Federal & State campgrounds: Max rig size?
Hey Everyone, I started looking around at another rig. My 5'er that has been my mainstay does not fit my newer truck and it has been sitting for well over a year without any use. Soo.... I started...
Forum Discussion
If you are on a budget and have a long RV, try the New Mexico state parks. Best deal in the U.S.--$14/night for W/E sites, $18/night for FHU sites. Many of them have at least a few sites that can take your RV.
Our New Mexico favorites are Sugarite Canyon SP near Raton, Caballo Lake SP near TorC, Elephant Butte SP's South Monticello CG, Navajo Lake SP near Aztec, Cimarron Canyon east of Taos, and Heron Lake-El Vado Lake SPs near Chama. We don't particularly like the SP campgrounds nearest the town of Elephant Butte, or Percha Dam and Leasburg Dam north of Las Cruces, or Eagles Nest. Fenton Lake doesn't have any sites you can fit into and Storrie Lake is just a parking lot with side-by-side sites with electric hookups at the back of the site. We haven't stayed in them yet, but we have heard good reports from others about the campgrounds at Rockhound SP near Deming, City of Rocks SP south of Silver City, Villanueva SP south of Las Vegas, and Brantley Lake SP for visits to Carlsbad Caverns.
As others have mentioned, Federal campgrounds other than National Parks may have sites that will fit your RV without a problem and are a bargain with the Federal Senior Pass. In the states you mentioned, try Bureau of Reclamation, Corps of Engineers, and BLM campgrounds. For a Colorado example, the Juniper CG at McPhee Reservoir has plenty of long electric sites within a 10-mile commute from Mesa Verde National Park and has nowhere near the crowds of Morefield CG inside the park. But the biggest advantage to Juniper is that you don't have to take your RV up that steep, winding entrance road into the national park.
In New Mexico, the Corps of Engineers' Cochiti Lake CG has paved roads; long, paved pull-through and back-in FHU and W/E sites; covered picnic tables, and nice restroom/shower buildings. When we were there last October, big flocks of sandhill cranes kept flying overhead on their way from Monte Vista NWR in CO to Bosque del Apache NWR near Socorro. You could hear them for miles as they circled Lake Cochiti. All this for $10/night with the Senior Pass for a campground within an easy commute of Santa Fe! Sure beats $40/night for noisy, crowded RV parks in town.
You'll do fine with your new RV. You just may have to do a little more research and planning a head of time than you needed to do previously. And don't forget RVParkReviews.com in your research because other RVers give you better data on campground site sizes and accessibility than you get from the Federal and state Websites.
Our New Mexico favorites are Sugarite Canyon SP near Raton, Caballo Lake SP near TorC, Elephant Butte SP's South Monticello CG, Navajo Lake SP near Aztec, Cimarron Canyon east of Taos, and Heron Lake-El Vado Lake SPs near Chama. We don't particularly like the SP campgrounds nearest the town of Elephant Butte, or Percha Dam and Leasburg Dam north of Las Cruces, or Eagles Nest. Fenton Lake doesn't have any sites you can fit into and Storrie Lake is just a parking lot with side-by-side sites with electric hookups at the back of the site. We haven't stayed in them yet, but we have heard good reports from others about the campgrounds at Rockhound SP near Deming, City of Rocks SP south of Silver City, Villanueva SP south of Las Vegas, and Brantley Lake SP for visits to Carlsbad Caverns.
As others have mentioned, Federal campgrounds other than National Parks may have sites that will fit your RV without a problem and are a bargain with the Federal Senior Pass. In the states you mentioned, try Bureau of Reclamation, Corps of Engineers, and BLM campgrounds. For a Colorado example, the Juniper CG at McPhee Reservoir has plenty of long electric sites within a 10-mile commute from Mesa Verde National Park and has nowhere near the crowds of Morefield CG inside the park. But the biggest advantage to Juniper is that you don't have to take your RV up that steep, winding entrance road into the national park.
In New Mexico, the Corps of Engineers' Cochiti Lake CG has paved roads; long, paved pull-through and back-in FHU and W/E sites; covered picnic tables, and nice restroom/shower buildings. When we were there last October, big flocks of sandhill cranes kept flying overhead on their way from Monte Vista NWR in CO to Bosque del Apache NWR near Socorro. You could hear them for miles as they circled Lake Cochiti. All this for $10/night with the Senior Pass for a campground within an easy commute of Santa Fe! Sure beats $40/night for noisy, crowded RV parks in town.
You'll do fine with your new RV. You just may have to do a little more research and planning a head of time than you needed to do previously. And don't forget RVParkReviews.com in your research because other RVers give you better data on campground site sizes and accessibility than you get from the Federal and state Websites.
