Capilla Peak Campground

Capilla Peak is ten miles off the main road. The road is pretty well maintained but still a NM dirt and gravel road. This road is NOT friendly to anything larger than a small TT or van. The last three miles are incredibly steep with gut clenching drops off the side of the road. There are two very small turnouts on a narrow one lane track. You will not be able to allow another vehicle to pass on most of the climb. That being said, the views are (there isn’t a word big enough).
The campground is very nice with shelters perched on the edge of the world. All but three sites are literally on the edge of the drop. All have nice sized tables and metal fire rings. The shelters have sealed roofs allowing a small tent to be set up and protected. There is one large and one small modern vault toilets on site.
There a number of excellent hikes in the area and cell coverage is excellent.
Getting to this campground is an adventure of its own, best suited to tent or van campers, but the views...
This is not a “certified dark sky” location, but very well could be.

Stayed here for two nights and loved it. The views from the campsite are amazing.

Pros:
- Each of the six sites has a covered shelter, fire ring, picnic table and bear proof food storage container.
- The views from the sites are amazing, however sites 1, 6 and 5 seem to have the best views.
- The sites are well developed and paved
- Two clean vault bathroom sites on location
- Bear proof garbage cans on site for garbage disposal
- Lots of deer in the area, we had one actually enter our campsite while we were there and saw a few others wandering around the campground and woods
- No mosquitoes!

Cons:
- Dry campground, no water
- Tons of black flies swarm the campsites each day from sunrise to sunset. Fortunately they aren't biting flies, but they are a major nuisance. Our Thermacell seemed to help keep them at bay once we realized it works for flies as well as mosquitoes.
- Cannot stake your tent due to paved site.
- The road leading up to the campground is a little hairy. It's a single lane road for two-way traffic. As you start to ascend the mountain, there are many blind turns and a steep drop-off on the right-hand side with no guardrails. Each bend has a small area to try and pull over to let an oncoming car pass, but it is very tight. Fortunately we didn't encounter any other vehicles on our way in or out.

Tried to haul my 17’ Casita up there but elected not to the last 4 miles (it’s a 9 mile dirt road). The road is one lane, and even though i have a high lift kit on my trailer I didn’t think it wise to proceed- too much wear and tear on the rig due to deep ruts. I drove to the top without my trailer and the views are spectacular. Several tent campers there. Definitely want to come back and tent camp 3-4 days.