Best RV Parks & Resorts near Torreon, NM

First things to know: there are no sites with any hookups. And phone connectivity is VERY limited. We had one bar, so we could send some text messages, but forget about surfing or streaming. It's a beautiful campground, and large. The sites, for the most part, are spread apart nicely, affording a lot of space and reasonable privacy. There are not, however, any sites that will accommodate truly big rigs. We are 29' 3" Class A, and were the ONLY Class A on site(and it was 100% booked). We had a small tow vehicle. We just fit in our space, a pull through of sorts. There are, it seems, a lot of back in spots, but again, not for the largest rigs. There are TWO Campground hosts...so many spaces here. Our interaction with both was quite limited, but very friendly. The best things about this site are 1) being here in summer, it's SO much cooler than areas like Albuquerque, where we live,& 2) there is GREAT accessibility to two of the truly most popular trails in NM. Behind campsite 28 is a short(0.4 mile) trail that leads to Trail 137. When you hit that intersection, go left to visit Jemez Falls(beautiful) or right to climb to McCauley Springs(warm springs). Each of those spots has other, much more trafficked trails, so in both cases, you feel like you're sneaking up on the hot spot. Also, we were a short drive to perhaps the mostly LOVELY of all NM trails, the Las Conchas Trailhead, a 3 mile round trip hike through the most lovely pastures around. Wildflowers and chipmunks abounded, and the trail parallels the Jemez River. VERY popular spot; go early or forget about finding parking. Only drawbacks to the campsite(which is really 4.5 stars): trash bins filled quickly and were overflowing. The vault toilet areas smelled; you could smell them as you walked by. The wonderful trailhead I mentioned by Space 28 is only accessible by walking THROUGH the campsite. The folks staying there were nice, but I felt bad about breaking Rule#1 of camping. The campground is about.3 miles off the main highway. The road between highway and campsite is pretty narrow. Two RVs passing each other would be a FRIGHTFULLY tight fit. BUT, we highly recommend, and look forward to many return visits.

Vista Linda NM : Adjacent to the highway. Don’t be fooled, though. Beautiful, peaceful, clean, and the most helpful host.
(Scale 1- bad, 5-Very good

(71 yr olds in 17’ trailer.)

Overall Rating: 4 Security: No Usage during visit: the host tells me that usually fills up Site Privacy: good Site Spacing: very good Pad surface: blacktop Reservations: First, come first Campground Noise: Quiet, campground Outside Road Noise: along the highway. Through Traffic in campground: no Electric Hookup: no, Sewer Hookup: no Dump Station: No Potable Water Available: yes Generators: allowed Bathroom: very clean pit toilets. Showers: no Pull Throughs: yes. Cell Service (AT&T): no bars Setting: beautiful setting. Along in Canyon wall. Would love to stay here Recent Weather: 70s during the day Solar: very good Insects: none during our visit this time of Host: yes sky Rig Size: around 40 feet Sites: many nice sites. See the pictures. Site seven was our favorite site. Very nice. Flowing Creek adjacent to that site.

Visited the coal mine campground after driving a 500 mile day, so it was a set-up eat and crash situation. I did make a reservation on line, but that cost more than the $5 per site fee and was not necessary even though it was memorial day weekend. The fee is great because it is primitive, no electricity, no water at all, not just hookups, but the bathrooms were nice and clean with no sinks.

If you are prepared for a primitive camp with your own water and batteries for your electronics it is great. They have fire rings, grills, picnic tables and level places for tents.There are also nice back-in sites for boondocking RVs and the road up to the campground is fine for big rigs.

I ran into two mountain biker's here from Ireland that were riding the Continental Divide trail from The Mexican border in New Mexico to the Canadian border in Montana. They were staying here since the Trail goes through here. Paddy & Conner were very interesting people and I was fortunate to have run into them here.

I enjoyed my stay with a peaceful quite nights sleep and a short hike in the morning before breakfast cooked on the campfire. I would recommend this over a hotel stay if your passing through Grant's New Mexico on I40. You can probably get a site for the night anytime your passing through.

I know the park rangers are spread thin, but the check-in system is pretty disorganized.  If you aren't familiar with the park and campground, it could be easy to take a wrong turn if you're trying to find your own way.  And that would be no fun in an RV.  We arrived at 4pm in our Class A, and there was a park ranger checking folks in.  He found our reservation, but NOT the extra payment we had made for our kids to be able to drive to meet us and park on our site (extra $10 per day per vehicle).  Later, I found the paperwork proving we had paid, but not  until my kids had already paid for a day when they arrived.  And getting a refund was going to be too much hassle.  And they don't always have any staff at the entry.  So some folks are left to fend for themselves when trying to find their campsites.  

That's the bad news.  Good news is that this tiny little lake and the surrounding area is lovely.  It's great if you fish. We don't, but we took several easy but longish hikes and it's just beautiful.  Lots of birds, wildflowers and we even saw a beaver on the lake!  The campsites are nice too...many are right along the Rio Cerros river (stream really) that makes up the lake.  The one loop with electric sites (where we stayed) is a bit back from the water, but there is still LOTS of shade.  We sat our for hours and enjoyed the quiet.

30 amp service only.  Decent water pressure.  No dump station on site (another drawback).  No cell service of any kind.  There are a couple of satellite wi-fi hot spots around, but after 30 minutes, you have to pay, and it is incredibly slow.  I had to use it once for work; not great.  So just plan to be 100% disconnected.  I liked the 2pm check out time, by the way.  We slept in quite late for us on our last day, and still had plenty of time to get packed and out of there!

We are already talking about next year's visit!