Best Dispersed Camping near Ponderosa, NM

This dispersed camping is a great spot to stop. There are multiple site identified with lot signs and fire rings. Some of the spots are Easier to access than others. Be prepared for a road that in rough shape. I would not recommend accessing this if your in a small sedan or a large vehicle pulling something as if will be difficult to maneuver. You will likely need 4x4 and some ground clearance. My Rav 4 did just fine at the first few spot but I wouldn’t take it much further. It’s primitive camping no water no outhouse. It’s past the group camping site turn on the left. Great hiking in the area and it felt like a safe location. You can hear cars and dirt biking in the background but activities ended around 7 and made for a peaceful night. I liked it a lot and would come back again!

When you first arrive to the end of the road and the beginning of the public land - you have the option to go left, straight, or right. The left turn has one semi level campsite with a homemade fire ring but not as much on that left side. The straight route has the most options I found. I drove around for 15 minutes looking for the best spot but didn't see too many  pre-cleared "camping spots" from previous travelers. Plenty of places to pull over to camp with a great view.

Incredible scenery, overlooking the valley and mountains in the West, with great sunsets. My first morning I was surrounded by a group of 5 cows grazing. They ended up laying 30 feet from the trailer all morning. Saw one other camper about a mile away. 

The gravel roads are really tight for my 27" trailer, manageable but did rub on a couple of trees and shrubs on the drive in. Don't necessarily need a 4WD unless there is bad weather, but a few spots where ground clearance of a regular truck or SUV is important. Pretty isolated from supplies, which is the charm, but come prepared. 

Great Starlink location and pretty good cell service (3/4 bars)

Top of New Mexico" near Albuquerque is a fantastic camping spot if you love open spaces and beautiful desert views. The sunsets here are breathtaking, and you might even spot wild horses roaming around. There's plenty of space for tents or RVs, and it's quiet and well-maintained, making it a perfect place to relax and enjoy nature. It can get a little windy, but that just adds to the experience. The road to get there winds through some houses, but once you arrive, you're surrounded by pure nature. also the food is so good, there are many food brands like subway menu who offers quality fast food services.

Beautiful, secluded spots along this campsite. We were in a civic, and I only felt comfortable accessing one spot (the first)—but like others said, a higher clearance vehicle and you should be perfect; assuming it doesn’t rain!

We have two kids and love to “Car camp” in our large SUV that has a car mattress and everything you need. We prefer dispersed campgrounds. Only downside: no toilets.

Really easy to get to, up this lil windy residential road, go slow, that opens up into a huge public land past an open gate. Lots of paths from cars, just follow anyone you'd like and then pull over beside any ol bush. Don't run over any cactus.

Stayed for two nights and the sunsets were awesome. During the day it was very very windy but not too hot. Saw some wild horses the first morning but when I got too close one of them starting running toward me and I said hell no. Classic dispersed desert camping but with good service and close to Albuquerque.

Pulled in right before sunset and only saw 2 other cars in the area. Watched a rainbow form over the Sandia Mtns and a herd of wild horses ran right through our campsite! Best night of my life!!

I had some trouble finding the entrance, you have to get in from the southeast side of the neighborhood, @ Llano el Norte street, but other than that I’ve spoiled myself with finding such a great campsite so early on in my trip. Definitely windy.

This campground offered amazing views of the Sandia mountains and the surrounding area. We found a fire ring and plenty of level areas to set up camp in addition to large bushes to take shelter behind. Also plenty of wild horses roaming around, though we didn't ever see any at near our campsite.

So the road getting here is a bit of a long dirt road, somewhat washboarded by the big trucks that drive along it. The area is big and has a selection of camp sites / flat areas to choose from. The shooting sounds were indeed there, but didnt bother us much. Cattle grazing in the area sometimes. Overall not a bad place to camp. Nearby are also some hiking and biking trails.

Can make it up to camp with 2 wheel drive low clearance. Maybe some minor scraping as you leave/arrive over a bit of a rough ramp lip. Turn left at top of main entrance ramp to avoid worst road section which goes up to peak. Enough site separation I didn’t really hear others except when they were walking by on the road. Road makes a nice hike to the peak. There are large camp sites short walks from the road too, probably awesome for families with big tents, wouldn’t even see the road where passers by walk from some of those sites.

This would be an awesome camping area if it were not for the non stop shooting. Great scenery but annoyingly loud. Shooting noise started at the crack of dawn until sunset and it sounded like it was coming from all directions along with the ricochets. Shooters have left tons of shells and all the garbage they shoot at which is unacceptable and sad. 

There are free roaming cattle in the area that can get quite close at times. They were not the slightest phased by the shooting just yards from them.

The dirt road from highway 550 is all washboard for miles and miles. You go through Zia Reservation land to get to this area so pay attention to the signs. You'll pass a couple of bike trail parking areas for White Ridge Bike Trails along the way which you can stay at if there is space otherwise leave it for the bikers. There is a large dumpster near the bike area as well. 

Google maps shows areas further up the road. The GPS location for this site is right off the main dirt road but further in there are some nice spots but not advisable for low clearance vehicles.

There is no water and cell reception is spotty. Decent=Verizon AT&T=poor

I like it. A bit less traveled than other nearby campground. Road almost more accessible to this camp ground for low clearance. Might scrape a bit going up final ramp to Cedro peak one, but not terribly either. Some local traffic passes through regularly, including an Amazon delivery van a day. To be honest I didn’t make it all the way in to the pin shown on the dyrt, had no issues anyway. Not even a ranger visit.

Have to drive up the forest service road off the pavement. A little rough but I have a lifted outback no issues! Highly recommended.

We stayed here with our pull behind trailer and I do not recommend doing what we did. It’s very hard to get up to the actual spots. We actually almost got a ticket parking at one of the next to the road spots on the way in. The ranger said if it doesn’t have a metal ring, it’s not a legit spot and you can get ticketed. So keep going down the road, there will be one large spot to the left and a right turn to the others. The road through where the others are is VERY tight. You definitely need something high-clearance with 4x4 as there are large ruts on either side, potholes, and large rocks.

Plan to arrive well before dark, as it’s very hard to find the rings in the dark. There are small brown numbered signs but the spots kind of blend together in the dark, so I definitely advise arriving during the day.

There are bears, wolves, coyotes, rabbits, and some rodents in the area. It was down to freezing at night when we stayed so we didn’t encounter anything major. It can get very windy as well so watch out closely with your fire if you have one.

Elevation is about 7500 feet so if you’re from sea level like us, give yourself some time to acclimate before you go venturing on one of the many trails or canyon hikes nearby.