Manzano Mountains State Park is an excellent destination for hiking and camping. Nestled in the wooded foothills of the Manzanos, this park provides a quiet retreat and is a nice family get-away. Wildlife viewing, birding, and photography are great activities at this park.

Manzano Mountains State Park Campground

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.

A Hidden Gem!

Great place near ruins and plenty of trails to walk dogs. Most of the sites are very private. Quiet. Clean. The Park Ranger and staff are very friendly and accommodating. Our first site didn’t work for us so they moved us (of course they had availability) we will definitely come again.

Great Place to Hide Away in the trees

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! 

Our new favorite spot! 

Loved this campground! The drive in is beautiful and because it’s so remote, it is really quiet. The sites are pretty large and secluded. The trails around the campground are well maintained and easy enough for all levels. If we’re back in the area again, would definitely stay here. 

Quiet with big sites! 

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.


High winds tough for tents 

quiet. lots of trees, hard to find a spot for starlink