Best Dispersed Camping near San Cristobal, NM

Rio Grande del Norte National Monument is BLM land so it is all dispersed camping. You will need to make sure you aren't on someone's property or nearby any roads. There are plenty of turn offs. 

This isn't a "get away" more like a stopover spot. I stopped here on my way back North to Colorado to see the bridge over the Rio Grande and so I wasn't so high up in elevation that I would freeze. 

But if you can find a quiet place it is a beautiful dispersed spot where there is civilization nearby and toilets at local businesses  and picnic areas that you can use. See map on review. 

Be careful roaming at night. The drop into the river is quite deep so offroading isn't just ill advised for keeping the flora and fauna safe…but you as well. 

There are picnic ares around the monument too, just not established camping spots.

The location on Dyrt maps is wrong, forest service is NW of 285 & 64. Beautiful dispersed camping spots plentiful. Park ranger Melissa was the top notch. Couldn’t have been more helpful and friendly. Definitely stay there again.

All camping spots here are right off the roads where you can find one or two spots that are less close. Arroyo Seco is the town close to the camping, but you keep going straight from the coordinates to get to Cuchillo de Medio and Cuchillo. It’s not truly “dispersed” camping because there aren’t many sites and your pretty close to your neighbors. Cuchillo Del Medio does have some fire pits, picnic tables, and a bathroom. You do get to camp right on a clear river that is beautiful!

There are a bunch of different roads you can turn off to camp on if you’re driving from Taos to Durango. We mapped Forest Road 578 and it took us to a dirt road with a lot of flat spots you can camp on. We spent the night there and it was very quiet and peaceful. If you keep going to Durango you’ll get to Carson National Forest, which is not too far from the coordinates on The Dyrt. That’s where more people are camping, you can pull off right before the 64H road marker. You’ll keep passing camping spots as you drive to Durango so you can really go almost anywhere!

No amenities except some great river side places.

Dispersed camping along the road (though it’s not a busy one, especially not at night so not noisy) right on the river.

First coms first served with mostly tenting spaces.

We found this place randomly. Seen all the road exits of the Carson National Forest on our way to Taos we said “let’s give it a try!” And we found apparently a fairly popular place. It may be due to available internet connection (which we greatly enjoyed it after weeks!) or just a lower altitude spot that may help with physical activity and weather temps. At any rate, easy and short access to the camp sites via gravel sandy road, some with fire rings and camp tables, leveled grounds for trailers and lots of pine trees for privacy. There are signs for trailheads and pretty rock formations that will need to be explored next time. We stayed a night and enjoyed it to the fullest. Highly recommended, especially as nights get nice and chill (vs. hot day temps) for good sleep.

I tent-camped off of Carson NF Forest Service Road 578 in mid April 2022. FS 578 is south of Tres Piedras about 5 miles on the west side of Hwy 285. There are several dirt road turn offs but FS 578 is clearly marked with a brown NFS sign (see photo) and has no gate but there is a cattle guard/grate. Here is a NFS road use map that shows dispersed camping along FS 578 and many other NFS roads: https://www.fs.fed.us/r3/gis/mvum/Carson/CarsonTresPiedrasCanjilonElRito.pdf (see also screenshot). My Tacoma had no problem on the dirt road, which has ruts and might be tough for an RV. There were few clearings suitable for dispersed camping but I found a nice spot with a small fire circle in a small clearing on the south side of the road just past a fork in the road. I carried two black boulders over to serve as a table and chair. I didn’t see anyone else camping or driving by. The forest is a nice mix of sage, juniper, and pine trees. I saw two elk across a swath of sage. I could see the snow capped peaks of the Sangre de Cristo range on the eastern horizon when I walked farther up the road. It got cold at night, like 27 F. It was a nice waypoint on my trip between Gunnison CO and El Paso TX but it didn’t look like many people camped there. I had intended to drive to Taos the next day on Hwy 64, but didn’t.

A nice secluded little forest road. RVs will not make it, so it's nice and quiet.

AWD/4WD needed on the rutted rocky road.

Stayed one night and saw no one else.

Multiple pulloffs for unmarked campsites, but the one I picked was right off the road.

Cell service drops completely pretty soon after leaving the highway. I sporadically received some messages at my camp site but not reliably.

This dispersed area is close to Hopewell Lake and Campground where there is fishing and vaulted toilets. The Continental Divide Trail goes right through this location.

Ok. First off this is Sunday Aug 1st,2021. The road in says private property. The directions using ice house rd are accurate from the north side. Here’s the problem. I have screen grabs from the official state of CO website. One reads that this is no longer an SWA and the other reads that it is an SWA. i uploaded a pic.

The camping area is packed dirt with odd roads - paths probably created by OHVs and jeep /4x4 trucks. Homemade rock lined fire rings.

Only come in daylight as others recommend. We had 2 different OHVs ride through our campsite. Most seem to be locals that have fun riding the perimeter of the lake. We are camped about 600yards, yes 600 yards (nice) away from others. Not big rig friendly on the north side. You need high ground clearance campers and truck in many areas. This place is best suited to small campers and tents.

It is so beautiful and free. When we drove in the sun was high and the lake appeared emerald. I would NOT drop my trailer and leave my possessions alone / unsupervised. A couple of joy riders took interest in our solar panels and setup. Just saying

We spent a few nights in the dispersed area near Hopewell .  We rolled in at 5 and had plenty of sites to choose from.  We chose one of the lower areas, with one large open space surrounded by smaller sites.  There were many more up the road, and there was constant traffic headed uphill until about 9PM.   Once the traffic stopped it was very quiet, only the cattle calling through the trees.  It rained for several hours and our spot stayed solid.  Some offshoot roads were rutted out. The main road had minimal rocks and holes, didn't get very muddy.  TMobile\Google mobile service worked well enough.  Verizon did not work.

As a dead end (there is the Taos ski resort up further, the best spots are before the ski resort) there wasn’t much traffic. One of the cleanest campsites off a road I’ve been to! Plenty of brush if you want to start a fire. There is no Verizon service.

This was a perfect spot with great views and plenty of camp sites to choose from. Bathrooms were close by. Only bad thing was there was a little trash but not bad. Limited cell service. Easy dirt road access

There are so many campsites to choose from, all along the Hondo Rio. It's peaceful and quiet. We brought our four dogs and 13 year old. There's so much to do to keep them busy. The dogs love the river and to run through it. No one really bothers anyone. There are toilets at some of the sites. Very clean. We had storms while camping. At least six rock/mud slides on the road. I don't know who, but someone managed to clean it all up in record time. We've had a great time, even with the rain and hail. We will definitely come back.

Home Mountain Reservoir, outside of Fort Garland, CO. Its located just off off Highway160 about 4 hours from Denver.

If you are looking for peace and quiet, but a town near by just incase you are forgetful as I usually am, then this is the place for you!

Free place to camp next to the reservoir with fire rimgs provided. Only issue is that other campers forget to pack out what they pack in!!

We found this place as a last resort after being unable to find good free spots near the dunes. Ended up being private and beautiful! After doing some research, I found an article saying a state fishing or hunting license was interchangeable for a Swa permit. Still not confirmed, but we didn’t have any problems. It was fairly windy at night but the wind was better during the day. There is a bit of trash throughout the area surrounding the reservoir and our dog got into something that made her sick, so I recommend keeping a close eye on your dogs here, especially dogs that like to get into things they shouldn’t.

This is a beautiful area, the lake is gorgeous and on the way in we saw a huge herd of elk which was awesome. However not long after we set up some rowdy locals decided to do donuts on the beach in their truck, some playing loud music. Thankfully they left but it wasn’t the peaceful evening we were hoping for. There are two sides of the lake to camp on. One side had pit toilets but it was more crowded with lots of people on ATV’s there are tons of trails you can see where they go all over that side. On the other side of the lake there are no toilets and not as many ATV trails. It’s a great free place to camp but it may not be the quiet peaceful place you’re looking for if the wrong crowd is here at the same time.

There are at least four established campground in the del Norte Wild Rivers Recreation area with La Junta being a walk-in and the others camping areas having the capability of parking really close to covered tables. Area is on the edge of the gorge overlooking the Rio Grande 800’ below or the Red River gorge about the same depth. Awesome views, adequate spacing between sites, visitor center, remote area, dark skies, private, arid area with small trees for shade. Hiking, rafting, horseback riding nearby.

Led me to dirt, private road after 3 attempts! I don’t give up easily but 3 xxx you’re out! Bad gps guidance here and also another site as well! Will not continue with app, trial/pro or otherwise!

Right off the road, literally. it hidden behind some trees so the barrier between the site and road makes for a little privacy. Great spot for a day or two right next to a creek so you fall asleep to the sound of it, not wasn’t a gentle creek, but lovely all the same. trees to put up a hammock. Fire pits but they were off limits do to fire season . Would definitely recommend .

I car-camped here just before Labor Day weekend and while it wasn’t the most private camping area, I was able to snag a spot along the river and had a nice time.