Best Tent Camping near Socorro, NM

Nice tall shade trees at all sites. Clean facilities (vault toilets). Some tent sites have brick wind structures around their picnic tables, which can be a handy especially with NM spring winds.

I didn't stay but I did drive through to check it out for future stops. First impression was very clean! There are two basic areas, the fishing area around the pond which is good sized and shaped so that there's lots of shoreline. The other area is the camping area with hookups and tent sites. In between was the playground and bathroom area. There is a group shelter, and trees. It's a bit off the main highway but easy access. The river is nearby and there are some primitive access roads.

This is a state park campground that offers everything from basic tent sites to full hookups near a small pond for fishing (no swimming or boating). There's a picnic table (numbered with the site so there's no question which one is which) and fire ring. Bathrooms offer flush toilets, no showers and it is not heated. Numerous portable toilets also got the park around the pond and play area. In early December only 4 of the sites are occupied and one person was fishing. It's handicapped accessible with a paved path to a small dock.

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!

This is a basic campground located about a mile from I-25. The campground has the basics but that's it. It's a good place to stop while traveling thru New Mexico. There's a baseball field and a small lake adjacent to the campground. The trains do blow their whistle in this area. 

Cell Coverage: Good

We stayed at La Vista for one night on our way through New Mexico heading to Utah. The owners are extremely friendly and were very helpful. They are a couple who own the park independently and you can tell the long term renters are happy there.

We woke up to a gorgeous view of the nearby scenery and were just a half mile from a Loves to gas up and head out for another day of driving.

I would not recommend anyone with an rv or travel trailer to use this site. I was hopeful from the one picture that there would be some nice green trees which is hard to find in New Mexico. I arrived there's a steep decline to go into the park. There are a few big pot holes to be weary of. Most of the area looks to be overgrown and most of the trees look dead. I didn't see any budding in early spring and no signs of greenery. It was also very difficult to turn around. I ended up with a few scratches on the travel trailer.

This was inexpensive but turns out it will cost us a bit more in the long run. When we pulled up there was a maintenance employee doing his job. We were trying to get into our spot. My husband is hard of hearing and I was trying to guide him. I tell him “nooooo” and the guy tells him to “crank it” and guess what? He cranks it. Dents our bumper to the truck. Sooo yeah, that happened.

The site. It has all the amenities. The bathroom is tended to but basic. There is one light and it is right over campsite 13. So be aware. Luckily we have blackout blinds and that helped but dang it was bright. There are little stickers so don’t let pets run in the “grass” or kids barefoot. And bring your bug spray. I am covered in bug bites.

We loved the little town of Socorro. And this really was a pretty good deal overall. The lake part is really just a pond and if you want super quiet this is not for you as it was close to a busy road with ATVs and trucks running constantly over the gravel road and the occasional train.

Would I come here again? No.

But it was an adventure I suppose. All part of the ride.

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.

Night one was decent, but the rest of the nights I had to hold the side of my tent up to keep it from collapsing despite multiple points staked to the ground. I’m happy I had strong stakes or the tent would’ve been gone. The wind comes in waves like hurricane bands. In one week we had the crazy wind every night, hail, and saw a dust twister at the base of the mountain. Lots of flies as well. At one point we had the back circle all to ourselves, but Friday large groups came out and were very loud until 1am. During the week everyone was quiet. The site layout was nice, private despite being close to the next site over. It’s pretty hot during the day and dips to the 40s at night. We liked the sound of the clicker bugs, they were pretty cool even though we never actually saw one. The trails are nice, vault toilet area is clean. The front office was closed our whole visit. I’d say it’s a cool place for a trailer or RV although the road is difficult in rain. Tents are fine, but be ready to move to the car for the wind or hail.

Stopped here as an in between on a road trip. We arrived just after dark and there was only one other truck with someone else tent canping on the other side of the camping area. We set up our tent and a little while later the people in the truck packed up and left. The site is near busy road and train tracks so it was pretty noisy but we went to sleep thinking everything was alright.

Right around 3am a van with a search light came through revving its engine with a man (who sounded drunk) screaming security, to wake up and come out with our hands up. We stayed in the tent and after a few mins of this he drove away, although we could see him go to the other side of the park and could still hear him yelling. This freaked us out but we hoped it was just a one time thing and decided to stay until the sun rose. About an hour later a different truck, also with a search light, came through. This one just quietly circled around and promptly left but it was freaky nonetheless. We decided to pack up and leave even though it was 4am and while we were getting everything back in our vehicle another car came through and circled the lot as well. We got out as soon as we could because it felt very unsafe with the harassment and the amount of vehicles coming through for seemingly no reason.

Aside from these occurrences the campground was okay. The bathrooms were gross with overflowing trash and the noisiness were not ideal.

We stayed here because we didn't see any safe BLM camping nearby so we decided to spend a few dollars for an established area but were very disappointed by the harassment and fear we experienced. Would not recommend staying here

Well off the beaten path, but worth a few nights of peace and solitude. Went in July and the weather was cool in the 80's most of the time, cooling to the upper 40's at night. Isolated at the end of a road in the edge of the Monzano Mountains, it is fully treed with great shade. Good place for an RV or tent. Nice hiking (easy) trails. Flush toilets but no showers. Dump station. Very nice facility.

Very pleasant spot for an overnight stop near I-25. Being mid-Dec there was only one other camper. It was a little confusing because all the spaces were marked “reserved” but it was pretty certain nobody else was coming. I called the number and the caretaker was super nice, said to take any site we wanted and to call the number on the sign to pay in the morning. I’ sure there are more folks in the warmer months but it was quiet and peaceful for us. Flush toilets & hot water (but no outlets) in the bathrooms. Electric available but we didn’t use it.

It’s okay. Has decent hookups and a firepit. Comes with free firewood, which was nice. Has a picnic table. No showers. No bathrooms during covid, which sucks. Campsites are pretty close together.

Very decent Campground for the price! Only paid $6 a night. With water access and cell phone signal, can't ask for more at that price. Pretty quiet usually and very clean

First night (Friday) was great. Quiet. Saturday was quiet as well. Not much to catch at the lake. 3pm someone rolls up next to us. Definitely in the wrong spot and he would have known that if he was aware of the “back in” policy. Gave the lake caretaker a call, no answer. No big deal they were quiet. Until 10pm. Loud music. Karaoke with children screaming into the mic with the already loud sound system. Tried calling the caretaker, no answer mailbox full. Didn’t want to bother the police department so decided to wait and see if one of the kids woke up and then I’d call, figuring then I’d be super late. The music stopped suddenly my guess is around 12-2am. I guessing someone called the police or got a hold of the caretaker. Will stay again, however the campsite needs to be checked on by the county imo. If this were to happen again, I’d call non-emergency PD to deal with it.

The perfect spot to relax and enjoy the scenery.

But wait, there's more; free firewood! Place was clean, level gravel, had great neighbors, and caught a fish within 10 minutes throwing out my lure. Fishing was busier in the morning but caught this just before sunset.

Do your reservations online, it's preferred according to their website (versus calling). It's easy and we stayed another night because it was chill and enjoyable. Was able to work on the RV without it being too hot or windy.

First night I was in site #1 for RVs and it had shade but no fire ring (but I think you can make your own fire ring). Site #2 has no shade but had a fire ring. Site #3 has shade, no fire ring.

Great place to camp

Full hook ups

Shade trees

Pull through sites if small enough 

Public washrooms with hot water

But no showers 

Cheap price 

Quiet convenient on my trip to Albuquerque

Only did about 10 minutes of driving around. Several small spots a couple feet off the main road. Nothing that would support 30'+ trailers. It's open desert with low shrub. Seems to be a popular ATV road so expect lots of dust and noise. I would only camp here if I had an ATV with me.

Really a pretty cool spot that can be warmer than Albuquerque, and especially warmer than Santa Fe. 100% no fire, even smoking banned they claim. May help keep numbers low. Only person I saw appeared to be road construction exploring where the road went (think they were working on Rio grande bridge maybe). Lots and lots of space in the big trees by the river, but if you look in there at night with a flash light you may notice a lot of spider eyes shining back at you. I actually parked right by river, probably not exactly correct spot probably (would be very tight fit with trailer). No spider eyes. Plenty of room for car/truck to turn around. Probably stayed 3 nights total. The turn offs from the braised berm down to camp areas can be steep looking, just choose your angle wisely. The roads seem to loop back up to berm after winding through trees, some tighter areas to maneuver around for sure. I doubt anyone would give you trouble sleeping on the unpaved road itself opposite side of trees either. Very little traffic. Weekends may have some local traffic non overnight traffic too, fishing, skeet shooting, etc. Based on debris around river, and the most traffic I saw was on Sunday (2 -3 trucks at once rather than 1/48hours.

I’d crash here again for the price.