Carlsbad KOA

Stayed here mid-Mar 2024.
Pull-through FHU 50 amp. Gravel pad. Site #C13

General:
1) Very bad smells each morning and through the night for extended periods of time.
2) Large sites.
3) About 1 hour from Carlsbad Caverns.

Campground WiFi: Could not connect to it.
Cell/hotspot using booster: AT&T (2 of 4 bars) Difficulty working on AT&T.
Cell/hotspot using booster: Verizon (3 of 4 bars—4G). Worked on vpn with Verizon fine but Zoom meetings were a bit glitchy.

Details:
Staff: Standard. Nothing really welcoming or rude.
Sites: Gravel pad with large grassy living spaces.
Campground Road: Gravel road.
Grounds: Clean and maintained really well.
Bathrooms/Showers: Looked okay. Did not use b/c the bathroom smelled badly (i think b/c of the area smell?)
Laundry: Laundry facility was good. Some washers did not fully rinse/spin. Dryers worked well.
Location: Gas and a restaurants are at least 20+ min.
Near highway: Yes. But not an interstate so it is not all that noisy.
Near train: No.

We did Carlsbad caverns, Roswell, bottomless lakes, cavern bar flight viewing, Guadalupe mountains; from this base camp area and it was great. Sadly, just before we got there they closed Sitting Bull and massive sections of Guadalupe due to potential fire conditions. The sites were spacious. We had a patio with a swing and table and chairs. Their pool is basic but it was fun to get wet for an hour or two. Staff was friendly and we liked that they picked up your trash every morning. No kitchen so we couldn’t try out their food. The other parks in the area had no grass or trees and looked like barren waste lands. This koa has some grass at each site, and at least nice big mature trees to sit under. I liked that they had a little weather station that we could check on current winds and stuff. It was dusty and windy for all of the days except our last day and it was a nice break from all the wind. We would come back.

This KOA had nice level, wide spots and wide roads so it was really easy to park. The staff was helpful and accomodating. We ended up extending our stay one day on both ends because of a storm and had no trouble doing so. (It helped that the park was only half full). They provided a helpful sheet of hints to get through the freezing weather without damaging our RV. The showers were great - good pressure, and the bathrooms were clean. We were able to refill our propane twice while there. It was nice that they had propane on site because there is nothing near them. We had to drive 25 min to the nearest grocery store (to any business actually) Carlsbad caverns are about an hour away. I had only 1 bar for AT&T, but my husband said Verizon was better.

Sewage treatment plant a half mile from the KOA. Smelled bad at night each night.
Average KOA. Seems more like a Journey than a Holiday KOA.
Really quiet. Staff was nice. So, that was good.
Clean campground.
Wifi is not useful, even for a KOA. Understandable considering location. Just worth noting. Hotspots have strong signals so all good for work.
Site is really spacious with fire pit. But, not all that nice. Gravel sites with an average living area.
Lots of space behind and between spots. So, that is nice.
Nearest place to get food, groceries, and gas is downtown Carlsbad. So, 18 miles away, I believe.
Lots of dogs off leash in the long-term resident area and the staff didn't seem to care. That might mean different things to different folks, I think.

The distance from Carlsbad worked to our advantage since we used this campground as our base for visits to Roswell and Ruidoso in addition to the cave. The sites were well spaced. We were next to a group site which was unoccupied for the last half of our stay.

The staff was friendly and efficient. Given the proximity to the playground the campground was very quiet. We had a great stay there in spite of temperatures hitting 108 with wind and dust. We plan on returning.

It didn't look so far out on the map, but it is quite a bit outside of Carlsbad proper and the cave. That was the only real minus, but that wasn't even that bad. WIDE spacious paths and sites. You could get any size RV in this place. My little 20 footer could have parked in any direction in our pull through spot! Well-organized layout. Lovely fish pond near the bathrooms. Shower didn't get super hot for me in the afternoon but my daughter had no problems that night. Excellent stopover.

This is a KOA. It's pretty much what we expected. The facilities were clean. There was a great laundry which was the main reason we stopped here. There were some shade trees around most of the sites.

The sites and roads were gravel and with the high winds the campground was quite dusty. The campground is about 50 minutes from the Carlsbad Caverns so a bit of a hike, but there weren't too many choices closer. It's also about 20 minutes from Carlsbad if you need groceries or other supplies. The campground is located in a flat unremarkable part of the desert. There was very little view.

A couple of evenings one camper was playing tunes which we could hear easily while sitting outside. We called the staff who promised to look in to it, but nothing seemed to change.