Caja Del Rio Dispersed Camping

Lots of cows, bulls included but they seemed to mind their own well, even around my doggo - he sat locked in command when we saw bulls so don’t know how another dog would interact. With cows comes cow poop- watch your step. Drove past bathrooms on the way out but far from most spots and never used. Quiet. City lights but still nice stars. Overall good and what I need from a free site with enough signal to work.

Good spot close to Santa Fe which is awesome. Unfortunately tons of trash everywhere and multiple obvious dirty long term camps set up. Lots of cows and coyotes at night. Beautiful setting back in the junipers which also allows for privacy from neighbors. Lots of people camped here. Very good maintained gravel road in. Close to running, biking trails and a few parks including off leash dog park.

It seems like it would have been a really great area with lots of spots but for us there was just a ton of people. Although that wasn't the bad part. The people we happend to park across from on the dirt road you can tell have been living out there for quite awhile. They were very irresponsible with their dogs running around off leash so we couldnt let our dogs out, like to be loud and scream at eachother to the point of the guy being locked out of his trailer and he is banging on the door around 1am to get back in. Oh and just after dark he was yelling at people trying to come into camp because it was "late". Literally did not feel safe and didnt sleep at all. The next morning we moved over to the Santa Fe Ranch recreation area that you pass on your way in and it was great! Way more peaceful and quiet and no one around.

I guess overall just be mindful of who you park next to!! Also tip if you do stay here, after the cattle guard turn left. That road is way smoother and easier to access. If you go back further in there tends to be more spots too.

We stayed here for 2 weeks with our 34ft airstream. There’s a lot of room for all. The road in is gravel but really well maintained. Like others have mentioned, once you pass the cattle guard go LEFT and not straight as that road is really bad. Left takes you around, past the pit toilet, and you’ll have your pick of spots to your right. Very close to Santa Fe which is the biggest pro!

The pit toilets were okay, not terrible. We felt like we had enough privacy where we were parked but by the second week the place had quite a bit of campers.

We had decent ATT and T-Mobile.. enough to do remote work off our hotspot without a booster.

Access to hiking/biking trail through a cattle gate was nice to have! We actually parked right across from it.
Would definitely come again!

I travelled here with a 35’ 5th wheel, long bed pickup. Roads and sites were dirt (no surprise) and there was a vault toilet (big surprise – was not expecting any amenities.) It was very dusty and there were some deep ruts in several of the tracks making moving around somewhat treacherous. Lots of various sized rigs scattered throughout the area. Lots of mesquite growing which helped provide some privacy and protection from the winds. Sat through a bad wind storm (60mph+ winds) and having mesquite trees on the windside of the rig helped deflect the wind a bit. When you approach the area, I recommend coming in from the north on the 599 Frontage Road. If you come from the south you will go through a spot in the road that has been washed out making it rough and steep. I had 3 bars 5G making streaming easy and lots of OTA channels. In addition to Santa Fe, Bandilier National Monument is nearby and was spectacular.

This is an update from last year's review. A lot of other campers, plenty of space available, but the best spots naturally were already taken. Very dusty, but it looks like when it rains, some of the dirt roads could become perilous as there are many deep tire-sized tracks throughout requiring high clearance to navigate. Verizon was 5G in my spot and 344 Mbps down, 26.9 up. I think that's the highest DL I've had anywhere boondocking. AT&T was good too, but not anywhere near 344. Real close for supply runs into Santa Fe. Amazingly, I didn't note any rodent activity. My traps stayed empty the whole time, and my cat was never alerted to any nearby scurrying. I hiked around the area during my stay and noticed there were a couple sizable garbage piles where people had left their trash behind including large items.
Verizon great.
AT&T good.

Open, Dispersed Camping. I found a little spot tucked back, and at least two different people came down my path, only to find me then turn around. There was a small amount of trash and dumped furniture, but once I got a little further back, it wad a beautiful, private spot.

It was nice to be close enough to town to run to the grocery, yet not feel like I was close to town.

There were a lot of recreational vehicles and people shooting guns.

I will warn you, if you come in off of 599 and End Up on Paseo de River to the Frontage RD, there’s a really steep, windey turn that left me a little uncomfortable. Even when I unhitched my car and went that way, I still hated it, so I when I left, I went the opposite way on the frontage road and backtracked a bit to get to The interstate.