Rio Bravo Campground

I moseyed here about 11am on weekday and was able to snag an electric/water site after I passed by a full Pilar campground. By early afternoon, most spots were taken. Small campground along the rio grande, although you really don’t have views unless you walk down to the river where you’ll see a spot for tubes and kayaks to put in. Saw a couple of fly fisherman. As for the campground- basic, no privacy, both a pit toilet and a flush toilet with showers, but the last day I was there they lost electricity for some reason, so flush toilets were closed. It’s right along the road so there is some day tripper traffic, but everything settles down at night. Some interesting campers, the usual people who don’t think the rules apply to them and let their dogs run all over, but other than that, pretty quiet. Rangers make frequent appearances, host site empty when I was there. No dump station, I stayed two nights on my way to somewhere else, which is how most use this campground. Daily turnover is pretty high.

We liked it here so much that we ended up staying almost two weeks. FCFS sites. The RV sites can fit rigs above 30 feet, but we were surprised how small the dry sites are - most couldn’t even fit a larger van. A dry site was our back up plan but only 1 of them could have really fit our 23ft trailer.

I’m sure Starlink made this spot more popular. Absolutely NO cell signal, but we were getting strong speeds with Starlink (80s down, 20s up).

Nice to be able to walk down to the river. Popular spot for rafters. Definitely check out La Senda del Medio trail, right across the street. It goes between all the campgrounds & had it to ourselves to walk the dog.

25 minute drive to Taos. Check out the wineries & breweries a few minutes south.

Very nice camp host.

Bathrooms were under construction while we were there, but they should be open now.

If you’re good with dry camping without bathhouse access, we were surprised by how quiet the campgrounds further down the road were. The first two are definitely way more popular.

Overall, the best place to stay to visit Taos, as long as you don’t mind a drive into town.

We stayed here for 3 nights with 32 ft 5th wheel while we visited Taos. Came in on Easter Sunday and there were two RV sites still available at 12pm. All the day use was full, but everyone ended up leaving that night except for the 4 RVs. The rest of our stay was very quiet- seemed like there was at least one RV site available every day. Bathrooms and showers were locked, however there were two vault toilets. We had 50 amp power at our site as well as 30, and water. Road noise during the day but at night nothing.

We didn’t see anything further up that would have fit us, and no further power/water that we could see. Campground before rio bravo looked like it was very RV friendly.

Recommend getting propane if needed on the way to Taos at Pendleton Propane- very easy and nice, and cheaper than Costco!

Dumped at the Speedway on 64 for free, but no fill water.

We stayed here passing through on our way to Carlsbad. This campground is FCFS with 4 pull through RV sites with water and electricity. The other spots along the river are for tent or car campers and are small pull or back ins. The car spots are $7 a night and the RV spots are $15. The spots are pretty level and our Starlink worked well here. Very neat; clean campground with friendly camp host right along the Rio Grande river with awesome views of the gorge.

I travelled here with a 35’ 5th wheel, long bed pickup and parked in site #RV3, an E/W PT site for $7.50/night. This is a great deal! Rarely do you find hookups in a BLM campground for such a low price. The setting is beautiful, down in the canyon along the Rio Grande river. The road in is asphalt and the site is gravel. The road is somewhat narrow so go slowly. Inside the campground there are several large speed bumps. Again, go slow! The RV sites are on the inside of the loop so go to the left when you come into the campground so your door is facing the interior of the loop. Bathhouse is older but very clean. No benches in the showers for your stuff, but there are shower caddies on the wall. No cell service, wifi or OTA signals. There are several hiking trails in the canyon and big horn sheep are in residence which is cool to see. Pilar CG also has E/W but has an weird layout in spots. Most of the other CG’s in the canyon are tent only or very small trailers. There is road noise during the day, but it is not obnoxious and is very quiet at night. I really enjoyed my time here and would stay there again. Check out the Farmhouse Café and Bakery in Taos. Great food!

We came a few weeks ago in March, 2022. it was hard finding a spot ON the red river that wasnt closed and this was open and PERFECT! we got a tent site (nonelectric) that was maybe 20 feet from the river. we also bought the RV site on the other side of the gravel so we could have electric. we paid for it and someone else came in and used it and just split the electric. nice folks. camp host was great! its also a great launch pad location for so many activities in the area. NICE AND QUIET!! we are returning later this month!

After reading reviews of some of the other campgrounds in the Orilla Verde RA I knew I wanted to visit, though not necessarily on the coldest, so far, day of the year. It got down to the single digits but with very electric hookups it was manageable. There are about 8 car/tent dry camping sites and 4 pull-through RV sites with water/electric. Two of the RV sites are on the riverside and 2 on the roadside, all very nice and level. The water spigots were actually running when I checked upon arriving about 2PM.

Both Rio Bravo and the other RV campground, Pilar, had hosts present, though I was the only camper. The river was running and gorgeous with wild ducks floating and flying about. While driving to the bridge the next morning a bald eagle was flying around and then perched on a distant tree. There are several access points to the river for floating or rafting during the season. Don't even think about connectivity - absolutely nothing until well out of the gorge and several miles up the highway towards Taos. The night sky was beautiful as you might imagine. Definitely worth visiting again, perhaps when a bit warmer.