Hello all. First post, and would greatly appreciate any input as to a trip to Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico this summer. I prefer traveling on the fly, seeing what there is and going where the mood takes me. But do I need to become a......planner? Should I be making reservations for nice full hook-up camps, or will I be able to wing it and have no problems finding a place? I prefer national or state parks, but the question is as to private campgrounds as well. Thanks in advance for any provided guidance.

Build in a few extra days for rainouts if you plan to travel during the southwest's summer monsoon season. It can rain a lot in July, especially in AZ and NM. I have almost never made reservations in these areas unless near a very popular area such as Santa Fe.

Our practice (an we've spent many summers in the red rock country) is to make reservations for major national or state parks- Grand Canyon, Bryce, Dead Horse SP ect. And also make reservations for holiday weekends: 4th of July. Otherwise you can almost always just call ahead when you are a couple hours out from where you plan to stop. We rarely have to try a second CG by doing this. Get a good campground guide, Good Sam sells the only one worth the name. That way you can look up the CG near your desired stop point.BK

Winging it should work just fine. Here's an old post of one of our more recent visits to a National Park in New Mexico as well as a State Park (even a BLM Campground). Santa Fe & Bandelier Nat'l Mon't area of New Mexico -A Trip Report 2012.Los Alamos is a very neat small city in itself. Free bus system with very neat buses. Very pretty setting up in the high country. Somewhat of a gated community as well. We only drove through & stopped at a SuperMarket. A nice town. http://www.visit.losalamos.com/http://www.losalamosnm.us/transit/Pages/default.aspxOh, yes, in most of the western states, even in the hot southwest states, normally one does not to run the A/C at night to cool off. It usually cools down greatly at night out this way. Higher elevations & low humidity are factors. Therefore, one does need to have electrical hookups as one does back east. More on the Area Southern Arizona & New Mexico Sites & SightsWhat I have on Colorado. New Mexico: Taos :::::::: NM ByWaysA detour off I-25, after entering New Mexico, just off I-25, Sugarite Canyon State Park by Raton is a neat area. And a short drive from Raton is the Capulin Volcano Nat'l Mon't. A Neat Place. ------ But no CampingBetween Raton & Las Vegas, Not far S of Springer, just off I-25 is Fort Union Nat'l Mon't. At Las Vegas (older place than the one in NV) Storrie Lake State Park, but we have used the Walmart there to do a few overnights. Off I-25 between Santa Fe & Las Vegas, Villanueva State Park. It is off the 25 a bit. Somewhat off the beaten path. However, one can use NM 3 to cut down to the I-40 from Villanueva. We did that one visit.

Dave, what kind of a rig do you have? And do you boondock? There are some wonderful and wild places out West, especially if you don't need to stay in a campground every night. We often boondock for several nights in a row, and then book a night at an RV park to do laundry, get groceries, and so forth. Also, how much time do you have, and what sorts of things do you like to do (hiking, mtn biking, etc.)?

davols11 wrote:Hello all. First post, and would greatly appreciate any input as to a trip to Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico this summer. I prefer traveling on the fly, seeing what there is and going where the mood takes me. But do I need to become a......planner? Should I be making reservations for nice full hook-up camps, or will I be able to wing it and have no problems finding a place? I prefer national or state parks, but the question is as to private campgrounds as well. Thanks in advance for any provided guidance.Most places in Colorado, such as State Parks and USFS campgrounds, you should be good to go "winging it" IF you arrive during the week. One of the things I like to do is go outbound on a Sunday afternoon/evening when most everyone is going home from their weekend, and then settle in, or move around...as long as you're settled in early Friday somewhere for the weekend. A lot of the Colorado locales have first come/first served sites, so if you get there early enough on a Friday you should be good. Especially true of many of the State Parks. There are some exceptions of course. Maroon Bells near Aspen, you almost always need a reservation for that area. Poudre Canyon west of Ft Collins, fills up on the weekend, even at the upper end of the canyon. Same with locations west of Boulder. Any places near the populated areas will fill up pretty quickly on weekends. Rocky Mountain National Park up north, and Mesa Verde down south would also be places that will likely fill up early on a weekend. Great Sand Dunes? Don't know -- it's been a long time since I've been down there on a weekend.EDIT: Plan on HOT weather, beyond the Colorado Mountains! Figure about 5 degrees for each 1000 ft of elevation change for Colorado. 90s in Denver will be 70s-80s in mountains to the west/60s or so on the highest locations like Pikes Peak, Mt Evans, or Trail Ridge Rd in RMNP. SW Colorado in the 4Corners area can get very hot, and even at elevation at Mesa Verde, it can get hot as well -- a lot to do with intense sun exposure rather than raw temps in MV. Fortunately there's a lot of shelter there in visiting the cliff dwellings. Just be prepared for sometimes strenuous walking/hiking/climbing there!

Summer RV'ing in the Southwest | Good Sam Community

13 Replies

DesertHawk
Explorer
Apr 06, 2014
Winging it should work just fine.

Here's an old post of one of our more recent visits to a National Park in New Mexico as well as a State Park (even a BLM Campground). Santa Fe & Bandelier Nat'l Mon't area of New Mexico -A Trip Report 2012.

Los Alamos is a very neat small city in itself. Free bus system with very neat buses. Very pretty setting up in the high country. Somewhat of a gated community as well. We only drove through & stopped at a SuperMarket. A nice town. http://www.visit.losalamos.com/
http://www.losalamosnm.us/transit/Pages/default.aspx

Oh, yes, in most of the western states, even in the hot southwest states, normally one does not to run the A/C at night to cool off. It usually cools down greatly at night out this way. Higher elevations & low humidity are factors. Therefore, one does need to have electrical hookups as one does back east.

More on the Area

Southern Arizona & New Mexico Sites & Sights

What I have on Colorado.

New Mexico: Taos :::::::: NM ByWays

A detour off I-25, after entering New Mexico, just off I-25, Sugarite Canyon State Park by Raton is a neat area. And a short drive from Raton is the Capulin Volcano Nat'l Mon't.
A Neat Place. ------ But no Camping

Between Raton & Las Vegas, Not far S of Springer, just off I-25 is Fort Union Nat'l Mon't.

At Las Vegas (older place than the one in NV) Storrie Lake State Park, but we have used the Walmart there to do a few overnights.

Off I-25 between Santa Fe & Las Vegas, Villanueva State Park. It is off the 25 a bit. Somewhat off the beaten path. However, one can use NM 3 to cut down to the I-40 from Villanueva. We did that one visit.
agesilaus
Explorer III
Apr 06, 2014
Our practice (an we've spent many summers in the red rock country) is to make reservations for major national or state parks- Grand Canyon, Bryce, Dead Horse SP ect. And also make reservations for holiday weekends: 4th of July. Otherwise you can almost always just call ahead when you are a couple hours out from where you plan to stop. We rarely have to try a second CG by doing this. Get a good campground guide, Good Sam sells the only one worth the name. That way you can look up the CG near your desired stop point.

BK
Tiger4x4RV
Nomad
Apr 06, 2014
Build in a few extra days for rainouts if you plan to travel during the southwest's summer monsoon season. It can rain a lot in July, especially in AZ and NM. I have almost never made reservations in these areas unless near a very popular area such as Santa Fe.

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Summer RV'ing in the Southwest

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