roadtripper17974

I stayed on this land during the big annual fireworks show and conference held in the Sara Park across the highway. The fireworks show is held near valentines day each year in February and it's a blast!!!! You get to see the latest and greatest fireworks as the manufactures are trying to show off their newest and best stuff to potential purchasers. It's a great show and is held over multiple night, but Saturday night is suppose to be the best night. This is AZ State Trust Land and not BLM land, so you need a State Trust Permit (though I doubt any of the thousands of campers here for the fireworks show had a permit). The permit is $20 for a year. It's dry camping so bring everything you need and LEAVE NO TRACE when you are done so that they don't close it down. Clean up the area around you while you are there. You are pretty close to the Lake Havasu City. If you bring a mountain bike you can easily get around into the city. You have to drive in some dirt and it's a bit bumpy, but not super bad. I got in with a two wheel drive high top van. There were lots of large rigs, so people are able to get in.

http://www.golakehavasu.com/events/details/1584/28th-annual-western-winter-blast-pyrotechnics-show/

You can get the AZ State Land Permit online and print it out:
https://land.az.gov/recreational-permit-portal

The casino parking lots are closed as the casino has closed and moved closer to Santa Fe. There is still a dirt lot next to the Valero Gas station (on the east side) that has overnighters that I have seen on a constant basis. It's a big dirt lot.

Ghost Ranch is near Abiquiu Reservoir. The scenery is spectacular. Famous artist, Georgia O'Keeffe, had a home here and created many of her amazing paintings here. Karen and I have been to Ghost Ranch a few times. We've taken the Chimney Rock hike a few times and love it. Our plan for this trip was to stay overnight in our camper van, which we have never done at Ghost Ranch, and hike the Kitchen Mesa Trail.

It was spectacular. I think it's my new favorite New Mexico hike. Ghost Ranch is run by the Presbyterian Church. They do a lot of retreat programs at the ranch and they have a campground. There are quite a few campsites in the camp. They have about four spots for large RVs with electricity and water (and possibly sewer). Many sites have 15AMP electricity. It was going to be cold so we wanted to have electricity for an electric heater and our electric blanket. We ended up being one of only three RV campers in the entire campground so we had the pick of sites. We chose a site way in the back away from the others. (Nov 19th)

(A few spots have 50Amp service. There is a dump on the property. No sewer hookups.)

The campground is normally closed after October but they have decided to keep the campground open all year. However, the bathroom/showers closest to the campground are shut down for the winter. (Call them to make sure that this is still the case if you go in the winter.)

(Read more about our visit and see a video of our amazing hike up to Kitchen Mesa on the attached blog post.)

From the Ghost Ranch - RV Camping webpage:
The Campground has facilities for RV camping, with or without electricity. An RV is defined as any motorized vehicle (van camper, pop-up trailer, motor home, 5th wheel, or truck camper). Most sites have a table and a fire ring, and only a very limited number have shade. Campfires are permitted only when weather conditions allow. Water and a dump station are available at the Campground, but not necessarily at specific sites.

Full hookup sites include water and a dump station at the site, and 30- and/or 50-amp electric hookups. There are only a small number of full hookup sites, available on a first come, first served basis.

The communal bath house is equipped with an ice machine, shared refrigerator, showers, sinks and coin-operated laundry.

There is a 10-20 minute walk to the Dining Hall and meeting rooms. No pets are allowed in the campground (except for approved assistance animals).

Campers should check in first at the Main Office, and then with the Campground Host. Please inform the Main Office of the total length of the vehicle, plus any towed trailer or extra vehicles.

Currently open — May until early October 2016, campsites are not pre-assigned, nor may specific sites be reserved in advance. Meal tickets may be purchased in the Welcome Center or at the Dining Hall; meals in the Dining Hall will not be served to campers without a ticket.

Our Blog Post:
http://sockmonkeytrekkers.blogspot.com/2016/12/ghost-ranch-rving-kitchen-mesa-hike.html

Soap Creek Campground is $12/night. However, Soap Creek Corral which is the dispersed area right next to the campground is still free :) From the FS website "Dispersed camping is available at the horse corrals located adjacent to the Soap Creek Campground."

There are now "No Camping" signs placed on most of the dirt side road entrances in this area now. (A couple roads don't have the signs but I suspect that was an oversight by the Santa Fe National Forest Service. I have included an image of the sign. Call SF NF (505)753-7331 for more info.

I was told a few months ago that Pajarito Mountain allowed RV camping in the ski area parking lots (further up the mountain). There has been a change of ownership for the ski area recently, so I would confirm that this is still the case.

Camp May, just above the ski area parking lots has been recently improved and is looking great for medium sized rigs. Get camping permits at the Los Alamos recreation office in the Aquatic Center.

Further up Hwy 4 to the west in the national forest it appears you can still camp. We drove up there yesterday and there were 4 or 5 RVs in that area (35.834174, -106.375576).

I wanted to make a correction: There is a fee to camp at Camp May. I think it's in the range of $15 and you have to pay the county. I would call the county 311 line for information. You have to have a permit from the county displayed at the campsite. You get them at the Larry Walkup Aquatic Center ... 2760 Canyon Road. Call to verify nothing has changed first. There is one spot that I believe you could get a decent sized RV into. It is steep to get up there but I think a good truck without 4x4 could do it. The dirt road is in pretty good shape. I've also seen RVs in the ski area lower parking lots that are just below Camp May

We like to head to Feywood from Northern New Mexico during winter months in order to soak in a warmer more southern environment.

There are a bunch of hot pools. Some are clothing optional. Some are swimsuits required. Some are private (extra cost). One is for a large group. A set of three pools are situation right next to the main camp area. There is a new clothing optional camping area.

Nights are really nice and there is a hill in the middle you can walk up and get a great view of stars and the lights far off in the distance. I love to go up there after a night soak to feel the breeze and view the night sky and distance. It's pretty special at night.

Nearby is the city of rocks state park which is very unique and a nice place to hike around. You can camp there too.

Feywood is a fairly dry environment with dirt roads and some dust, but there are trees and plants too.

There are small cabins to rent also. You can park large RVs in pull-through sites. There are full hookups. Site #6 is better for smaller RVs and for popup tents. There is a communal building with bathrooms, picnic tables, chairs, a nice fire place, a sink, microwave. It might have a stove, but call to check. There are nice showers in the campground.

There is a large outdoor fire pit in the center of the main camping area. The owners are repairing a building for a new visitors center and store / cafe. We hope they finish that soon.

It's pretty quiet and low key at Feywood and the people you meet are always pretty nice folks. They also typically have people work-camping at Feywood and they are always interesting folks.

If you are a partyer and loud at night, you are definitely not going to enjoy Feywood. It's a place to zen out, not party down.

We always enjoy our stays and soaks at Feywood. We don't go in summer months as we feel it would be too hot for us there. I recall getting verizon cell signals there, but don't remember how strong.

If you are new to Feywood, I would recommend you park at the visitors center area (round building as you are entering) and walk North to the main camping/RVing area and check out the camping spots. If you like something better then you can switch spots back at the check-in booth. The grounds are a little bit confusing the first time you are there.

You can read our blog for more info in the blog tab above.

This is blacktop-boondocking. It's for an easy, quick overnighter. Please don't drag out your BBQ, chairs, etc. It's not a campground so you don't take anything out of your RV in the parking lot. You enjoy what the casino has to offer and then you go to bed in your RV. There is room for your pull-outs generally but I don't think I would use levelers for fear of damaging the parking lot surface (it's already pretty level). Please be a good RV citizen and not ruin it for the rest of us by acting like your at a campground. Sandia can easily withdraw this nice opportunity to enjoy their facilities.

Sandia allows you to park your RV in empty parking spaces in their east side lots. Usually you can find a couple other RVs already there. Sandia has a nice buffet that we enjoyed the night we stayed over in the parking lot. If there is an event at the Kiva outdoor theater, the parking lot might get crowded and difficult for large RVs to find space. You might check for big show dates.

...From our spot, we had beautiful views of the lights of the valley. Many other campers were taking advantage of the free overnight spot. We planned to go in and maybe play BINGO or slots as is the custom when sleeping for free in a casino parking lot. BINGO was over for the night, so we risked a whopping $5 on penny slots. We had fun and left the building with $7 profit! .... more in our blog.

This location is now known as "Main Gate Park" after the land was transferred to Los Alamos County from the Kiwanis Club. The county has added a facade in front of the bathrooms that give a historic image of what a security entrance looked like back in the Manhattan Projects days. Everything else is pretty much the same. The RV parking fee is $10 for an overnight stay.

It was originally intended as a place for lab contractors to park their RVs overnight. Overnight RVparking is still allowed after getting a $10 permit from the county. Call the Aquatic Center Front Desk at (505) 662-8170 for more information. You can pay the $10 and get your permit at the Aquatic Center Front Desk, when it is open [ 2760 Canyon Rd, Los Alamos ].

It's a bare bones paved parking lot with a heated bathroom with running water and flush toilet. It's right next to the highway into Los Alamos and so it is has a lot of road noise. It is used by a lot of contractors working at the national lab who don't care much about having a pretty place to stay in their RVs, but views are great from here. There is a health-food co-op market less than a mile west along with a paved bike trail that starts across the street from the market and goes into downtown Los Alamos. You can easily walk to the market.

...we stopped at the fairly new Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort. It's nice. We enjoyed our stay there. We slept overnight in the free RV parking area.

We were both pretty impressed with this casino. We felt that the service was very good and everyone working there was super friendly. We had a nice dinner at the well stocked Buffet for around $15 each. After dinner, we had a great walk around the resort getting in our 10,000 steps.

It was quiet in the RV lot and we slept well. The next morning we had a tasty breakfast at the Casino's large cafe.

The casino has separate RV and Trucker parking areas. This is a great stop in the Flagstaff area for a quick overnight. (Remember you are parking overnight and not "Camping" so don't drag out all your stuff and make the casino close it down for all of us!)