"Stay campy" is on the brochure for the Campground. The proprietor of the operation is open and friendly and very accommodating. But the whole atmosphere of the place is campy. I had to look that up again. It seems the Campground prides itself on being so bad that it's good. I stayed two nights. Not too bad really, just generally older rigs, no clearly defined campsites, but it does have electric and water. When I arrived, there was a very handicapped person in a wheelchair motoring around in front of the Park office. He seemed to be interested in my being there, but when I asked him where I should check in, he held out a straight arm, pointing towards the distant horizon and moaned. I did not try to connect with any of the other Park patrons. The next morning are slightly more agile character began mowing the lawn and got closer and closer to my rig until I had to jump up and go warn him not to run over my stink cables. I did get a nod and a yeah, out of him. it was noisy and dusty. I suppose even luxury resorts have to mow the grass.

I was in site 43, it was long enough it could have fit two of the biggest RVs I have ever seen. My 75 foot starling cable did not even reach all the way back out to the road. I drove through the equestrian loop and found it very confusing. Lots of fences and shared pedestals. I stayed in the next loop, stagecoach. Everything looked spic and span like it had just opened last month. The young man at the check in station said there were very few people there except on the weekends. I only saw three or four other rVs and two of them had to camp right next to me. I saw the bugs, some of them clearly mosquitoes and I never saw one get away with biting me. But I ended up with two lower legs and two forearms that constantly itch like mad. I will never go back in June.

I'm not used to seeing so many druggies in a state park: they typically can't afford a state park. I pulled in and my site was free on both sides. Then a small car pulled in and a woman sat on the picnic table chain-smoking cigarettes. A little later a pick up truck showed up with three more people. A little later another vehicle showed up with more people. I think at one point there were at least five people, but you couldn't tell if it was a family or, some strange tribe. Well, they camped right under my window and proceeded to burn fallen sticks and branches and whatever they could find. They came and left a lot probably to get drugs.

About 10 drive-through sites requiring a turning radius my 20 foot trailer could hardly manage, spaced out quite nicely mostly right on the bank of the fishing pond. Most people would not consider a body of water where you can see the bottom as a lake, that would be a pond. Kansas State fishing lakes are mostly ponds. this one is shallow enough. I think you could walk across it in waders. The highway noise is not too bad. It's been so windy here with severe thunderstorm warnings that you cannot hear the highway traffic. Picnic tables, fire rings and a pit toilet. That's it. They recently buried some culverts under the road which should prevent any future washouts. But beware the sandy road base could get you stuck.

An obvious camping loop with picnic tables had one small car parked in a spot when I got here. He woke up and drove away. I saw another couple people sitting in a car at the stop sign. Looked suspicious to me. The flattest most level site I could find is barely adequate. All the rest have quite a tilt.

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



I took the last site on short notice with electricity for four nights over the weekend, the handicap site. I went back and double checked, the NMSP website has not clearly state that only a van or very short class C would fit in the spot. I got my 20 foot trailer in but my truck is sticking out into the road a tiny bit. The sites are very close together and unfortunately, right after I arrived a couple of families set up right next to me complete with screaming kids and yapping dogs. Campers with kids and dogs should have their own camping loops, maybe their own campgrounds. So many people do not appreciate the quiet and solitude of a natural woods. As soon as the kids arrived, it seemed like they were told to scream as loud as they could. Disgusting. So one star for this campground and the poor layout

this is a NM rest area.

When I left the Margie Cove area, I crossed over 85 on Woods Road to old US 80, actually called historic  old US 80. Apparently a regiment of Mormon soldiers built a road some 2000 miles through the area in the 1840s when the US was stealing the land from Mexico and the indigenous peoples. Anyway, I found the source of the flies. There is a huge cattle stockyard about 2 miles from Woods Road.

It state trust land. You need a permit, which is available online and I believe the image of the receipt on your phone or laptop would suffice. Should anyone check, which I have never seen. This is at least my second stay here. Nothing exciting but it is right off of I eight, which is not audible right now over the noise from apparently someone's generator. Haven't heard any yapping dogs or idiot kids running around with a parents bearing their asses off but this is my kind of place.

A lot more flies than I remember ever having been here before. I think I've been here near the end of the year and I don't remember the flies being so plague.

The traffic going down the highway to Puerto. Palermo is much more busy than I had expected. Watch out for the rattlesnakes. A friend of mine had just sent me a picture of the skin of a 20 footer on the wall in a shop not far from here. One local told me the rattlesnakes were quite populous this year. But I never expected to see one with the overnight temps in the 40s in the High barely reaching 70.

Stunningly beautiful dispersed camping at its best. To find the most precious spot you need to get to Forest service Road 130 S as in South. There is a forest service ranger station on the south side of Leadville where you can get a motor vehicle use map MVUM. But even without a map the roads are marked. 130 starts near Highway 24 on the west side across from massive lakes, near a large bank of mailboxes. You'll see a sign asking you to respect the private property owners rights. Just keep going up the hill and you will find the forest service signage indicating the public lands. Many people don't go much further. But the truly spectacular sites are a couple miles further. The roads are narrow and steep but manageable. Keep going down 130 until you reach an intersection with 130A and 130 B, A goes north and B goes south. But keep going till you reach a T intersection. 160 goes north and 130 S goes south. Go left, south till you reach a slightly challenging switch back. Just on the other side of the switchback is a wide open space with room for many rigs including good size trailers. Very quiet with very little traffic of any kind. The Leadville 100 foot race goes right by every August.

As you can see in the pictures, camping is not allowed here. The icon of the tent with a red line going through it indicates that they would prefer if you do not camp in this place. The other signage indicates that this area is for launching your white water rafting craft if you have the necessary equipment and skills. This entry in the database was not vetted very carefully.

Most parking is for a car or van. The camp host will send you on your way if your rig is over 23 feet. The road in is pretty tough for anything longer.

I don't know where Lindsay was, but this campground is nowhere near any highway called 79. Oak Grove is just north of Ruidoso off 532, which intersects 48 in Alta. Six bucks per vehicle for camping or day use, half off with the annual pass. The only parking is on the main road through the campground, you can't park away from the traffic. Three little bear proof dumpsters were emptied very regularly. The horses are fascinating and with horses come horse apples. There are piles of horse apples have a foot thick. Bring a rake. In May the meadow was blooming with purple irises of some sort. This made for a dense population of hummingbirds and huge wasps. The waspes are not aggressive but they are a nuisance. The low prices bring low income families, I wish it was twice the expense to camp here. Most plates were from Texas a few from New Mexico and even an occasional Colorado. On the weekends the place gets pretty full. This campground is closed in the winter because the road in is steep curvy with sheer drop offs. There is firewood galore to be picked up off the ground. The biggest concern of the camp post and the forest service rangers is forest fires. Please be sure to bring enough water to drown your campfire completely.

Like the other two reviews noted, the maintenance has long been let go. One little dirt road runs on top of a long berm with the Rio Grande on the right to the east. There is another road that runs parallel and is at a lower level and right on the canal. The road by the canal has a sign that says the road is not maintained. The upper road doesn't have any signs because it's not maintained at all. There seem to be some clearings below the upper dirt road closer to the Rio Grande. I drove down 180 far enough to cross the Rio Grande. It looks like it was really full. This made me think the clearings on the riverbank could flood. Very disappointing so far but at least I haven't seen any other campers. I'll be gone in the morning

At the entrance there is a guest sign in book. When I signed in I left this in the comment section: WOW. First morning I wake up in site 13 at 8 o'clock in the morning, sure as feces, some jerk fires up the generator. Camp host came by personally to inspect my receipt tab from the pay envelope to be sure I had paid for these two nights I have been here so far. He estimated this Easter holiday weekend would get very busy and possibly a ruckus. We will see Saturday morning: by 8 AM the kids were screaming and crying, the dogs were yapping, the Latin music was being played loud enough for all your neighbors to hear, generator was running, busiest traffic I've seen since I got here. Basically this local group of families has created chaos and noise pollution enough to ruin the whole area for everybody else. Pitiful. I had to get out of there and go for a drive to… Anywhere! The upper loop is supposed to be roomier than the lower route but cars were parked in every available parking spot that wasn't reserved with many cars partially even up to half the length of the vehicle in the roadway proper. I came across such a bottleneck and there was a very nice looking little sports car recently washed and waxed fairly new with a very young couple leaning on the side of it. I stopped expecting the young man to move his little car. He waved me on. I thought if he thinks this 3500 will fit… So I inched forward and he started motioning my front bumper should go further from his car. So I looked out my drivers window and I was right on top of the rocks on the left side of this partially blocked one lane road. I continued forward. I heard a little crunching. I thought I saw a look of horror on the young ladies face and I thought too late now. So I continued forward. I got out of the park as quickly as I could and I went to find someplace else to spend the night. I went back the next morning. Easter Sunday– and the situation had gotten worse, extremely worse. There were kids running all through the campsites. Every picnic table was heaped high with food, Every other pick up truck had a barbecue or a smoker in the back. Parking was worse. The noise from the cacophony of various flavors of Mexican music was very loud. I left with two nights left on my reservation. I might go back, but not on the weekend or. This campground has been given to the locals of Las Cruces.

I just talked to the camp host at the Cedar Creek recreation area, a sister side to the Cedar Creek San Tobias campground, Jamie. He said that the recreation area has a locked gate every night and every morning and no one is allowed to stay overnight inside. Sam Tobias has got a group site but unless you've got five or more people it's pretty darn expensive, must be for the locals.