Riana Campground

Very nice C/G built and managed by COE. Good pads, all have lake views and elec. Water and dump nearby. Clean with gorgeous scenery all around. Near O'Keefe's Ghost Ranch and her home in historic Abuquiu, down the road.

Lots to do in the area; hiking, backroad exploration, lake and river fishing, touring historic sites and photography. Oh yes, if you are handy with an artist's paintbrush you can knock yourself with the beauty surrounding the area.

Visited on two occasions, each time in the spring and it was a windy place

Although I haven't stayed at that many COE's campgrounds, I have liked everyone, this was no exception. There are 3 campground RV loops (Puerco, Chama, and Pedernal).

Chama is a non electric loop with mostly open sites, a few have trees. Sites #16-19, offer beautiful views of the lake.

Puerco loop is also a non-electric loop sitting on top of a hill overlooking the Lake and boat ramp. I really love this loop but couldn't find anything open that I liked and/or would really fit my trailer. I would definitely come to this loop first to see if anything is open. It's in a loop all of it's own so less traffic. I personally liked sites #34-#36. Although some sites do not have much shade, others had quite a bit.

The all electric and water loop is Pedernal. The sites here are paved and fairly spaced apart. Not much privacy except with the spacing but still not bad as they sit higher up the hill and likely provide a very scenic site.

Both of my sites were in the dry camping area of Chama loop. Most of the sites in this loop offer very little privacy. This being early October, this loop was not extremely busy and was perfect as the days were not as hot as the mid-summer months. However, if you are lucky to reserve site #23, it has shade and pretty private seating area. Your door will open the opposite side of the seating area but it did not bother me. I loved it. There are some non-reservable sites in the campground loops.

This is a perfect place to stay if you are going to visit Ghost Ranch or other sites around Abiquiu. Q even got some water time. You can fish, sail, kayak on the lake. For a hike, try hiking to the summit of Pedernal, the views are fantastic. Also some hiking at the campground, Ghost Ranch and off some of the national forest road nearby. Make sure you check out Bode's, the general store, it's an institution not to be missed.

Easy access Dump Station. Great Verizon service as the tower almost overlooks the park.

The campground hosts have been there for the past 10 years and are great as are the Campground Rangers.

Note the campground closes on October 15th.

The Riana Campground is a very nice campground overlooking Lake Abiquiu. They have a dump station and potable water station on site, and even a shower building for hot showers and flush toilets. There are vault toilets around the campground.

You must reserve on recreation.gov, and only the even number spots are reservable (no more than 3 months in advance). Odd number spots are first come first served. If you look on reserveamerica.com, it shows that a few tent sites are reservable, but everything else is first come first served, which it isn't - see recreation.gov.

The campground is ALCOHOL FREE. They make sure to tell you that when you check in, and the Park Rangers will call you out on it.

Spots #32 (which I had) and 38 (the other that was available the day I got there) are small, and "lumpy" aka EXTREMELY unlevel - To get my 29' 5th wheel level, the king pin was literally 6 feet in the air... and the site is loose gravel, so the camper shifted a bit, even when chocked. #38 is a u-shaped spot, not big enough to put a rig in. #32 was a triangular spot, and the 29' trailer barely fit up against the fence on the longest part of the spot. Oh, and you have to back your trailer UPHILL to get into spot #32.

There were other, better (more suited to RVs), spots in the "overflow" camping area, but they wouldn't open that area up until the others were taken, meaning I had to take a rather crappy spot.

The view from #32 is spectacular, and the site had a fire ring with grate, bbq grill, picnic table and an established tent pad. I believe all spots had these amenities.

I stayed over 4th of Jul, and while the rules said no fireworks, there were plenty of fireworks. Lots of fireworks from the immediate surrounding area as well... so you're not getting away from anything.

Cell service was good - 4 bars of 4G from Verizon, but it was slow occasionally - presumably from overload at the campground, boat ramp, picnic areas, etc.

We chose to stay here at the last minute, so we were left with FCFS instead of being able to reserve. There were no electric + water sites available, so we chose from available sites and picked a tent site next to the cliffs above the lake.
The camp host was friendly and helpful and made it very clear that this CG was alcohol free and that the quiet hours were going to be enforced. He explained that prior to being alcohol free, this CG had a reputation for being quite rowdy. I'd prefer to have quiet. I can have a beer later!
Riana CG is close to Abiquiu lake but walking to the water would take quite a bit of time from many of the sites. The CG host recommended just making the short drive around to the boat ramp area. However, the kids and I decided to see if we could get down to the water from our site on foot. It took us between 5-10 minutes to get there, but it wasn't too bad - even carrying our poles and gear.
We certainly recommend the short drive to explore the Ghost Ranch. We spent about half a day hiking along the canyons and ridges (amazing!) and visiting the museums. One could easily spend a day or 2 there.
Overall, Riana CG was great. Shower house was clean. Vault toilets on our loop were in good condition and kept relatively clean. High desert lake surrounded by mesas and bluffs. My wife said this was her favorite place we have camped so far - mainly because of the beauty of the high desert/low mountain surroundings. I guess Georgia O'Keefe thought so too.

Just some correct info: Reservations are made through either reserveamerica.com or recreation.gov. Reservations must be made at least 4 days in advance and may be made as much as 6 months in advance. The odd numbered sites 1 thru 39 may be reserved. All the walk-in tent sites 40 thru 54 may be reserved. The even numbered sites 2 thru 38 may be reserved. Reservable sites that are not reserved may be rented on a first come, first served basis (check with the on-site Park Attendant.) Sites 1 thru 15 have electricity (20, 30 & 50 amp) and water and are $16.00 per day. Chama Loop (sites 16 thru 30) is more RV friendly while Puerco Loop (sites 31 thru 39) is more tent friendly (or smaller RVs.) Chama and Puerco sites are $12 per day. The walk-in tent loop sites (you park in a parking lot and walk to the site) are $8 per day. There is an overflow camping area that has 11 sites. It only opens when sites 1 thru 39 are occupied. Overflow is $12 per day.

Check in is 1pm (earlier if your site in not occupied) and check out is 12 noon. There are 2 bath houses with free hot showers and flush toilets (but no electric outlets). There are 5 vault toilet buildings, each with men's and women's toilets.

The entry gate is locked every night and 10pm and it re-opens at 8am. Possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages are both prohibited.

We love Riana Campground - the views of Abiquiu Lake are incredible!

We were in spot 13, which was fine, but we'd highly recommend spots 1-7 as they all have great views of the lake. Spot 1 is easily the best, so if you're lucky enough to reserve that, go for it!

They have clean facilities, including flush toilets and hot showers. We had 50amp hook up and water, but no sewer (but they have a dump station on site).

Our internet was pretty spotty - it always said LTE, but we didn't always have a fast connection (afternoons were the worst).

Actually great views at all times of the day.

This campground is well maintained and has fairly level spots for your camper. I do recommend using site 13 if you have trailer longer than 30 feet. I tried getting into 11 with a 42’ and it was too much of a hassle.

Fire pits and BBQ grills located at each site is a nice feature and they all have a covered picnic table, although there’s not much shade with them as small as they are.

Would stay like to have stayed longer but the fishing sucked...so moved on.

Super nice camp hosts very nice place rustic charm gate LOCKS at 10 pm you can leave but cannot get back in until morning

Just stayed a couple of nights as part of my journey around northern New Mexico. I made plane last minute, and the next time I will alot more time at the park. Some great hiking trails around the lake. Cellular was 24 down/11 up for Verizon, and 13 down/5 up for AT&T. Also, the dump station works!!