Best Tent Camping near Polvadera, NM

There are vault toilets, trash bins, and bear boxes. This campground is nice with sites for RV and tent camping. We camped here one night with our scout troop. I did have spotty T-Mobile service, others had phone service as well but I’m not sure of their provider. We had a great night with a campfire and a good view of the stars and moon. All was well until someone started illegally cutting down trees at 2 in the morning. After an annoying couple of hours they were gone, most of our group were wide awake and tried to go back to sleep. We stayed at the site till afternoon with no other problems, just a group of tired scouts.

We love it here! We stayed for a weekend at campsite #6. Ours and A few other sites have RV hookups (electric only). No sewer hook up but dump station on site with water. There are multiple Drinking water spigots available; one next to our campsite 6, at the group shelter, by the dump station, and another spigot at the office / visitor center (closed right now) but that had a lock on it. Some sites have a nice brick and metal shelter and a charcoal grill, but all sites seem to have a picnic table, and fire ring. This is a pretty small electrical loop campground and some sites are pretty close, separated by trees, and vary in driveway length. There’s tent sites (some have good privacy) as well as day-use only sites that look very clean and with shelter. Our site had the picnic table and charcoal grill on one side of the driveway and the fire pit on the other side which is kind of weird but that just means we can drive in or back in depending on our awning side preference. I saw in some reviews that this was a problem for people.

Behind our site there’s a horseshoe area and group site not too far after. The group site has a small parking lot across the way for it and has a large shelter area with nice cement tables and large grills. Next to the office there’s a trail for the outer loop and nature trail. There are several trails within the park and all are pretty easy (kid-friendly) and not too long. This is a pet-friendly campground with dog stations to pick up after your pet. Make sure to bring your own firewood and kindling as gathering is not allowed in the area. There is phone signal for t-mobile and Verizon as well. Vault toilets were clean but no showers.

There is no lake or stream/river in the state park. The nearest lake is Manzano Lake it’s about 10 minutes from the campground in the small town of Manzano. Fishing and picnicking, not a very large lake - more like a pond really but still beautiful and something to see and do. Currently the lake just opened and there’s a sign at the entrance that the fish have not been stocked. Not much for some decent stores around but a grocery store in Mountainair (25 mins away) Also nearby is the Quarai Ruins (15 mins) to check out which has some trails and also pet friendly so long as they’re on a leash.

Also, getting here by GPS, just takes you to where the pavement ends on HWY-131 but you’ll need to go another mile on unpaved road to get the the campground. Just follow the signs for the state park. Also, make sure to check on weather because although the unpaved road is typically well-grated and maintained; when it rains hard - it tends to wash out which makes the last mile to the state park hard for some. Also, there’s not gas stations nearby to this camp.

Overall a great and beautiful place to stay. Definitely bring some bug spray and repellent, lots of flies and mosquitoes to be had! There’s not a whole lot to do besides relax, eat, and check out some trails so bring your own entertainment as we brought a remote control all-terrain car, frisbees, lawn darts, board games, card games, etc to entertain the kids. We would definitely recommend the place and we will certainly be back!

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.

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.