Best Tent Camping near Ruidoso Downs, NM

Car camped in a tent site for just a night after visiting WSNP. Non-flush toilets without sinks near tent sites and the full bathhouse is a bit of a walk away. Worth it, though, with spacious shower stalls and well-kept buildings. Sweet views of the valley and mountains and far off the highway.

We tent camped at Eagle Lake aka Eagle Creek campground on the Mescalero Apache Reservation over Memorial Day weekend 2022. The surrounding Lincoln National Forest was closed because of extreme fire risk, so there were very few places to camp in the Sacramento Mountains and escape the heat of El Paso. We used camp stoves because of a fire ban. We camped among the pine trees in the first tent area. There were clean porta-johns in that area. The showers and permanent bathroom were located up in the RV park about a 3-mile round trip walk on the road from the first tent area, so it’s more practical to drive to the showers. The permanent bathrooms and showers were clean.

Very pretty scenery, surrounded by mountain ridges and peaks and pine forest. There were two small lakes and a small creek flowing through the campground.

The campground format is kind of laissez faire because there aren’t assigned sites and it’s first come, first serve. The first tent area seemed about half full and we found a good site. We didn’t scout the second tent area because the host said there weren’t as many trees there. The first tent site was developed on a forested slope albeit they built flat rectangular-like terraces into the slope where you can pitch a tent(s) and park your vehicle(s).

Eagle Creek, near Ruidoso, had a similar feel to the Mescalero Nation’s Silver Lake campground near Cloudcroft, but Eagle Creek had a more quiet vibe. The main drawback was the 10:00 am checkout time, but we were still able to cook up some breakfast burritos as we broke camp. Good times.

Update 6/22/2022: At some point after my review, the Dyrt deleted the actual campground, which is where the road forks and moved my review to the nearby and similarly named RV resort, which is totally different. I love the Dyrt and I’m a pro ranger but sometimes c’mon man.

Great Host. Good showers. Some reserved and some FCFS. Close to food and gas. Millions of gnats. If tent camping or need to be outside to cook, etc beware!

Pros - gorgeous 360 views, quiet spot, clean pit toilets, water available throughout grounds

Cons - zero shade so it is HOT especially if you're tent camping, nothing to "do" at the campground but plenty activities in a reasonable drive

Great sites looking out over lava field. Close to Ruidoso NM, three rivers petroglyphs. Not too far from white sands. There are great campsites and some great tent sites.

We tent-camped at Oliver Lee State Park on 8/14/2021. Overall good experience. We took a 2 mile hike down and around the riparian trail where there was water in the canyon that disappeared in the creek bed beyond the canyon. We didn’t attempt the steep trail to the ridge. Although we visited in August, it wasn’t too hot because of recent rains.

We have rented Slide Campground several times for group RV & tent camping. It features vault toilets if you Ed them, a tent area, a very large covered pavilion for those rainy days, large firepit area, cooking grills & a large parking lot for RVs & kids to play. Also has bear proof garbage and food storage. It easily held 3 RVs and 20 people. They provide 300 gallons of water in a tank. Behind the campground is a hiking trail. Loved it.

Great campground with interesting features, most sites have a water spigot, tent sites toward the back were very private with lava walls between sites. Vault toilets near rear sites, flush toilets and good hot showers near entrance, nice little camp store, great camp host who kept the place nice, a steal at only $7 with water and showers!

My family and dog tent-camped at Three Rivers campground on Labor Day weekend 2014. There were shaded spots. The water in the river was running and fresh. There were a couple nice bathing holes. We tried to hike up to the peak but we ascended halfway and turned back. In Aug. 2018, I climbed the trail to the peak but camped 2/3 up the mountain; so it took me 2 days to ascend and descend, which was harder. Pretty place with many conifer trees.

Good, clean state park campground central to Alamogordo and White Sands.

Pros:

• Location/easy to get to
• A good mix of pull through and tent sites with plenty of room to drive in.
• Views on both sides are spectacular
• Reasonably spaced, not super private but that is pretty much any paid campground
• Clean bathrooms and pit toilets (showers still closed)
• Sites are relatively spacious and very well kept with tables and fire rings; some have partial shelter

Cons:

• Seems to get a little crowded, which is to be expected due to its proximity to White Sands

We tent camped here on a Friday night, it was kind of crowded for dispersed camping but a really beautiful place and still easy to find a spot despite arriving at like 8:30pm. We camped right on the creek, kids loved playing in it and seeing the waterfall. We saw deer, tons of elk, a hummingbird came right up to us and chirped and tried to land on us, and we woke up the first morning to a herd of cows mooing and walking past our tents with their calves. Would definitely stay here again. No cell signal (Verizon). Road to get there is not paved and in some places can only fit one vehicle so we did see some minor issues with that with people traveling the road.

This was a great campground. Friendly host, paved roads and good accessibility. Hot free showers, water onsite. Tent camping was cheaper only $7 but felt too remote at far end of campground for me traveling solo with my dog so I stayed in a site with electric near bathrooms and camp host. Paved walking trail and informative posts through the amazing lava flow bed. Sites have shelters and fire rings but are exposed and it was VERY windy while we were there. Prickers if you venture even a few inches off paved roads - my dogs pads got cut and took a few days to heal. Hot showers were amazing and bathrooms clean. $18 for sites w water and electric. Some sites online reservation, some first come.

Bluff Springs is nestled in a pretty forested valley with a creek and falls in Lincoln National Forest about 10 miles south of Cloudcroft off Sunspot highway on Upper Peñasco Road. There’s a gravel parking lot with bathrooms but no campground. We tent camped Sat, Aug. 1, 2020, arriving about 2pm. There were many people camping and it was difficult to find a spot along the road with dispersed camping sites. We had to camp in thicker grass among cow dung because the mowed sites were taken. Still, life outside is better, right? It stormed much of the day and night but Sunday morning dawned clear and we took a short 1-mile hike from the Bluff Springs trailhead to the Willie White trailhead. There are longer hikes too. There were some camping trailers but no big RVs. Upper Peñasco Road is narrow in parts. A decent place.

Has one handicap accessible & next to bathroom). There is a group site that has three picnic tables under a shelter and two grills. 2 RV sites have covered picnic tables and grills and water and electric hookups. Five tent sites. One of the tent locations is at the handicap accessible site. CLEAN restrooms with flush toilets and drinking water are available. Pets are allowed in the campground(on leash), but are not allowed on the trails. Petroglyph trails are rocky, but not difficult (keep your eyes peeled, there are petroglyphs everywhere). Hosts were very nice. Campground has well-functioning electronic/pay check-in. Great BLM campground. Other places in area include Malpais lava flows. Sierra Blanca hovers to the east. Sunset was early in Nov. so if hiking trails in late afternoon take a flashlight. Nearby Carrizozo reportedly has a photo gallery or three that we were told were well worth checking out but we did not get chance to do so.

Awesome little campground in the high desert just west of Carrizozo. I arrived around 830 pm on a Saturday night in the middle of August and had my pick of spots. Fellow campers were quiet. RV hook ups available and showers/toilets available for both RV and tent campers. You can hear infrequent cars on the nearby highway (US 380) but it didn’t bother me. There are little grill tops near picnic tables, but the wind kept me from getting a good fire started. There is a roof shelter over the picnic table as well. Amazing sunset and sunrise and incredible stargazing. Only complaint is the bugs. SO MANY BUGS. No mosquitos that I noticed but plenty of annoying lava gnats and bigger things. Bring your bug spray. $7 for tent sites, $18 for RVs. Lava field has some paved trails through it, but it would get awfully hot during the day with the black rock. Might not be great for kids. Cacti with big ole thorns and the campground bordering the lava field have a bit of drop off. This campground holds a place in my heart, I’ll be back again.

Reservation camp ground about 15-20 min from Alamogordo. Great views, although a little windy at night since you're right up against the mountains. Bathrooms were clean and the pull in spots are nicely spaced out, so it's nice and chill. They also have quiet hours from 10p-7a daily. Office was closed when I was there (Monday) so I can't speak to the staff, but the campground looked pretty well maintained.

There are two trails if you want to hike. One is flat and goes through the canyon for about a mile and a half. The other is basically straight up for 5 miles - I didn't try that one :) - but I imagine the views are great if you can swing it.

The only complaint about this campground (which can't be fixed) is the flies. So. Many. Flies. They're everywhere and they are impossible to deter no matter how many times you swat them. It's insane. Maybe it was the time of year (late June) but it made tent camping pretty tough at times. If you're in an RV/camper I imagine it wouldn't be quite as bad for you.

This was my introduction to a BLM campground and what a great introduction. Situated on an old lava flow, Valley of Fires campsites offer an introduction to a desert landscape. There's a small nature hike and a slight rise in the middle of the campground that offers a nice view.

Site have a grill, trash, water, and a shelter; with no natural shade, you'll appreciate the sun shelter in the heat! There are vault toilets throughout the campground, but there is a central bathroom that offers flush toilets and showers. A couple of the sites are accessible with a concrete pad extending from the parking area to the shelter/picnic table/grill. The tent sites have a raised gravel pad.

If I were choosing a campsite, I'd see if the RV site on the back side of the hill is available. It is separate and therefore quieter than the others and offers a broad view of the monument and the tent loop below.

If you're here in the winter, I'd recommend a trip to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (1hr away) to see the sandhill cranes. 90 minutes south you'll reach White Sands National Park. Both are worth your time, though for White Sands, check before you go; it is sometimes closed in the morning for missile testing.

The drive up is full of narrow switchbacks that you just hope and pray nobody else happens to be coming around at the same time as you are. There are some quite steep grades as well. Whoever set the speed limit at 30 miles per hour must have been a daredevil before they found employment as a civil engineer. However the road is decent enough that most any vehicle can navigate it. I had zero issues in my truck with a camper in the bed. A class B could get in there as well, but there's no room for anything bigger and good luck getting level. There is absolutely no room for trailers at all. There are only about 5 walk in tent sites that I saw with fire rings. The only amenity is a vault toilet. Be aware that you are on a mountain peak so it gets pretty windy. Your $40 Wally World tent will probably beat you to death in the night. Make sure you have a sturdy setup. If you can deal with all that though, the view is unsurpassed. Its just a small hike up to the tower where you can see in every direction forever it seems. The forest in the area is just starting to recover from wildfires a couple of years ago, but the contrast between the burnt old and the growing new is beautiful.

Note: a previous review stated the tower was closed, but it was back open by my visit in Sept 2017.