roadtripper640720

When we (family of 4) arrived on a Wednesday evening in early Feb, all of the pull through sites were full but there was plenty of space around the perimeter fence. There are about 8 pull through sites, maybe 6 tent sites and enough space for 7-8 more rigs around the fence (depending on size).

We ended up staying for 4 nights due to high winds and explored Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe NP and popped up to Roswell for the UFO museum. The caverns and NP were amazing and the UFO museum is pretty much as expected. All of the park personnel and fellow campers we encountered were very friendly but I can’t suggest going into Carlsbad unless you need to restock at Walmart.

The first night at Sunset Reef, there were two rigs that ran generators all night but, since we were over at the fence, we didn’t hear much. After that, it was very quiet (other than the winds that aren’t uncommon in this area). The pit toilets and trash were well maintained and the area was very clean.

I am so grateful for well maintained, safe and free camping spots like this one!

We arrived at almost 9 pm and it was very full of 18 wheelers. We didn’t want to take the last spot from a trucker, so we kept moving. There is a new truck stop (an Exxon, maybe?) that was just a couple miles further down 35 they still had plenty of room.

We arrived and thought we’d check it out in spite of the last few reviews. There was a child (maybe 10-12 yrs) left in charge. He quoted us $600mx for a waterfront campsite with a palapa (2 adults and 2 kids) or $500mx to visit the springs. We asked to see the campsite to be sure we could comfortably get our rig in. He refused and said we had to pay before we even walked to the site. After some discussion (and learning that there was no adult we could speak to) we decided to leave. Likely, this was a child’s literal interpretation of “nobody comes in without paying” but we weren’t comfortable paying before even knowing if we’d fit and were not going to pay $30us for a visit to the hot springs.

We ended up going to Octavio’s down the road. It was still a bit expensive, $500mx, but straight forward. We mostly saw local fishing boats and their crews camped here. We enjoyed seeing the whale skeletons on the hill and it is, generally, a very cool spot. However, I picked up 30+ rusty nails plus lots of other rusty metal trash, broken glass and plastic from just our campsite. We are sincerely hoping we don’t end up with a flat tire.