Best Tent Camping near Mills, NM

You wouldn’t expect seeing a place like this in the flat land that it rests in. Mills canyon is a nice litttle camping spot with fun little secrets. Can you find them? There is a fire pit per site with a few restrooms between sites.

Mills Canyon was an absolutely beautiful campground. I had the place to myself, but that’s because it was too hot for most sane people to stay longer than a few hours. There was one car that drove through to use the bathrooms, but I had the entire campground to myself. It was incredibly hot, so my advice for anybody who is coming to this area during the summer months is to bring way more water than what you think you need, and some type of canopy for shade. I only stayed one night as it never cooled down and the biting insects were terrible. All that said, I will return in the cooler months. No cell service. The road down into the canyon was fine with a few legit ruts but easy to navigate.

A beautiful little campground of solitude was found if you drove on just past the Mills Canyon Campground. Not very much available in terms of hiking, but what there was went along the Canadian River, and yielded some interesting, crumbled old structures. Definitely take the time to read a little bit of the history once you have a signal again! Campfires weren’t allowed while we were there, but they are allowed when the fire danger isn’t so high. There are vault toilets (which were well maintained), but no running water. There is no cell service. Bring trash bags, as there are no trash cans or dumpsters. No bear lockers, though there are bears in the area. Recommend 4 wheel drive to access the Canyon itself. Many of the primitive roads have been closed to motorized vehicles, but still make for a nice hike! We could hear owls every night, and saw a mountain lion one morning.

There is no view of the canyon from this campground, so be prepared to hike or drive down if you want to have great views. The real downer for us was the plethora of vicious mosquitos. We were eaten alive even though we sprayed with bug spray often. Our tent was swarmed with them such that we heard them buzzing our tent all night. We tried multiple sites and couldn’t find a bug free spot. They seemed to be sheltering under trees and in the grass and there was only one spot of water where they may have been breeding. It had rained recently, which may have been the problem, so consider trying this campsite at a dry time of year. We probably won’t bother trying to come back.

The good: Free Nice cement picnic tables Clean vault toilets Quality covered horse stalls which we used for shelter Dark sky area of the State so some of our party got a great view of Neowise

Notes: No water or cell service Not every site has picnic tables and fire pits No gas in the general area so fuel up before you get there.

This is a great location. Getting there you are driving through the middle of NM ranch land and slowly the topography starts to change as you get closer, and it is very cool!

The road down the canyon is about 2 miles and any stock SUV, Subaru or the same can make it when it's dry. But, if it's wet be careful, the mud is super slippery….just take your time! You could probably even do it in a sedan as long as you aren't too low to the ground.

If you read other reviews or see videos on YouTube you may hear that trailers are not allowed on the road down. As of April 2018 the warning at the top say not recommended. I was in a Ford Expedition with an 8' popup trailer (probably 11' with the tongue) and it was no problem. I wouldn't take a 5th wheel or a huge camper down there, but smaller trailers are ok. The sharpest turns are near the top.

The campground is very nice, the 12 spots are spread out, two nice pit latrines, tables, fire pits, and charcoal grill stands. THERE IS NO WATER except for the river, and no trash service, so pack it out!.

The valley is gorgeous and you can see the ruins from the old homestead….be sure to stop and read the info signs on the way down, it's a very neat story

I went at the end of April, the days were great and the nights were cool, I can see how it would get very hot in the summer. There is some shade but be sure to bring an easy up or something.

The first river crossing is a concrete bottom, the second is river bottom but not too deep, the third one is much more rough and very wide, use common sense. Lots of opportunity for hiking and biking.

Hunting is allowed so don't be surprised if you hear shots during hunting season. We saw several turkeys and deer. The signs say bears and cougars are in the area as well.

I think there are fish in the rive but we didn't get any. There is a lot of 'grass' in the water to be prepared to get snagged.

Take a good map with you and explore some off the roads in the grasslands area that take you to the rim of the canyon, it's a great view.

I drove from Denver, about 6 hours, and it was worth the drive. Highly recommended.

There is also a campsite on the rim if you don't want to venture down, and they have some horse paddocks you can use.

Loved it here! Is a hidden gem with a rich history. Lots of hiking and riding trails. The river runs right by the campground so we were able to swim every night. We stayed Memorial weekend and only had two other campers in the area.

Great place to camp.  Hard to access in car.  Recommend high clearance truck, 4-wheel drive, or similar.

Contrary to current listing, there is NO POTABLE WATER and NO FIREWOOD in this campground.

There are some historical ruins here that are described on plaques.

Loved this place and how in the middle of no where it is. Very clean, basic, and thoroughly wild. We too had the mosquito swarms but it was early summer so a lot of runoff. I’d go back in a second.

First time camping in this part of the state. Great campsites in the canyon. Very clean toilets. No campfires were allowed but still had a great time No luck fishing

This place was off the beaten path, but we'll worth it. Beautiful canyon and open space. We will be coming back for sure.

We actually stayed off of FSR k87B. Here the campsites can get real close to the edge of the canyon. Super primitive, but amazing views. A little to hot this June.

Not really RV accessible, the drive down the canyon is pretty sketch in a couple of spots if driving a big vehicle or even a vehicle with a trailer.  Beautiful, though.  Summers can be hot, so be careful.

On 10/04/2021 the road gate was closed. I do not know why.

A friend told us about this place, being from California we decided to give it a try. Complete disaster, the road down was so rough we lost our muffler on a new truck, campsite was primitive but ok. What our, now former, friend declined to tell us is that this is a re-location area for bears that wander into the towns of Taos, Red River, Angel Fire etc. First night so many bears came into our camp I thought we were in a bath house in San Francisco, tore up our “ bear proof” cooler and shit everywhere from eating the jalapeños we had among other things in the cooler. Next morning hike went great till we returned to a destroyed truck from another bear, so destroyed we could’nt start it and had to hike out of the canyon for phone service. Six hours later and an $900 towing bill we finally arrived in Cimmaron, NM. Tow truck driver says he hauls about three cars a year out of the Canyon due to bears and meth heads trying to hot wire vehicles and screwing up the ignition. STAY CLEAR OF THIS PLACE.

Rugged beautiful area. Trail to drive down not bad. Can camp by the river. We didn’t end up staying here due to the fact that we had kids and a dog. The area even at campsites have the grass and bushes right up to it. We were concerned about snakes.

Just northwest of the town of Springer, the lake is also stocked regularly with rainbows, and bullheads are also taken. 

Play elastic man game while enjoy its beauty.

I did not end up camping here, as there is a correctional facility 2 miles down the road.