Columbine Campground (NM)

This was our 3rd visit and this time we stayed at site #14.  Beautiful forest, nice campground... however, this Red River area has been taken over by groups from Texas and Oklahoma primarily.  Large groups with multiple campers book up the sites and then put up canopies and tables for large parties.  It isn't quite the same as in years past.  I understand their states don't have pretty places like this, but every campground in the area (there are several forest service campgrounds as well as commercial campgrounds) are FULL to overflowing with these large groups.  

If you are looking for quiet and enjoying peace with nature, it isn't at Red River anymore.  It wouldn't bother us so much if there weren't STATE mandated orders about groups and wearing masks, but majority of these people do not follow these New Mexico rules.  Hearing them be abusive to locals and NM residents about it has really soured us on visiting here in the near future.  

It used to be a nice area... love the campground, but the CROWDS,,,, yuck.

This will be a lengthy review but I need people to know not to book, especially site 11. 

I’ll start by saying I don’t normally stay at developed camp sites so maybe all my issues are typical and I’m just ignorant. That being said, camp site 11 is an unfortunate little piece of land. It is unusably small (maybe 25sq ft of barely usable space)  and bordered by a mountain, the road, spot 10’s driveway, and trees. The picnic table and fire pit are centered in a way that left very little room for our 2 tents on rocky uneven ground. My tent was forced to be less than 3 feet from driveway 10. Our other tent had to be so close to the fire pit that it would have caught fire if the pit was used. It also is a waterway for all the road water and mountain side so a small river formed through our space (hitting both tents) when it rained. All this on top of the fact that every other spot around us was so plentiful (4 to 5 times our size) in space it almost made our spot seem like a cruel joke. It should cost 1/4 of the price of the rest and should be for small RV or day picnics only.

Now the camp area as a whole is well maintained and the vaulted toilets smelled surprising decent the entire 4 day stay. The mountains are beautiful as mountains tend to be. The hiking is great and there is an awesome stream that rolls through the campground in certain areas. There is constant highway noise so be aware of that, though the spots further in or near the stream probably don’t deal with it. A lot of the sites are packed close and  you can easily hear many conversations at normal talking volumes. 

The camp staff guy (Bill?) was friendly at first but that changed rapidly after the first night. There was a no wood fire restriction at the time of our stay despite days of rain and rain every day so we used only our propane stove the entire time. This didn’t stop Bill from calling the fire department on us the first night because he “thought we had a wood fire”. We didn’t. 

Now this second part I’ll admit was on us but was handled poorly. I didn't know there were curfews at that campsite. The bulletin board does show quiet hour times but it’s buried in a novel of information most of which was about a bear sighting so that may have distracted my attention when I first looked at the bulletin. Quiet time is 10-6 and I know that now. So we’re hanging out around the “campfire” and I decide to walk down to the restroom, it’s about 11pm. As I’m walking back, I pass Bill and say hi. He doesn’t acknowledge me (he wouldn’t talk or look my way the rest of our stay either). When I return to the campsite the 2 women and 2 children I was with told me Bill had just ran up on them and was standing over them in a very aggressive fashion pointing his finger in their face and reprimanding them for breaking the quiet hour rules. He left after getting directly in one of the females face and saying “don’t make me come back here” in a very threatening tone. They all, just remained silent throughout the ordeal. C’mon man. We messed up and felt horrible but it was an honest mistake and had he just told us respectfully we would have shut up just the same but instead he created this uneasy tension for three days. And to put a cherry on top, other campsites broke the rule every night and morning (music, laughter, generators) and were not reprimanded. I know because everyone was so close we could see what was going on. Also, we saw Bill greet every camp site every day multiple times a day except ours. We aren’t abrasive people, we try to be generally respectful, courteous, and aware of our actions so the treatment of our camp was unjust. I will say that had he not had it out for us for one reason or another I’m sure things would have been cool. We saw Bill constantly having friendly conversations with everyone so I’m sure he’s nice to most campers.

In short, I know there are better campsites out there. Go find them.