Caja Del Rio Dispersed Camping

This is a very nice spot near Santa Fe. It's good for big rigs if you don't stray from the large circle area after the cattle guard, which is where the national forest camping area begins. There aren't a ton of spots, but it's not super busy either; most people seemed to stay a night or two and take off. The road in is a nice gravel road until the very end. You shouldn't have clearance issues or need 4x4. There was a fire pit at our spot, but I can't vouch for the others.

GPS had no trouble finding it since the gravel road is named. There's a bathroom very close to the entrance. AT&T had good internet, Verizon and T-Mobile worked but it was very slow, possibly sub 3G at times. We didn't bother trying booster since we had AT&T. I wouldn't say the area is quiet as there's a lot of vehicle traffic for being a little out in the boonies, but it's not bad. There are a lot of coyotes at night.

There's also some camping areas along the gravel road just outside the national forest that others were using.

Not the most beautiful place in the world, but this location is great for boondocking due to it's close proximity to Santa Fe, clean vault toilets, a nice pavilion and flat open spaces to accommodate any size rig. I had great network access with Sprint, Verizon and T-mobile. there was some trash scattered around and stuck in trees, but nothing horrific and some noise from a nearby industrial area adjacent to the camp area (not sure what is over the berm, but there was lot of big diesel equipment running all day long)

Great location close to town. Some trash scattered around the sites and pavilion. After parking, went to the vault toilets to find the doors and walls riddled with bullet holes, and a pile of about 20 empty beer bottles nearby. No thank you. Took off, did not stay the night. Too bad.

We camped in the Santa Fe Nat'l Forest, but there is also BLM land adjacent for camping also. There's plenty of wide open space for all kinds of rigs and side roads with places to camp. nearly everyone stays in the big circle near the entrance. We camped away from that and it was pretty peaceful and quiet. Sadly, and probably because of it's close proximity to town, it's pretty trashy. We did hear some groups out partying and drinking and saw the leftover bottles and debris the next morning. It's pretty discouraging to know that whatever extra trash you pick up, it hardly makes a difference. Nonetheless we take what we can. We could hear trucks from the landfill, but didn't notice any smells. There are opportunities for hiking and biking if you get beyond the campground. There is some interesting history in the area as this is right along a National Historic Trail, the Camino Real. There are cattle in the area and plenty of coyotes. It's only about 15 minutes into town to resupply and showers are available at the Fort Marcy Rec Center for only $3! There is alot of illegal recreational shooting, which is annoying.

We stayed here four nights (kinda on accident) and had a great time. Snowed one of the days we were here, that was a nice little change. Easy access gravel road that switches to dirt, no problem getting in or out in the bus. Lots of level spots and only 20 mins back to Santa Fe if you need supplies. Met some other nice traveling folks and played some board games in the bus one of the nights. Fire rings everywhere and trash cans sporadically placed on hiking trails accessible from the camp spots. Also a pit toilet that wasn’t in bad shape at all if you stay closer to the trailhead parking lot. You can hear people shooting during the day, but it’s easily ignored. There is a decent amount of trash around unfortunately but pick up what you can when you leave to help make it better! :)

There weren’t a ton of people here so to me it looked like there were PLENTY of spaces, not all had fire pits though. By the end of the night there were only three of us. So I just picked the best spot where some bushes hid me on at least one side. I was confused when I first drove up but the moment you cross the cattle grate it’s the dark gravel on the left that you follow to a huge sand lot with bushes and spots all over the place. It really did look like you could fit up to 30 cars, if you didn’t care about proximity. Room for tents but I’d put a tarp down to protect your tent and you from all the broken glass.

CAREFUL WITH DOGS! I first parked to take a walk around to check out the trash situation and I’m glad I did because there was broken glass everywhere. So I moved from my first stop because there was no way to avoid it. Even having her tied up wouldn’t help. I picked the least trashed spot I could find. However, I’m glad to say there wasn’t as much trash as some reviews have noted. Thank you to who ever did the work.

It is close to a shooting range so I heard gun shots until night fall, but it didn’t really bother me. It did start up again one the sun came up.

The vault toilets didn’t have toilet paper, so bring your own just in case. Plenty of cell service though.

Not a lot of fire pits nor privacy. Felt kinda sketch. As two girl, would not stay here again. May be better in an RV or camper. Horrible dust storm during the night. Strongest wind we have ever felt nearly blowing over our tent the entire night. Woke up with dust everywhere in our tent, on our faces, in our mouths and ears.

I pulled in on Friday afternoon (6-7-19) and the site is adjacent to the county landfill. Lots of blow by on the entrance road along the fence. The sound of the backing up dozers alarm quit at 5 pm and it was pristine quiet after that. I rated it 5 stars for noise but only after quitting time. I drove the loop and the roads out from there looked heavily potholed. Only 2 others on the loop and plenty of space to spread out. Flat and easy parking for any size rig. Very light traffic and no gun fire was heard. The trash was a few beer bottles and really cleaner than many BLMs close to cities. This is the best free place to stay for Santa Fe area exploring. I only had 1 bar 4-G on my unboosted Verizon cell hotspot and that came in and out but that worked for my needs. Little shade except for the pinion pines that grow wide and low but they do offer privacy. Los Suenos RV park in Santa Fe is not far and offers dump and water for $10.00.

Big open area on National Forest land just west of Santa Fe. It's near an active landfill, but you really don't notice. There's a maintained outhouse on site but not any water. Located 15-minutes from everything in Santa Fe and we got good cell service. There were quite a few other campers, but didn't feel crowded. Did get a bit more busy on weekend.

There was a very rutted road to get in. Lots of broken glass and trash. Not very convenient sites. Shooting range really close. But a beautiful area!