat their horses. Treasured memories, unplugged and free.

We live in Albuquerque, but wanted to spend a day hiking the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. Kiva RV Park is just a 5 minute drive from the NWR, so we stayed there on a Friday night, so we could get up bright and early for our hiking the next day.

The folks running the place were very friendly. Led us to our spot and made sure everything was okay for us. It's a fairly humble place...gravel roads and parking spots. No concrete to be seen. Each slot has a fairly wide planted area, but this is not patches of green lawn. They have mature native trees and shrubs that are well maintained. Plenty of big cottonwood trees provided shade. The place is clearly run on a low budget, but is well maintained and there is pride in the work here. When we visited, it appeared to be nearly full, and it felt like perhaps 50/50 mix between long-term residents and overnight(or nearly overnight) visitors. There is a large corral area for horses. We walked over to it but there were no horses there. There's a little dog park, a bathhouse and laundry. We didn't use any of those amenities, so I can't comment. I believe the laundry is listed as free.(This is not the case with the wifi, which was complex and had a fee.) I just used my hotspot from my Verizon service and because we had 4 bars, that worked just fine for streaming some Netflix that night.

We really like the place. Lots of neighbors, but everyone was very friendly, and no late partying. A few kids. But really, it was all very pastoral and nice. We'd stay here again. 

Not all was perfect. Aside from the less-than-friendly wifi: 1) The sewer hookup is just an open pipe. No threads. A little stinky when you take the cover off.  2) It is almost literally right next to the interstate. There's no denying those traffic noise is real. We slept with no issues, but if traffic noise doesn't act like white noise for you...you might want to look somewhere else. We're lucky; but I know this is a deal-breaker for some.

They do offer a Good Sam discount of 10%, so with tax, we paid $34. Well worth it. Very nice stay.

We loved this place. Attempted at first to camp at The Box down the road but it was really crowded so we came here and what a great choice! 

This is a FREE campground but plans are in the works to started charging in 2 years at $10/night. There are gravel tent and parking pads, picnic tables, fire rings, pit toilets and garbage.

When you first pull in there is a narrow opening to a rocky dirt road straight ahead and to the left is a day use picnic area. The sign at the beginning of the dirt road said trailers not advisable but one came down before we started up so we went for it. We have a 26 foot class C. Dirt road driving experience necessary. The road is quite narrow, rocky and has a couple washouts and tight turns but not impossible to navigate....use your best judgement! 

There were only a couple of other campers and the views are very nice. Some sites are close together however. There are pit toilets and garbage at the beginning of the campground and at the end loop. 

Great hiking area too! Further down the road where it says "no turn around" is a group site but the gate is locked and you'll need to contact National Forest Service if you want to use this area. 

There is no drinking water or cell reception from AT&T or Verizon. Pets allowed on a leash. Also there are free roaming cattle we saw on the main road in but none in the campground though there was poop evidence that they've been around. 

Along the dirt road hiking trails near the campground people have made other camping areas with rock fire pits. The roads to these areas are narrow and 4WD necessary.