Best Tent Camping near Santa Rosa, NM

Campgrounds were fairly clean here. Keep in mind that if you are tent camping A LOT of the spots are extremely rocky and just full of gravel! Campground has clean showers and bathrooms as well. Sites are fairly close to the lake too. The campground is also only about 12 minutes away from the town of Santa Rosa if you’re in need of supplies!

Book on Reserve America for New Mexico “Santa Rosa Lake” very pretty and peaceful. Not all streets were labeled but the directions worked to get us there just fine. Park for kids, gorgeous sunsets and the stars show off at night. Clean bathrooms. Had hookups.

The primitive campsites are the only good spot for tent camping. There two big campsites are more for Rv’s

Bummed when we pulled up and were told we couldn’t tent camp. Found a better place up the road near the lake.

Very nice place. Well maintained & clean! But only RV - was going to tent camp out of the car but host denied. (with a cravat, he offered to 'put me in the back' for a small fee IF I agreed to not abuse the facilities) -apparently he had problems with campers in the past, so, yea, no camping

We intended on staying one night in the Santa Rosa Campground (May 9, 2022) – we were on the road, an hour away from arrival. However, due to a forest fire directly west of the CG, the office called us to inform us that they were under a “be prepared to evacuate” order and they were canceling our reservation (payments are non refundable, they did not charge us!). The office gave us the option of staying the night (fill out an after hours permit) if the fire was brought under control or move on to another CG. We elected to move on and reserved a spot further down the road.

Thank you Santa Rosa, kudos to you, we greatly appreciate your graciousness and forethought!

This campground is just outside Santa Rosa. It accepts Sams, military discount. Old but clean and serviceable. Nice pool, on site restaurant serves good food. Many drive through site with electric and water. Central dump station. Small dog park.

It has a few loops so there is plenty space. Is near Santa Rosa viewpoint of the lake and near trails. You have to have a reservation (se pics). At the moment because of wildfires fire is not allowed.

Santa Rosa state park in NM perched above a water-starved reservoir on the Pecos river. There’s minimal cell or WiFi. It’s a lovely spot. Reservations must be made through ReserveAmerica. Some sites have power but no water but there’s a water fill station in the CG.

Great sunsets!

Rocky Point was one of two campgrounds we saw in Santa Rosa Park. All sites had picnic tables, some sites had electricity and water, and some sides just had water. The bathrooms in Rocky point had flush toilets and showers. The bathrooms were very clean. The camp host was very friendly. This was a very nice campground and not too far from Highway 40.

The photos that show up above for this campground are actually of Santa Rosa LAKE which is about 20 minutes north on 91. The campground/RV park at this address is definitely more of an RV park. It is very close to I-40, there are streetlight-style lights throughout, and not much in the way of primitive camping. But if you're an RV-er you may love the amenities here, I think there is WiFi and a pool! We are tent campers and continued on up to the lake. The lake is operated by the State Park system. As of October 1, 2020 reservations are required for all state park sites, and they are only open to NM residents! We bent the rules as it was 2 am, and the rangers were cool about it in the morning. There are 2 campgrounds at the lake (Rocky Point and Juniper Park) - only Rocky Point was open currently, presumably for COVID reasons.

Catch the cool evening desert breezes from the Rocking Point loop, which sits across the dam and above the lake. The drive to the park from I 40 is on a nicely paved road so the distance feels less. Also, close to Santa Rosa for supplies. Not much to do here, but it was peaceful and the stars were beautiful. The Shoreline Trail is a nice hike.

Back in site fairly level with concrete picnic table under cover, which is nice because there is very little to no shade in this loop. Beautiful views of the reservoir, but sad to see how low the water level is now. 

Good overnight stopover.

First of all- DON’T TRAVEL RT 3 FROM I40! Travel on 84, it looks longer, but it’s not really and the road is way better! We enjoyed staying here, even though we didn’t have an actual camp site. The dirt is red but that’s normal for this area. Good hiking (some slight rock climbing) The sites are mostly 2 per site, back to back, but it’s not real close together. And the tables seem to be on the wrong side in several places. When we called they said there were no sites available, but they’d make room for us. That was by the group shelter, and it wasn’t bad, but no where really private to set out chairs and no table, which we didn’t need anyway. It was a very quiet place and you can hear the river running. On through the camp, there are tent sites that are very nice. The ranger were very kind and helpful. Make time to visit in the city. One of the stores sells the best ever frito pie…with a cold Pepsi…wow! We were here in April and it was pretty warm, so I’d think it might be fairly hot in summer. I’d like to come back some

We stayed here primarily because it was on our route to Northern New Mexico and Colorado. It was exactly as we expected and we enjoyed an overnight here in June. Fortunately we had electric power for AC and were comfortable. Enjoyed some short hikes right from our campsite. Very isolated location between Tucumcari and Las Vegas, New Mexico, but that was our intended route. Marginal highway, but almost no traffic.

I stopped in this camp when taking a brief trip through Fort Sumner on the way back to Texas from Las Vegas. The town of Fort Sumner itself is known for its Billy The Kidd presence and there are many things to do in the area in regard to that which are interesting. But just as much as I wanted to check that out, I wanted to check out another unique spot in New Mexico to stay the night and this campsite seemed to be one of the closest.

I liked this because there were both tent and RV sites, so naturally I felt a bit more at home than I would have it had ben a park which focuses daily on RVs and leaves tents as an after thought.

The lake itself wasn't my favorite lake of New Mexico, though it seemed large everything around it was pretty dry. The banks were more of a gravel than a beach and some of the areas were rocky with larger boulders making it a little more difficult to find a recreational place to just enjoy the water. I definitely needed water shoes to get into or near the water.

I chose a primitive site although they do have some which have connections, my reason for selecting this site was its location which I thought would have a great view of the sunrise and the lake, unfortunately it ended up raining the morning so there was no beautiful sunrise. But for only $8 I couldn't really complain especially since I was able to take advantage of the lake a bit the evening before.

I noticed the lake was typically of any lake with a lot of the activities of the park centering around it, however they also had a few hiking trails, a small visitor center to check out a little light information about the location and outdoor education programs which were mostly held on weekends.

It wasn't really that busy when I was there on the weekday I passed through and camp felt pretty quiet throughout the duration of my stay.

Restrooms located near me were vault style but they did have a bathroom with running water and showers as well, depending on where you elect to stay you will be nearby some kind of accommodations. My site being primitive was really primitive and had no table or fire ring, but I did notice for $10 you could have both just a little distance from where my site was located. I personally didn't need either when staying.

TIPS:

• Check into the park office for minor supplies, anything bigger you will need to travel Into town where there are numerous stores.

• When in the area make sure to stop in at the Billy The Kidd Museum and Bosque Redondo Park both are staples of the area and contain a lot of history which will tell the story of New Mexico past in some of the most infamous ways.

This is a hidden gem. We were evacuated from our camping spot in Northern New Mexico due to wildfires and set out for a new spot. Exhausted from driving, we pulled into this campground. It is clean, well maintained and the dog got a kick out of doing a bit of swimming. There is unique topography and enough to explore for a night or two.

We spent two nights and it only cost us $16. We were parked right on the lake, and being right after a holiday the lake was pretty much empty. They have several different campsites, with a website that makes it easy to reserve a spot. However, we called to ask, and ranger let us know we could come for first come first serve. They have signs that make finding your way around easy, also having stations that you can pay(cash only) for your campsite. The rangers were sweet and helpful as well as having a host, who was there all night in case of an emergencies. The restrooms/showers were clean and it looked to be recently remodeled. Also they had ramps going into the water for boats and a dock for fishing. Something else we learned about New Mexico, not being from here, April-May is a rainy and windy season. So be sure to check the weather before heading out

We almost lost the tent one day. There isn't alot of shelter for tents. The bathrooms are clean and plenty of hot water for showers.

There are two camping areas here, Mesquite Loop & Pecos. Mesquite appeared to be more popular with tent campers which is where we camped. The site had a covered picnic table, fire pit (but burning was prohibited during our visit) and ample space to set up a tent. Lake was within view of the site and a boat ramp was located down the road. Beautiful morning sunrise.

I stayed at the North Campground in the park and it was great. The bath house was recently renovated and very clean. The only downside to the park was that the tent pads we rock and gravel making it very difficult to stake a tent. Each site had a covered picnic table and a charcoal grill. There was easy access to drinking water and there was an access road to the lake close by.

The campground is so close to the highway, we would be just as well rested if we slept in the gravel under an overpass on I40.

The tent area was overgrown and full of burrs.

The bathroom was filthy.

If I could award negative stars I would.

Plenty of room for larger groups, we had a total of 6 tents set up along the west side of the lake. Can be very windy so ensure your tent stakes are decently long. Large amounts of bugs come out during sunset but they don't stick around very long and they are harmless gnats didn't see any mosquitoes. This area has a lot of wildlife like coyotes, hogs, bobcats, and mountain lions so be careful. If you set up camp on the west side of the lake the bathrooms are quite a walk away and there are only two vault toilets. bathrooms were pretty clean and so was the park in general. Numerous shaded picnic tables with grill, and even a few fire rings. Not much shade around. Overall a great stay close to Cannon AFB for a quick weekend trip.

Villanueva SP is a few miles south of I25. Right on the Pecos River, the campground is nestled between two cliffs and has well spaced sites. Opt for a campsite with a shelter and you get adobe-like cover for the table or a tent !

I was really impressed with the sites. The tables had a nice cover over them and each one had a electric hook up with a regular 110 outlet. We stayed in a tent, but the sides were clearly for RVs. Didn’t matter to us. There were trails all around that we took our mountain bikes on. Not biking trails, but we were able to navigate them with some skills and careful judgement. 

Worst case scenario ever Stopped filled out form with payment 20 minutes later some Ahole pulls up claiming we are fully self contained Well no we have a gray tank and the restroom is open Just needed a place for the night but he insisted that we had to leave There was two tent trailers there with o little gray tanks but they are okay The guy was a real POS and cussed at us as we left Don’t stop here it is a crappie run place

Nice location, not too far but just far enough off the interstate. Good campsite options, pond you can fish in, picnic tables, atv trails you can walk. Not busy. Only problem is the bugs are HORRIBLE after sundown. Sleeping under the stars, NOT an option. It’s an ideal stop if you‘ll be sleeping in an RV. A tent might be alright too if you’re good at keeping bugs out.