jt301

This was a basic campground with well-spaced sites, within an open area a good distance from the arena and any buildings. Reservations have to be made by phone at 406-457-8516 (the contact number on the web site). Take the first road to the left after entering through the gate from W Custer Avenue, and that road leads around the edge of the property to the campground.

The campground consisted of rough grass with good gravel roads. Sites were gravel and fine grit, which stuck to my shoes after rain. The sites were fairly level, with electrical hookups and large garbage cans. There were water faucets in the parking lot in front of the arena (on the west side). The was plenty of space there to park an RV to fill with water on your way in.

Verizon 4G was excellent, with 5 bars, -89 dB, 51 Mbps down and 30 up. The only problem was the trains, each of which blasted its horn repeatedly for 5 minutes or more, day and night. I looked up the signals on line, and found that they were starting forward and backing up, in addition to sounding multiple 4-blast crossing signals, so they were probably assembling or breaking trains. It was aggravating enough for me to not want to camp here again.

Driving on Barstow Road, I saw people camping here and at Stoddard Valley OHV Area East, so I submitted them both to Campendium.

This is on the eastern edge of Stoddard Valley OHV area. It's a large, flat parking area with a solid surface, about 1/2 mile from Barstow Road on a good dirt road. The entrance has a real street sign, so it's easy to find. I didn't explore further, but on Google maps, it looks like there are more camping areas further in. Verizon 4G was 3 bars, -106 dB, 49 Mbps down and 5 up.

Excellent, clean $10 dump. The ground even slopes a little towards the dump, so your tanks are fully emptied. It's next to the highway, in front of the gas pumps, so enter from Rt 6 to be pointing in the right direction. You go inside to pay, and they give you the padlock key. The dump is right next to the fuel tanker unloading points, and I had to wait for a tanker to unload before I could get to the dump.

As a boondocker who usually dislikes campgrounds, I am surprised to find that I've quite enjoyed my week here, even though it's really nothing more than a parking lot with electrical hookups.

The lot was full by 5pm on about the half the nights I was here, and there were as many as 3 or 4 empty spots on other nights. If you're here by 3pm, you should have no trouble getting a site.

Although it's by the highway, it was very quiet at night. It's only a few minutes from Los Alamos, about 35 miles from Santa Fe, and the Bandelier shuttle bus stops right out front.

You have to pay the $20 fee by credit card at a machine every day. You cannot buy multiple days. Don't forget to put the receipt in your window. They check every morning, and they ticketed a tow vehicle parked in an adjacent lane to its trailer. If your rig is too long to park your tow vehicle or toad in your lane, you have to park it behind the visitor center.

I had 4 bars of Verizon 4G, -88 dB signal strength, and a speed of 31 Mbps down and 11 up.

There is fresh water, a free dump station and a trash dumpster. It's next to reservation land, and gas at the Tewa gas station was 20 cents cheaper than in Los Alamos. It's even cheaper at the reservation on the road to Santa Fe.

It was spotlessly clean, and I saw Los Alamos facilities trucks driving around the lot at various times.

My only gripe was that the county parks buses in the lot, among the RVs, when the drivers finish their shift. I complained by email to the county manager about this, and he replied that he agreed, and will arrange for them to stage elsewhere.

I went to scout this out, and found that the entrance road would be impassible for my 21 ft trailer. First, there was a deep dip with another dip in the bottom of it, that would have grounded the back end of the trailer. Then, just before the pipeline installation, there was another dip, in the bottom of which the creek had almost entirely carved the road away.

Camping would be possible in the first hundred yards from the highway, but the surface was very rocky, and highway noise would be loud.

I stopped here for 2 nights in mid-November as I was heading west, to visit the Petroleum Museum and Bush Childhood Home in Midland. I wanted to avoid staying in Midland. I got 50% off (paid $15 per night) with Passport America.

Google maps has the location of the address (503 West Leatherwood Rd) too far east, and by coincidence right in front of a different RV park. If coming from US-87, continue past where Google maps says the destination is, and you will see Hat Creek on the left.

The RV park promotes itself as having "concrete patios, no mud", but the entire property is just a dirt parking lot (mud when I was there) with rocks and stones scattered throughout, except for the concrete picnic table bases. The water faucet was actually below ground level in a hollow in the dirt and rocks, and the handle was underwater after it rained (see my photo). The laundry building was clean and functional. There was a large building under construction, which will have more guest facilities when finished. Most or all the other guests were oil field workers, but they were quiet in the evenings.

I passed a few other RV parks on my way back and forth to Midland, and they looked worse than this one. Midland is the commercial center for the Permian Basin oil industry, and the RV parks appear to cater just to those workers. I would suggest bypassing the Midland area altogether, unless you have a specific reason to stay there.

This is a huge, level, black-top, parking area next to Hwy 140. There are hiking trails leading out from here, that are maintained for cross-country skiers in winter. I would have stayed for a few days, but the weather was terrible, so I moved on after one night.

I was the only person camping here in mid-May. There was some traffic on the highway, and many trucks stopped in for a 15-minute break, but it was quiet at night. Commercial vehicles are prohibited from overnighting.

Verizon 4G was great, with 4 bars, -94dB, 21 Mbps down and 17 up. There are bathrooms on site, but I didn't check them out. There is a dump station nearby at Aspen Point Campground, and a free dump station at Moore Park in Klamath Falls.

This was a dismal place. I can't believe some of the other reviewers are talking about the same park. It has not seen any maintenance in many years. The sites were overgrown with thorny plants. There were old pickup trucks driving around suspiciously in the evening. No way would I have left my trailer here unattended.

The park was close to a busy, two-track railroad line. Passing trains were honking loudly all night.

Verizon 4G was excellent, with 4 bars, 23 Mbps down and 31 up. There was an RV-friendly Flying J in town, with dedicated RV lanes, propane and a dump station.

Thankfully, I was only looking for an overnight stop on a long journey. If I come this way again, I will overnight at an I-10 rest stop. You can stay up to 24 hours in New Mexico rest stops, and some of them are quite nice.

Nice clean campground with very friendly staff. I got a 50% Passport America discount, making my cost $18 per night. Pull-through sites. Noise from the interstate is not noticeable. There is a pavilion where they have bluegrass on the weekends.The entrance is not obvious: From I-65 exit 6, go west on Scottsville Rd, turn left into the Pilot Travel Center, then take the road to the right of the truck scale. I used the campground as a base for visiting Nashville and the South Union Shaker Village.

I went to scout out this location, and found that the roads were so badly rutted that it would not be safe to take my travel trailer in there, for fear of tearing off the sewer outlet. It would probably be OK for cars, vans and class C's, that don't have important parts dangling below the chassis.

There was no Verizon signal.