Jemez Falls Campground

We came here right when the season started and we’re one of the first ones to check in. The camp host was very friendly and helpful!

We stayed at site 13 in loop 1 and it was very clean, close to the bathrooms which were vault toilets that were clean. There are two water spigots in walking distance and the closer one is at the bathrooms. Our family always loves going here with all the beautiful tall trees. It’s just a short drive to great hiking locations and the Jemez waterfall overlook.

There are no electric/water hook ups here and no dump station for RV/trailers. Lots of these using generators and most are aware of the noise and keep it at a minimum except for our neighbors who constantly felt the need to turn their truck on and headlights would hit our tent several times during the night. Then in the morning they broke their generator somehow. Seems they had a few too many. Otherwise the rest of the campers were very nice!

We come here once a year and it always seems to be a great stay!

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.

**Campground Review: **

Imagine 1.25 Ma ago an eruption blew apart the landscape of Northern New Mexico that would rival the shear volume erupted by the world famous Yellowstone hotspot!  Jemez Falls and its namesake campground are the closest, largest, and most developed CG to the Valles Caldera proper and the entrance to the caldera's access roads.  The Jemez Falls CG is more developed than the nearby primitive (dispersed) sites that surround the flanks of the caldera proper, this CG offers 50 single sites and 2 double sites, $10 and $50 respectively.  Most of the sites can accommodate RVs and trailers up to 40' in length with good options for tent camping as well.  Each site has the usual metal fire ring, along with picnic tables and a paved driveway/parking area.  You can reserve sites from mid May through Mid September.

Even if you plan to stay here for a couple weeks (which is the limit) you'll have more than enough to keep you preoccupied!  If you want to drive around and hike or fish in the caldera proper then you will need to go to the Valles Caldera Visitors Center and buy a pass.  They typically cost $25 but when we visited during the International Balloon Fiesta the fee was waived.  If they are charging when you arrive, you can also use your National Parks Pass to get entrance.  Be sure to arrive early on the weekends as they restrict the # of permits they hand out.

Now with all this exposed rock you know there's going to be some amazing climbing!  All of the rock in the immediate area was created by the caldera and related volcanic and magmatic activity in the area in the past few million years.  This gives you the opportunity to climb on some "bulletproof" welded tuff (hardened volcanic ash) much like what exists at the world famous Smith Rock State Park in Oregon.  If you want to find out more about the interesting geology of the area you can look Here

Product Review:

Being a Ranger for the Dyrt allows us to test and review gear from time to time!  This time we got to test out the Men's Free Rein Jacket by Red Ledge.

Pros:

• First thing I want to say about this jacket is that it is super cheap for a rain jacket this rugged and with this many features!  It was only ~90$ after shipping and is comparable to some of my other jackets that were 2-3x as much! 
• I also really liked the mesh fabric on the inner portion of the breast pockets.  It added another dimension of breath ability to the jacket to prevent condensation from building up on the inside.  This was a nice addition to the gusseted armpits flaps to help air out.
• The last thing I really liked about this jacket was the amount of high-vis color options you had to choose from!  I went with the Hi-Vis Orange which is close to a hunters orange and came in very handy as there was active hunting while we were hiking in the Valles Caldera.

Cons:

• There were only a couple of things that we thought could have been improved.  The first was to have the armpit openings be meshed on the inside to prevent it from opening wide up.  We really liked that feature in the breast/side pockets and wished it had been incorporated into the armpits as well.
• The other thing was the inability to zip the jacket from the top or bottom, which would have allowed you to kind of blouse the bottom of the jacket.  

Score: 4/5

• While other jackets have more features, this is a great, durable rain jacket at a price point that is reasonable and affordable for most.  This was a great jacket to test and I anticipate using it for many more rainstorms and windy belays in the future.

Jemez Falls campground is located in the heart of the Jemez, close to climbing, great hiking, fishing, hot springs, the Valles Caldera NP and Bandelier National Monument.

The campsites have plenty of space, and are more private than most campgrounds with the exception of those that are heavily wooded. The ponderosa canopy provides a fair amount of shade during the hot days. There are picnic tables and campfire rings at every site. There are vault toilets that are surprisingly clean. Just down the road are the Jemez Falls, a great place to splash in the river.

The campground is generally a family friendly environment where kids can roam in bicycle gangs, and dogs can chase a frisbee. Warning though, on many occasions the weekends have been a little noisy with rowdy campers that don’t think quiet hours apply. Don’t get me wrong, who doesn’t like kicking back by a campfire with friends? Who needs to be so loud that their voices ring through all of the camping loops and keep 70 other campers awake until 1 a.m? So yes, the quiet hours are from 10-6 or 8, but they don’t seem to be enforced. As a result, our family tries to weeknight camp at Jemez Falls whenever possible.