Rockhound State Park Campground

Nice campsites very scenic. The bathrooms and showers are excellent I don’t know how they could get any better.

Rockhound State Park has a beautiful campground, especially the dry camping area. Spaces are far apart and surrounded by wildflowers and cactus.

The park is clean, quiet and the showers are hot. We especially enjoyed the hiking trail.

We stayed here one night, but wish we couldve stayed longer. Its a beautiful, quiet park in an awesome setting with some great little trails aroun the hills.

The dry camping sites are particularly nice and most are pretty spacious. There are a few short hikes near the campground which would be doable for anyone. Saw many people collecting rocks as you are allowed to take a certain poundage home.

Great spaced out campground with a few reservable sites as well as first come sites as well. 30 amp and water at our particular site. Extremely large and very clean. Short hiking trail and our boys loved finding geodes. Would certainly come back. Nice and quiet too.

This is a great spot. Not spectacular, but pleasant and easy to get to. I was here in mid-February, and the sites with electric service were all full at noon. I claimed the last of the sites with no hookups, but that wasn't a problem. Because I have a NM State Parks annual permit, the net cost was zero. New Mexico state parks are generally well-maintained and pleasant, which is why I invested in an annual permit.

(Edited) I've been back here a few times; this last stay (late March 2016) the place was full; I had a reservation for the first night in a site with electric and water; the next couple of nights I was in a "dry camping" site. In general, dry camping sites are more spacious and quieter than the sites with electric and water. As before, the camp hosts were extremely helpful and pleasant. If you arrive late in the day, they make every effort to find you a spot: typically, they take you to one of the day-use sites for a dry camp. There's also a group camping area, which can be used by anyone if there isn't a group reservation. The slots within this area are very close to each other, and I'd consider this a last-resort option.

There are trash cans at each site, which is pretty convenient. I'm guessing critters aren't an issue. The community showers are clean and well-maintained. There's a dump station and potable water near the shower house.

We pulled up late on a busy Saturday afternoon and the host kindly set us up in the last available spot --- #4 of the day use section in a wheelchair accessible site. What a gorgeous view, as we've found at all times the N LM parks. They're off the beaten path, and get more spectacular the closer you get.

Rockhound has a new shower house withe great water pressure and temperature. Each site has a covered picnic area and plenty of elbow room.

Glad the word hasn't gotten out about the best value and amenities in the western US!

We'll check out the hikes in the morning as well as Spring Canyon SP, a day use park two miles away in the Dragonback mountain opposite Rockhound.

3 bars Verizon LTE. Visited March 5, 2016.

Where’s it at? 13 miles southeast of Deming, NM
What’s it cost? $14 for an electric site with water, $10 for a dry camp spot.
The Low Down: I found this park quite nice and enjoyed my stay in March 2016. The temps were in the 60’s and 70’s in the day, 40’s at night,. My first night the very friendly camp host escorted me to the group campground which has 4 campsites, close to each other. I was the first in and 3 more rigs showed up and we all made friends and chatted about our travels. The next morning, I saw a RV headed out, so I jumped in my car and snatched #13, a ginormous site. There are 23 electric sites and about 6 are reservable, the rest are first come first serve, with a 14 max stay. Bathrooms and showers are in a very new building are great, but they are closer to the electric sites, further from the dry sites. The largest shower stall/changing area I’ve ever seen! There is a 1.2 mile walk around the perimeter of the park. You can head up the hill and do some digging for agates, geodes, and thunder eggs. There is a visitor center at the park with samples of rocks that can be found in the area. The park is dead quiet at night and the stars are amazing.

What’s nearby?

About 2 miles away is Spring Canyon, which has a great hike up the end of the canyon. It is steep and rocky, has great views and very pretty. You access this trail from the end of the road at Spring Canyon. The sign says .9 miles, but the trail goes further. Plan on 2-3 hours for this hike.

Just down the road is Spanish Stirrup Rock Shop and this is a must stop! The lady owner is very knowledgeable and will break open any rock you bring for a fee. She can identify your findings also. The selection at this shop is inspiring.

In Deming, there is a great locally owned grocery store, Peppers. Walmart is the only other grocery store. If you have a couple of hours, or even 1, I would definitely stop in at the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum. This free museum is filled with an unbelievable collection of everything! It’s truly remarkable and I highly recommend a visit.

The county courthouse is worth a drive by and there is a beautiful tree and grass park next door, great for a dog stop.

On the way into town is St. Clair Winery which has a very nice tasting room. There is a nice outdoor area that you can have dogs with you. The first 2 tastes are free, then 6 more for $6, pretty good deal. Open til 6pm every day.

The Dogs Opinion (it’s all about the dogs)
The dogs liked it, the weather was pleasant for them. They enjoyed the hike in Spring Canyon and the hike around the campground. Always nice to be out in the country!
TV? I received 2 networks, pbs and a few other channels very well on an antenna.
Cell phone/Wi-Fi? Verizon 3bars on a 4g network.

Parting thoughts: Demining is not for a long stay in my opinion. The wind blows here in the spring and this area gets nasty dust storms and it’s very hot in the summer, so plan accordingly.

The campground is located about midway up the side of a medium sized hill which borders the campground to the north and east (e.g., views are to the south and west.) Some of the sites are terraced and offer unobstructed views of the valley below. This campground offers our favorite type of site: non-reservable and un-serviced! We love to exercise our boondocking muscles while in the predictable environment of a state park campground.

We stayed in the non-serviced section for three nights in site #2. There are six non-serviced (also non-reservable) sites in this campground and if you are set up for dry camping, they are by far the best sites as they are the largest and highest in the campground. Site 1, 2 & 3 have excellent separation and offer wonderful views of the valley below and the mountains behind. Site 4, 5 & 6 are close together and best suited for a small group of RV'ers traveling together. The water/electric sites are very good but not as isolated as the un-serviced sites. If you need the hookups, however, you will not be disappointed.

A previous reviewer provided a good overview of what's available to do in the area so I won't rehash those. A bit further afield, another New Mexico State Park called The City of Rocks is located about 30/40 minutes to the north of Deming is definitely worth a visit (if not an overnight or two!) Also, Silver City which is about an hour and a half north of the campground is also worth a visit. The University of Western New Mexico has a great museum and the City of Silver City also has a very nice historical museum. Both are worth the drive. The Gila Cliff Dwellings are about two and a half hours north of the campground so not a practical day trip. Seeing those would require a re-positioning at least to Silver City (which has several campgrounds nearby.)

This campground is located about 15 minutes south of I-10 and also provides a very quiet and peaceful place to stay when "doing the I-10 corridor."

We were able to stream HD video on Verizon.

The only ding is that many of the sites are not level so be prepared to bring out your leveling implements.

When we pulled into Rockhound, we were surprised to find only one spot available. It seems that easy access off I-15 and proximity to Deming make this a popular stop for travelers.

The campground has two loops: one loop has 23 sites with electric/water hookups and the other has 6 dry camping sites. All sites offer reasonable privacy and good views. The campground host was very friendly and helpful.

We stayed three nights and enjoyed hikes in the campground and in next-door Spring Canyon Recreation Area (the best views are here). Although rockhounding is permitted, we found no treasure, opting instead to buy a small souvenir geode at a local museum/rock shop.