Quiet, Lean, and Free
Clean and free campground. We were there in the off-season, and I can imagine it getting busy in the summer.
Clean and free campground. We were there in the off-season, and I can imagine it getting busy in the summer.
Only a few site first come first serve. Free and beautiful.
Small campground. Maybe 9 or 10 sites. 2 vault toilets. No pull-throughs. Free for both campground and the rest of Nat. Mon. Dog friendly trails. Interesting place to visit.
I am camping here in late February. It's 50° today with Lows down in the '20s tonight. Completely nice enough to hike in a jacket during the day.
This campground is a must stay. Between the separated free sites, small number of spots, and ranger programming on-site at the campground every weekend, it was a top 5 favorite spot for us. Especially since it is our nation's 2nd national monument created! It is also one of the only trail dog-friendly monuments we have seen.
We arrived on a busy holiday weekend and easily managed to find a spot. There are 9 fully equipped spots total with one being fully wheelchair accessible. Fire ring, picnic table, 360 views, and nice rangers. There is a well-maintained pit toilet and water sources.
The campground is quiet since it is out of the way of the main highways. You really have to want to be here in particular to find it. In early September the weather was perfect. Not too hot, a bit rainy, and covered in wildflowers. This isn't a National Monument with a lot of attention paid to it. The rangers do a great job maintaining it but since it is out of the way and not highly Instagrammed, it is beautifully quiet.
We got up early to hike El Morro since the trails are only open from 9-5 (be back at the ranger station by 4:45). We were the first ones on the trail and stairs. 1000% recommend doing the stairs route if your body can take it. The 200 ft stair climb wasn't bad at all and the views and trail up top were incredible. I would recommend going up this way and down the switchbacks instead of the reverse.
Nice quiet park with great view. Great for birding.
We rolled in just before dusk and luckily got the last of nine sites. Toilet and water provided, picnic tables and grill pit at each site. Aside from a couple of friendly greetings we didn’t hear a sound all night. Slept wonderfully in the fresh night air. The monument is a must see.
Traveling in. Mercedes Sprinter camper. An extremely well maintained campsite situated on a bluff with distant views over the desert and only a short hike to the visitor center. The Monument is well worth a visit, a short two miles hike to the pueblo and the inscription wall which is fascinating. Very quiet and not full in early May.
El Morro the second oldest national monument (Devil’s Tower being the oldest) nestled between the Zuni Pueblo and El Malpais National monument outside of Grants NM. The view includes pictographs, inscriptions of travelers as far back as the 11th century. Open Wednesday through Sunday a wonderful place to visit. On-site primitive campground with onsite water and dump station also has vault toilets. The campground sits in a natural zero light pollution with amazing stargazing opportunities
Stayed here after visiting bandera volcano and ice caves... about an hour away. The campground was very clean and well maintained. Fire ring, pad for a tent and a picnic bench were at each site. Bathroom was very clean. Water was also available. Awesome night sky and very quiet. Small campground with 9 sites. I didn’t visit the monument but loved the area and campsite. I would definitely stay here again.
As we where driving to our next destination I stopped to check out this National Monument. Plenty of parking and even easy access with my 34ft 5th wheel. There are two trails to hike, I was a little short on time and just did the shorter one in about 30 minutes. This hike takes you along the base of the cliffs and to a natural pool of water. Trails are well maintained. I also saw they had an RV park there at the Monument but was limited to trailer under 27ft. Worth the stop and was dog friendly as I took my dog on the hike.
Stayed in site #1 and really enjoyed the view and the weather. Despite it being mid-July, overnight low’s were quite cool and comfortable. Restroom is minimal but enclosed. No cell service available.
El Morro National Monument features some amazing petroglyphs and the remains of a pueblo, offering fun hikes. Nearby is a free campground, first-come, first-served. There's water available except in winter (and then you can fill containers at the visitor's center) and vault toilets.
Sites offer picnic tables, fire rings, and tent pads. Some, because of their set-up, are better suited to tents than RVs, but because you can't reserve in advance, you'll get to choose what works best for you...assuming there's vacancy. In December it was cold and largely unoccupied, but in warmer months I'm guessing it fills quickly. Sit 5 is handicap accessible and located across from the bathroom.
Free campsite with first comes first policy and it fills up! The sites are pretty close to each other and there only 1 bathroom that gets very used. It’s kept clean but smells awful. Drinking water is available as well as grills and fire rings at every site. Bonus for amazing sunset views of the monument!
We've stayed here a couple times as a stopping over point on the way to things in AZ but we always talk about how we would like to spend more time. The monument is really cool and the campground is very nice. Clean, quiet, beautiful, everything you would want in a campsite!
Spent two nights here in June, very nice campground each site has a picnic table, fire ring and trash can nearby. Lots of trees for shade. Water is available at the visitor center a short drive away. El Morro is a great place to explore. Highly recommend this place to stay
El Morro National Monument is located on an ancient east-west trail in western New Mexico. The main feature of this National Monument is a great sandstone promontory with a pool of water at its base.
We only hiked the Inscription Rock Loop but were impressed with the way the park integrated features like water channels into the land using natural elements. Everything was organized and impressive.
Campground is conveniently located 2 minute drive from the El Morro Visitor Center. Easily accessible sites with parking on each site, fire pit, picnic table. The views and stars are breathtaking. Pit toilets well kept, but didn't find any water spigot anywhere. Trash receptacles on site and no fee to camp. Can't beat free camping. Careful of the grass if you have small children. When the prickly pear cactus die and rot away their little hairy spines remain. My toddler fell in a patch of invisible spines and it was a challenge to remove them by lantern light with crummy first aid kit tweezers.
We stayed here in February on our drive from St. Louis to the Grand Canyon. It was beautiful and FREE! It was also extremely cold in February, like my water bottle froze overnight. The campsites are nice and spacious and pretty flat. They each have a tent pad and picnic table. It was quiet at night and you could see a lot of stars. The vault toilets were clean and had TP. The next morning we did the hike around the monument and it was well worth it! There is a staffed visitor center/gift shop with good info.
I drove here from Oklahoma to visit a ranger who used to work with me at Chickasaw National Recreation Area. Beautiful monument and trails, and the camping was superb. El Morro has nine campsites, all of which are free and first come first serve. Restrooms (vault toilets) and a water fountain are available as well. I stayed overnight on May 7 and there were 3 other campers, all quiet and friendly. The temperature got down to the mid-40s at night, which was perfect for sleeping. I loved it here!
Camping here was free when we went, you just had to reserve a site using a little tag. We stayed for 2 nights. There were toilets and running water, so we filled up our 5 gallon jug. It was great to stay for free in the NP so we could spend the whole day at the park. There were picnic tables and tons of trees for shade and hammocks. There were also tent pads. When we were there (May) there were tons of open sites, I think we were 1 of 4 people staying there. Nice and quiet!