Brown Springs Campground

I overnighted here in early December and it was entirely empty. A ranger stopped me and asked to see my permit which I didn’t have. He was very friendly and only gave me a warning. The pit toilet was extremely clean and one of the nicest that I’ve ever seen. The sites are all flat gravel and the road is not washed out at all unless you take a wrong turn into the offroading areas. I definitely think with a little time and effort a sedan can make it to this campsite. No water so make sure to bring your own. I had plenty of service with Verizon. Highly recommend this campsite.

Positives... very nice small BLM campground. Nicely laid out, with 8 spacious sites and great views overlooking the area. Pit toilet, which I did not go into, only no hookups.
If you are a mountain biker, which we are, why we chose to come here, it has great access to numerous fun and flowy trails. It's also a mecca for UTVs, especially on the weekends. Some noise, but they really didn't bother us and went home mostly at dinner time, and they are not allowed on the Mtn bike trails. However, motorcycles are. The few we came across were curtious to us.
Not so positives...the road in is very washboard, so the 3 miles from the hwy was very slow going. Previous reviews stated that 4x4 was required. We did not need it at all. However, there were some areas that it was obvious the road turned to mush in wet weather as there are deep ruts. It was very dry during our stay.
We were somewhat uncomfortable with some of the other residents. Seemed to be lots of coming and going during the day and some sleeping in vehicles during the day. A permit is required to stay, which must be downloaded from the BLM website and supposedly printed and displayed in your vehicle. As we were not planning this stop, we called the blm office, and they said to just email the completed form to them. There is a 14-day limit. Some seem to have been here for longer than that.
We would stay again.

This is a great place to camp. The road coming in will change with the weather. I have seen big diesel pushers in here and 5th wheels. I suggest checking out the road before you bring a big rig in. We have a 22’ 5th wheel and we did use 4 wheel drive to get in. It was after the rain but as dryer weather set in the road improved where small cars could come in. It is a great free camp ground.
You do need a permit and the links are in a previous thread.

4WD ONLY !! No trailers of MH’s. Washed out road with a sand base - if you don’t get stuck in the sand you’ll find the ditches and washed out areas impassable. It is possible to stay at the very front ‘loading’ area just off Pinion Hills Blvd. marked “Glade Run Recreation Area” on Google map.

Some reviews have referred to Lake Farmington and yes, there is a small campground there too but it is totally different than the “Choke Cherry Canyon” Brown Springs Campground which for me (and my trailer) is NOT recommended !!

Nice clean campground with pit toilet, 10 free sites on first-come basis. Not really the campground for a quiet place due to all the dirt bikes and ATVs but it was good for an overnight stop and it was quiet when the sun went down. Less than 3 miles on a dirt road to get out there, but we made it in our class B camper van without 4WD. There were some larger fifth wheels out there too. There is a sign that says a permit is required, but it is free and you can email it online. 2 bars of Verizon service.

Fill out the following permit: https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/GRRA%20camping%20permit_0.pdf

Email a copy to: dmckim@blm.gov & print a copy and place it on your dashboard.

This is a great base camp. Cell service is good for Sprint (28mbs down, 4 bars). From here, we visited 4-corners (skip it) and were within driving distance of Mesa Verde and Durango. The sites are well graveled, largely flat and mostly clean. We stayed during the week and noise from ATVs was not a problem. The Sinclair station in town has water and dump and reasonable prices on propane.

Lots of hiking options to explore the terrain, especially during the colder months when snakes aren't a problem.

GPS is good until the final turn. Follow the signs for Brown Springs once you see the sign and you'll be good.

11/21 Very nice place, well clear of any highways, 3 mi. up a rather rough and sandy road;we made it there no problem in our little 24’ class C dually with all-terrain tires. There are a lot of RVs down near the wash 1/4 mi away and a lot of OHV action down there and all around; there are many natural gas wells around also, but no noise from their generators while we were around. Beautiful sandstone formations and junipers.Highly recommended if you don’t need hookups. And if you don’t mind OHV noise into the early evening

Back in the ORV desert north of Farmington is a fantastic campground with level gravel pads, fire rings, covered tables, grills and outhouse on site. This was a great place to set-up for our week exploring the area around Farmington. The road in was not too bad, but required us to take it slow. Very cool cliff formations all around. Short drive into town.