Looking for the best Magdalena tent camping? Find the best information on tent campgrounds near Magdalena, including sites, reviews, and tips. Would you prefer a quiet dispersed site or an established camgpround with amenities? Either way, The Dyrt makes it easy to find the perfect place to pitch your tent.
6 campsites with Adirondack shelters provide access to Apache Kid Wilderness and San Mateo Peak Lookout by hiking or horseback.
Popular campground at 8100' has 2 sites and dispersed camping with trailhead for hiking seven tough miles to Mt. Withington Lookout
Guide
Easily found the dispersed sights from the app. Spent a very quiet night nestled back off the highway under the stars.
Ranger
Stayed 2 nights. No reservations, so had to take chances. Several spots open on a Friday. Most spots roomy and decent spacing. Clean toilets and water and only $5 per night; $2.50 with a Senior NPS Pass. 3 spots have electric hookups but all taken. Quiet (other than one morning before sunrise). There is a host site. PieTown down the road with excellent pies--If you go, eat at Pie-O-Neer (best option---great reviews and did not disappoint). Sign said they're open year round. Good proximity to VLA (Very Large Array).
One very good ADA accessible site with concrete walk straight to bathroom from ADA site.
Trailhead at one end of campground, with some good routes/options, Easy to moderate. We did pick ripe pinyon pine nuts that had fallen on ground (Oct. is pickin' season). They were very good eatin'.
One camper started generator up well before sunrise… :(
ALSO: Shout out to New Mexico Volunteers for the Outdoors (NMVFO) who did trail maintenance there a while back (per sign near trail) :) yay!
Legend
Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is a bird nerd’s paradise during the winter. Snow Geese, Sandhill Cranes, and thousands of others congregate in this wetland wonderland. Here, the Rio Grande pauses on its long winding path to the Gulf of Mexico and allows these waterfowl and other migratory birds a place of rest and safety during their bi-annual migration. It’s an amazing place, but it does not allow camping within the park.
Just a few miles to the north of the visitor’s center, in the quaint hamlet of San Antonio, lies Riverine Park. Slightly difficult to find in the dark and with a steep entrance, the few campsite spots offer visitors a great place close to the National Wildlife Refuge for the night within striking distance of the dawn patrol show (when the flocks take off for the day). Dawn and dusk are something to behold, so get your cameras ready!
The campsites themselves are loosely defined, but a few actually have developed campfire pits and picnic tables. There are no toilets here, but there are lovely facilities in the park itself. There’s not much room for a trailer longer than 20 feet, but feel free to give it a looksee before committing to the downhill entry point– which is short and steep. With big cottonwood trees scattered throughout the area, we got some solar charging with our rooftop panels, but needed to move our portable solar panel around to collect a bit more. Starlink worked well though!
In addition to birdwatching there are numerous, unlabeled trails and access roads all along the river bank and the canal for walking, or biking. The opportunities can also be found within the wildlife refuge as well. Nearby services can be found in San Antonio, Socorro, or Truth or Consequences, NM, with the latter being the biggest town within an hour’s drive.
LegendWe stayed here a few years ago and it was the same sad, uncared for park then as it is now. The grass is overgrown and the fire pits are broken, but it’s free, and right off the main road so it makes for a great place to stop for the night. Would definitely not recommend this place as a destination for a camping trip.
There are maybe 7 or 8 sites here, and a skoolie and a car camper were here when we arrived late afternoon, and a truck camper pulled in after us. The road down into the campground is steep and raggedy, but we did ok (i.e. didn’t scrape) in our 26ft class c.
Good cell service. You can hear road noise but it’s not too bad, it’s not too busy of a road. There are walking paths where you can walk to the river. Mosquitoes / other bugs not bad when we were there in early December. No trash bins and no bathrooms. Please pack out your waste! Park is pretty clean and free from trash, which is so nice to see.
Scout
First night (Friday) was great. Quiet. Saturday was quiet as well. Not much to catch at the lake. 3pm someone rolls up next to us. Definitely in the wrong spot and he would have known that if he was aware of the “back in” policy. Gave the lake caretaker a call, no answer. No big deal they were quiet. Until 10pm. Loud music. Karaoke with children screaming into the mic with the already loud sound system. Tried calling the caretaker, no answer mailbox full. Didn’t want to bother the police department so decided to wait and see if one of the kids woke up and then I’d call, figuring then I’d be super late. The music stopped suddenly my guess is around 12-2am. I guessing someone called the police or got a hold of the caretaker. Will stay again, however the campsite needs to be checked on by the county imo. If this were to happen again, I’d call non-emergency PD to deal with it.
GuideVery close to the main road, few spots and some with firepits, we were only 3 cars staying for the night. Perfect for an immersive night in a beautiful forest, we saw a group of deers in the late afternoon. No toilet no water. Def recommend.
TravelerReally a pretty cool spot that can be warmer than Albuquerque, and especially warmer than Santa Fe. 100% no fire, even smoking banned they claim. May help keep numbers low. Only person I saw appeared to be road construction exploring where the road went (think they were working on Rio grande bridge maybe). Lots and lots of space in the big trees by the river, but if you look in there at night with a flash light you may notice a lot of spider eyes shining back at you. I actually parked right by river, probably not exactly correct spot probably (would be very tight fit with trailer). No spider eyes. Plenty of room for car/truck to turn around. Probably stayed 3 nights total. The turn offs from the braised berm down to camp areas can be steep looking, just choose your angle wisely. The roads seem to loop back up to berm after winding through trees, some tighter areas to maneuver around for sure. I doubt anyone would give you trouble sleeping on the unpaved road itself opposite side of trees either. Very little traffic. Weekends may have some local traffic non overnight traffic too, fishing, skeet shooting, etc. Based on debris around river, and the most traffic I saw was on Sunday (2 -3 trucks at once rather than 1/48hours.
I’d crash here again for the price.
Traveler
I enjoy camping here very quiet and peaceful. No bathroom and water
GuideWell maintained little BLM campsite right on US-60. Remarkable night skies when clear. $5 a night gets you access to brand new, clean solar toilets, (they light up at night even with no power!) water during the warmer seasons (already off as of 11/25) and mostly decent phone signal if you care about that.
The Eagle Guest Ranch nearby has a gas sation, basic necessities, alcohol, and a cafe that serves all your standard diner fare. Beautifully polite people staffing the place. A highlight in the mostly barren stretch between Magdalena and Springerville.
The campground is attached to a fantastic 3.25 mile loop trail that takes you to three fantastic vistas and isn't hard at all.
Worth as a stop for a day, or a destination for a weekend trip. The Very Large Array is a stone's toss away; as well as further hiking opportunities in the Gila National Forest by way of NM-12, and the Cibola National Forest by way of the aforementioned US-60.
GuideThe sites were very nice and clean with some sites in the woods and others in the clearing. The sites in the clearing have concrete telescope pads. The pit toilets were like brand new with solar lighting. Big rigs would have trouble fitting into this campground.
Datil, Mew Mexico is a few minutes away and has a combined gas station, restaurant, and grocery store for your needs.
And, a few miles west on US 60 is Pie Town, New Mexico with two bakery's that sale fresh baked pies. But they sale out quickly.
Scout
Th e area has been burned in the 2022 fires. The road was closed for a long time, and if it is open now, there will be floods in the burn scar. Check with the Forest Service for more info before you go. Mimbres Ranger District of the Gila National Forest.
TravelerOnly did about 10 minutes of driving around. Several small spots a couple feet off the main road. Nothing that would support 30'+ trailers. It's open desert with low shrub. Seems to be a popular ATV road so expect lots of dust and noise. I would only camp here if I had an ATV with me.
TravelerVery tall weeds and lots of mosquitos. It is well protected from wind. It's free and a good place to crash overnight.
TravelerThis is an awesome campground. Very spacious sites, lots of pull throughs with Ramadas, clean, yes, clean fire pits, scenery is beautiful, lots of trees for privacy but those that need solar can find sites as well, great trails with a gazebo, clean grounds (no glass), pristine bathrooms and trash facilities. The only down for me in a Class C is no dump site and as far as I can find, nothing within an hour';s drive at best. I guess I'll use the bathrooms in the park! 😏 I'll be here again for sure!
ScoutStopped here as an in between on a road trip. We arrived just after dark and there was only one other truck with someone else tent canping on the other side of the camping area. We set up our tent and a little while later the people in the truck packed up and left. The site is near busy road and train tracks so it was pretty noisy but we went to sleep thinking everything was alright.
Right around 3am a van with a search light came through revving its engine with a man (who sounded drunk) screaming security, to wake up and come out with our hands up. We stayed in the tent and after a few mins of this he drove away, although we could see him go to the other side of the park and could still hear him yelling. This freaked us out but we hoped it was just a one time thing and decided to stay until the sun rose. About an hour later a different truck, also with a search light, came through. This one just quietly circled around and promptly left but it was freaky nonetheless. We decided to pack up and leave even though it was 4am and while we were getting everything back in our vehicle another car came through and circled the lot as well. We got out as soon as we could because it felt very unsafe with the harassment and the amount of vehicles coming through for seemingly no reason.
Aside from these occurrences the campground was okay. The bathrooms were gross with overflowing trash and the noisiness were not ideal.
We stayed here because we didn't see any safe BLM camping nearby so we decided to spend a few dollars for an established area but were very disappointed by the harassment and fear we experienced. Would not recommend staying here
GuideVery well maintained, nice campground. The sites are pretty far from each other, and almost all have a ramada. A few sites have electricity, but by the time we arrived these sites were already taken. There are water spigots all around the campground, but not at the sites. The restroom (chemical toilet) is clean and during the night is well lit. Reservation is not available, first come first serve, but approx. half of the sites were still available when we arrived, around 7 pm. The fee is $5/night, but if you have Golden Age passport, America The Beautiful Senior pass or similar, it's only $2.50/night.
RangerLike the other two reviews noted, the maintenance has long been let go. One little dirt road runs on top of a long berm with the Rio Grande on the right to the east. There is another road that runs parallel and is at a lower level and right on the canal. The road by the canal has a sign that says the road is not maintained. The upper road doesn't have any signs because it's not maintained at all. There seem to be some clearings below the upper dirt road closer to the Rio Grande. I drove down 180 far enough to cross the Rio Grande. It looks like it was really full. This made me think the clearings on the riverbank could flood. Very disappointing so far but at least I haven't seen any other campers. I'll be gone in the morning
ScoutI would not recommend anyone with an rv or travel trailer to use this site. I was hopeful from the one picture that there would be some nice green trees which is hard to find in New Mexico. I arrived there's a steep decline to go into the park. There are a few big pot holes to be weary of. Most of the area looks to be overgrown and most of the trees look dead. I didn't see any budding in early spring and no signs of greenery. It was also very difficult to turn around. I ended up with a few scratches on the travel trailer.
Traveler
Campground has great  showers and restrooms. Very little shade. Great prices. Bird watchers area.
LegendPark is very nice. Spots are accessible and park is clean. Stables for horses with exercise area. A little bit noisy from interstate but not to bad.
Guide
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.
LegendThis is a basic campground located about a mile from I-25. The campground has the basics but that's it. It's a good place to stop while traveling thru New Mexico. There's a baseball field and a small lake adjacent to the campground. The trains do blow their whistle in this area.
Cell Coverage: Good
GuideNice area, clean, shade trees and the management works with you no matter what. Little noise from I25 but very pet friendly. Will be back.
GuideThis is one of the best maintained campgrounds I have stayed at in recent years. New tables and shelters. Some sites have electricity and some even have telescope pads. All have a great fire pit. The hosts were very helpful and friendly. The best part was the incredible night sky full of stars and the milky way. I had a very peaceful and restful night. I’ll be stopping here again.
TravelerBeautiful Canyon with a handful of free camping spots. Fire pits, picnic tables, and bathrooms (pretty clean for late June).
There’s a group camping section with a large gazebo and a number of picnic tables, but it was closed when we were here.
No cell reception (Verizon & TMobile). No water so bring your own.
Please practice LNT.
GuidePulled off the road just to sleep. Picnic tables and fire rings but no fires allowed at this time. Pleasant breezy cottonwood grove. Would stay again on my way thru.
TravelerDONT FOLLOW GOOGLE MAPS! You will end up at a closed gate with instructions on where you are supposed to go, wasting 30 mins in the process. We took a 20 ft Jayco Feather Micro travel trailer. Don't attempt unless you have 4 wheel drive and/or sand mode if you plan to pull a heavy trailer. Otherwise, most other vehicles out tent camping didn't seem to have too many problems. Camping pull off spots are numerous but beware the sand is even more treacherous. Try to pick a spot that won't require backing up maneuvers if you have a trailer. There are many campers but plenty of distance between you and the next camp site. Amazing views make it worth it. If you're trying to show off on your IG... this place is for you!
Tent camping near Magdalena, New Mexico, offers a unique blend of natural beauty and outdoor adventure, perfect for those looking to escape into the wilderness.
Frequently Asked Questions
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According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Magdalena, NM is Bear Trap Campground with a 3.7-star rating from 3 reviews.
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TheDyrt.com has all 4 tent camping locations near Magdalena, NM, with real photos and reviews from campers.
