Juniper Family Campground

Loop A (Aberts Squirrel loop) is a first come, first served loop but a great tip to know is the host comes around to spots early in the morning and flips the "Open" tag on sites that are departing that day. If you get to the park early, you can see what spaces are going to be available that day and go to the kiosk to purchase. You should go to the site and put your receipt and flip the flag to "Site Reserved" even if someone is still in the space. They need to leave by 11:30 but if they leave sooner, you can put your stuff in the space as soon as it's free.

As others have said, not many sites are level but they are paved so pretty easy to get level with blocks. The campground is well maintained and the host is friendly and helpful. Firewood is for sale on an honor system "$1 per stick" donation.

Site 9 is at the top of the hill so the internet was pretty darn good.
AT&T Nighthawk hotspot - Download: 49Mbps Upload: 4.01
Verizon - Download: 17 Mbps Upload: 0.72
Starlink Gen3 (non-priority) - Download: 279 Upload: 15

But we nearly didn't get to stay. Pulling up to the NP kiosk, the ranger asked if we had reservations which we didn't. He then said they were full through the weekend and wasn't sure anything would open up even on Sunday or Monday. We turned around and pulled over and went to the website where we saw they were booked, but had a couple group sites open. Went back to the kiosk and asked about the group sites. Asked if we could share with others coming in who didn't have a reservation. At first he said no, we had to have a party of 10 or more people to get a group site. When I asked, were they going to let the sites go unused because of this policy, or could they make an exception. He said he didn't think he could let us have one, even if we paid the $50. He kept trying to send us down the road to the RV park in White Rock. We asked if there were someone he could call. He said, no, he was the supervisor. We pressed. Finally he called someone who said, we could pay the $50 and have the site for that one night. We got in.

Went straight to our site, but then found there were several first come first served sites and people were leaving the next day. Also several other sites were reserved, but went unoccupied that night.
Next day we got into a FF site and stayed for five nights.

Lovely cg, very well maintained, clean, paved. The ruins are interesting to visit and the visitor center itself is a beautiful place to visit and just hang out.

We are still wondering why the ranger manning the kiosk was so stubbornly trying to send us down the road, and so ignorant of his own campground.

We stayed here for 4 days while exploring Bandelier. The sites are clean and spacious. Many sites aren’t 100% level, but they are paved. Water was available at several spigots around the campground. Sites have no hookups. The bathrooms are clean and have flush toilets and power. There is a shuttle that takes you to the visitor center (less than 10 minutes away) that arrives nearby every 30 minutes. Cell service is slow (at least Verizon). The camp hosts are really nice and very helpful. We were here in September and the campground was never more than 25% full. It’s small, a big rig would struggle to fit. There are only a few pull-thru sites.

We camped at the Juniper Family Campground in late-April, the perfect spot for exploring the ruins at Bandelier National Monument. We paid $6.00 per night with our Lifetime Access Pass, otherwise the nightly rate is $12.00. This is a first come - first serve campground, payment is made at the kiosk with a credit or debit card, a very simple process. The campground can not accomodate large camping rigs. Site 18 is a level, paved pad with picnic table, bear box, fire ring, and a very spacious site. Restrooms, water, and trash container were in close proximity to our site. The campground is well maintained, the restrooms were very clean, and the campground atmosphere was very pleasant and peaceful. During the off season you can drive to the ruins or hike the trail. During regular season a bus will pickup quests at the campground and return you to the campground. We enjoyed our camping experience and would definetly return again.

We stayed in Albert Squirrel Loop site # 8 and it was beautiful! The landscape provides some privacy but also sun for charging our solar. Everything was well maintained but left as natural as possible.
We have a 22’ with 1 slide and had no trouble getting around and into our spot. We did see larger RVs throughout the campground.
US Cellular is our mobile provider and we had 1-2 bars fairly consistently.
We loved it here and will be back!

I’ll start off by saying this campground was nice and wooded to give you that true camping experience. However I wouldn’t feel comfortable going through in any other larger setup than what we have. The first entire loop was really only for tent camping and possibly vans or small class c. The second loop was where we ended up. Our trailer is only 23’ but we are about 42’ with the truck. There weren’t many spots in general and there was only a couple spots we felt we would could fit with ease. Some spots had major slopes including a pull thru we tried to get into and scraped the entire side of our camper pulling out because it’s narrow, at such a curve and surrounded by trees. the road is one way and not big enough for 2 vehicles and yet some of the parking spots slant the wrong way so only a car, van or *maybe* a small class c would be able to get into them. I definitely wouldn’t come through with a big rig. As close as you can get to Bandalier which was amazing. But no cell service which isn’t good for people like me who need it for work. Generators are allowed 8-8.
Coming into the area we went through a security checkpoint as it’s near the department of energy and on our way back out we were told we weren’t allowed to go through with a camper?

We stayed at Juniper November 10-13. We had visited Bandelier for a day from Road Runner RV park in Pojoaque and decided we could fit in a number of spots in Juniper for a multi-day visit. The rate we paid reflects the America the Beautiful senior pass discount. The campground was really busy while we were there with people coming in and out each day. It looked like folks would drop off something to hold a site prior to 11am then come back and reserve and stay later in the day. A number of sites were closed each day for maintenance. There weren't many spots that would fit our Airstream Flying Cloud 25, but fortunately we found a lovely one. We had no trouble navigating around the loop with our truck and trailer.

We loved the Frey canyon hike that took us down to the visitor center with access to other trails. The shuttles weren't running so we planned the hike back up Frey Canyon trail into our plans. There were water spigots at several locations so water was easily available. Each site had an anti bear food locker. We encountered so many lovely people in this park during stay.

While generators are allowed from 8am until 8pm, we only heard one now and then. Unfortunately we were the obnoxious ones that had to run our generator for an hour and a half morning and night because our batteries decided to flake out causing us to shorten our stay. We hated running it in such a peaceful place!

We were able to get ATT cell phone coverage if we wandered around the campground until we got two bars, intermittently. We consistently had 1 bar but it didn't have enough oomph for anything but the occasional text.

This campground and area are beyond beautiful, and we loved our stay. We have a 21 ft trailer and if fit into our spot with no issues. The campground is super tight though, and if we had anything larger, it would have been tough negotiating the roads/site. Also there are very few sites that can accommodate a 21ft or larger trailer. Since you cannot make reservations, it is a gamble to show up with a big rig. We arrived at 5pm on a Sunday and there were 2-3 sites that we could choose from, and all were taken by the end of the day. If you have an RV - I would go straight to the Coyote loop and look there first - this will be your best chance. There is no water/electric at the sites but there is water at the restroom. The park is meticulously managed - we got a scolding for crushing the grass next to the dump station (seemed silly at the time, BUT the grass there is uniquely beautiful, and the host was right to expect that we stay on the pavement). Its an easy drive to the visitors center. BNM is an amazing setting and valuable historical site - pay the $2 for a self guided book. Also once you know what to look for - watch for home sites on the sides of the mountains all over the area. Very special spot for sure!