SA5QTCH

Booked this place as our base camp for exploring El Morro and El Malpais National Monuments. It's not too far and isn't too hard to get to after a long day exploring the lava beds, cliffs, and caves. There is some lakeside camping available that we saw down at the lake but this was mid-July of 2023 which was shaping up to be the hottest summer on record ever so we wanted reliable power for the AC! It did cool down at night and we spent a considerable time outside after sunset watching the stars and Milky Way. To our great surprise, around 10pm, all four of us in our party thought we were watching UFOs flyby Prewitt as a long train of lights moved west to east in the night sky. A quick google search yielded the answers though: it was the Starlink satellite train that was making its way across the night sky. Still, it was pretty cool to see, along with the astonishing colors of the Milky Way clouds in the southeast night sky. It's so dark in the park at night that you easily spot satellites and shooting stars, which accounted for our extended nighttime viewing pleasure. It's a great place to stay just for the stargazing alone!

My site the disabled accessible site but needed a little help leveling. The pit bathroom close by was clean but had no TP. There is a big playground nearby and cornhole too but BYO bags. Lots of horse poop around but nothing too fresh. I liked this place and would stay here again when I come back to El Malpais in the future. T-Mobile worked but wasn't great, but acceptable.

Nothing new to report from the first comprehensive review left already. $42 paid through the website and didn't need any human interaction to book. Booked same day and got immediate confirmation and never talked to a soul, even though I called and got sent straight to voicemail.

Had to go into Boise City for food and other stuff as I never found anything on base except the gym and the track. There is some airfield noise but nothing disturbing as the RV AC drowns out any outside noise anyway. Power was good, water was good, and site G was level concrete. Weeds needed to be pulled on site gravel separating sites as they were waist high and interfered with slide outs and walking around the back of the rig. Looked like the other sites that were occupied were long-term as they appeared to have lots of stuff out. The pad fit my 31' travel trailer nicely but I had to disconnect my truck and parallel park it on the street as there was only room for the TT. The adjacent Site F had a 5th Wheel and the truck pulling it was parallel parked in front of it leaving me about 12" of clearance to back my TT into position.

Would recommend, minus one star for the price (but everything is expensive these days and slightly limited tow vehicle parking. Found this on the FamCamp/AllStays/C-RV app. Apple Maps might direct you to enter from Harvard St but that entrance is closed so find the main gate entrance on General Manning Ave from Gowen Rd from I-84 West or Orchard St to Gowen Rd from I-84 East.

Neat little area on base with lots of military aircraft shells to check out.

The main road is Kolob Terrace Rd and goes on for miles up the mountain to the reservoir but you want to stay low and near the river or on the west side of the road. Some of the access roads to the river look like they have lower clearances due to overhanging trees and the sites seem small but we opted for the west side of Kolob Terrace Rd and stayed in a canyon/foothills area a few hundred feet off the road. We were only staying one night and had to depart super early for Zion so all we were doing was sleeping for a few hours. It seemed crowded enough in March 2021 to not have a great selection of sites but there are some if you explore a bit. Be sure to scout ahead if you're going down by the river as you might not have enough room for turning around or if you don't want to scrape up your TT or RV.

This place works in a pinch but I would probably pass on it next time and stay further out for better options. There isn't much traffic on the road so staying away from the river is a good option too.

Nice place to stay! We had a partial hookup, 30amp and water, but no sewer. Sandy area but that actually works well during rainy days, with no mud. Good option if you don’t want to disperse camp and we felt safe leaving our trailer there while we explored JTNP. Bonus: County dog park right next door, with all sand but not too shabby! My 40+ pound GSD pup had a great time there digging and running circles everyday.

You can make online reservations but can’t guarantee your spot unless you pay an extra $20 (lame!) and we didn’t get our online choice (got assigned 65 instead of 63 like we requested). However, the online system appears to have done a good job spacing out the rigs as everyone there pretty much had a vacant space between them. The place was about half full and everyone on the south wall pretty much took up two spots when detached as the tow vehicle would get parked in the vacant spot next to it. We had #65 for our trailer and parked the truck next to it, slightly taking up a foot or two of #64…our neighbors parked their trailer in #63 and parked their tow vehicle in all of #64 — I didn’t know if someone had reserved #64 and we would have had to move our trucks if so, but not the case the week we stayed in March; maybe during busier seasons we would have had to park our truck in front of the trailer.

Fire pits are available for free to bring to your site and cornhole, horseshoes, and huge Jenga are also onsite. We stayed in mid March during a crazy wind storm, where it rained a lot, and was very cold in general. We felt safe there and the west entrance and Visitor Center for JTNP is a five minute drive away.

Minus a star because of the online $20 site guarantee (I understand it, but it’s still lame) and all the sand (we had to level a bit) but I would stay here again in a heartbeat! Never saw the hosts as everything you need is on the bulletin board when you come in.

Wi-Fi is decent, but has some latency issues for websites and IG videos but I didn’t have any problems streaming Netflix on my phone. 2 bars of 5G T-Mobile but was pretty fast!

Tent campers there too, maybe some long termers as well, but lots of dogs too. Sunburst St is fairly busy and you get the occasional obnoxious muffler passing by but nothing too bad at all.

Loved staying here as it was close to level, spacious, and easy to access. There is fresh water and a dump station located here also along with a smallish fenced dog area. There are porta-potties right next to the dog area which also houses the self service payment machine and everything is pretty well accessible. The White Rock Visitor Center is steps away and they have all the guides needed for Bandolier, Valley Caldera, and Manhattan Project as well as visitor information for Los Alamos events as well.

We walked across the street a short distance to Smith's for some groceries and dog food, otherwise it is just a short 10 minute drive into Los Alamos if you need Starbucks or Sonic or other mainstream stuff. It was quiet for us in mid-July and I enjoyed this place very much! Since Valles Caldera and Bandelier park units both are NOT dog friendly, we plugged in the RV and blasted the AC so our pup could stay comfy while we explored the parks without her.

The spots are diagonally placed with power islands placed in alternate lane separators and my 31' TT along with my 20' truck fit with a few feet to spare. Also convenient is the Bandelier shuttle stop that is directly in front of the RV park which is now mandatory for those park visitors between 9am and 3pm or unless you have a Disabled Placard to show at the park entrance.

Don't bring your trailer to Valles Caldera as the road is windy and steep, park it here for a few hours instead. Good T-Mobile signal also so I would stay here again in a heartbeat! No reservations taken but when I called a month prior to our stay, the Visitor Center staffer said he has never had to turn anyone away from the RV park.

I agree with just about every other 5 star reviewer here that this place is a gem! Only two of us were here in mid-July and it was our overnight stop between Los Alamos and Capulin Volcano. The dirt road in is in great condition and the lake was full for our visit. There were only two of us camping at the site but we did see about 4 or 5 day users coming and going, although no one came through after the sun had set. There were billions of tiny grasshoppers around and they weren't bothering us at all, and we weren't bothered my mosquitos or flies this time of year. We watched geese fly in and tons of birds having a great time at the lake, but we didn't think to look for other wildlife away from the lake because there was so much going on in the water! At night you could hear the frogs and other nocturnal creatures doing their thing and it was very soothing. We got a brief thunderstorm and some rain overnight which just added to the experience and we were glad to have found this place for a quick overnight stay. Also, we had full cell reception with T-Mobile! Highly recommended!

We stopped here after a few hours drive from San Antonio (started really late!) after reading the great reviews about this place and have to agree with them, mostly. The RV spots are adjacent to the curb and gutter right by the rest stop bathroom building and the two disabled RV spots are the longest. The bathrooms are clean, the attendant stays 24/7, and there are 7 vending snack and soda machines available for all your snacking needs (Apple Pay for most of them too!).

We felt safe here all night and didn't have any hesitation sliding out the driver side slide towards the sidewalk. We ran the generator all night, chained up and locked to the TT frame, since it was the end of July during a vicious heatwave, which added just a little to the noise of the site. We rolled in around 6pm and we were the only RV there, with only 3 other 18 wheelers around, but as the night progressed, more and more big rigs rolled in for the night, eventually almost completely filling up the entire area - not exaggerating here: there were approximately 30+ truckers here along with a few heavy duty pickup trailers sprinkled in, taking up every single diagonal space with a few parking in the RV only spaces in front and back of me, and the north side of the area as well. Since the RV designated spaces are on the south side of this rest area by the sidewalk, that meant plenty of foot traffic from all the truck occupants walking by as they went to the bathrooms, but you can avoid this by selecting a site more westerly which is further from the building (disabled spots are probably the highest trafficked areas).

There is a pet designated area by the passenger car area of the rest stop with some grass and I didn't find a single unclaimed dog poop there (cross the border from NM to AZ and the San Simon Rest Area has HUNDREDS of dog poops in their pet exercise areas). There is a nature trail to stroll, a few spotting scopes trained at the sky, a nice playground for the kiddos, picnic tables, and a friendly attendant to chat with too! I felt safe here, safe enough to send my kids into the building by themselves to hit up the vending machines, and we saw young kids playing on the playground late at night too, with the parents/guardians having dinner at a picnic table.

Free Wifi signal from our spot was exceptionally strong for everyone in the vehicle and RV! I stayed on 5G for security/encryption reasons and T-Mobile was FULL coverage here as well! Fort Stockton is a very short drive to the east if you want lots of other food options and lots of gas stations there as well.

The reason this site isn't five stars is because of the noise and number of people here: 30+ big rigs idling along with the sound of the air brakes releasing, and the pulling in and out of the spots does get a little loud at times. I would not hesitate to stay here again and the noise didn't bother me at all especially since our AC and generator ran all night long anyway; however if you are a light sleeper and want privacy then this may not be the place for you. I only wish this place were two hours closer to Phoenix to have a shorter second day drive to Phoenix from San Antonio!

Saw this place on Campendium but mistakenly thought it was accessible before entering Texas from New Mexico. If coming East on I-10, you enter El Paso and drive a few miles in before exiting and traveling south back into New Mexico before hitting the casino/racetrack/RV parking. It's only a few minutes drive and there are good gas and food options on that road too. Once you turn into the lot, you will see the 8 spots that have water and power and there is a dump station you can use in case your $hitter's full.

We rolled up pretty late on a Thursday night (maybe 11pm?) and security immediately drove up in a golf cart and gave us instructions on how and where to register for the night inside the security office of the casino. They even offered to call the shuttle to take us the few hundred feet but we declined. It's all paved and level, and there were still 4 or 5 spots available (FCFS but there is truck parking right behind these spots in case you arrived and the hookups were full, you can still park your rig for the night dry). Power was good (50/30/20) and we cooled the camper down and got to sleep. The horse race track is about 150 feet north of the sites but we left early and didn't catch any races.

We were going to sleep at one of the I-10 rest stops in El Paso or Van Horn but decided to give this place a try and it's definitely worth the $15. Looked like a good amount of people staying at the hotel and casino and we felt pretty safe there. I would recommend staying here overnight, and I wouldn't have any problem targeting this place for your overnight stop since there is plenty of overflow rig parking in case you don't get a hookup.

Good place to base camp for Lava Beds NM, especially if you have a large rig you can't fit at the park. I previously stayed at Lava Beds campground with a smaller pop-up but it wouldn't work this time with my 31' TT. Plus there was a heat wave going on and we needed power to run AC at night and Lava Beds has a generator after-hours restriction.

Wifi is not accessible from our site and only available near the office but I did get a bar or so of 5G with T-Mobile, so minus a star for their website not being abundantly clear about that (although I think that's been changed now). My pull-through was a nice size and I had no neighbors in late June 2022. Each site has a trash can for your use but it appeared that none of them had been emptied by staff in a few days, so gross right there, minus another star. I arrived to the site around 6pm and of course the office was closed and every phone number posted on the door went straight to voicemail. Finally someone came out from a residence building to check me in, which took all of 30 seconds since I was a prepaid site anyway. Easy access to the site, easy access to the highway, easy access to Lava Beds NM.

Lava Beds NM is so cool and needs a few days to properly explore the caves and I would definitely consider this place again for a multiple day visit. It's about a 30 minute drive to the park and caves there and the roads are in good condition, trees notwithstanding since fires in 2021 burned 95% of the NM, although the Visitor Center is intact. Power at the site was good and it was level gravel too. Sewer connection has a rise so you will need hose supports to maintain proper drainage elevation.

Neighboring property had a work truck driving by a lot during the day but wasn't too bothersome. Some evidence of kids playing too but I didn't run into anyone else on site during my stay. No fire ring or pit at the site but there is a community fire pit available somewhere on site.

The campsites here are all large, level, and afford plenty of space and privacy. Interstate 70 is close by and there is some highway noise but it is not bothersome at all. Stayed here in July 2020 during the summer of COVID and the place was sparsely populated. Pulled an 18 foot travel trailer with no problems.

BEWARE: If you are continuing to Utah on I70, there are NO services for a 106 mile stretch going west, so plan your gas accordingly.

UPDATE: Stayed here again in 2021 in site 11 after touring Colorado National Monument and this time we arrived during some light and could better see what was available. There were a handful of people camped so we still had plenty of sites to choose from and all of the available sites had good/great T-Mobile reception. For this time of year, this is one of my favorite sites to stay at because it's free, has good cellular reception, and it's not far from gas, food, recreation, and is perfect as an overnight whether you are going east or west.

Link to the map of the area including campsites at Rabbit Valley (all the green tent icons can accommodate RVs and TTs): https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/MCNCA_travel_map_20200417.pdf