San Lorenzo Canyon Recreation Area

Camped 6/8/2020 (Monday night). Driving north on I-25, we took Exit 156 and Frontage Rd (west side of interstate). It was about 5 miles to the first San Lorenzo Canyon sign pointing to the left. Since this was just an overnight stop, we didn't go all the way back into the canyon, but picked a spot along the gravel road that takes you to the BLM entrance and Enchantment Trail. Our spot was at 34.2227,-106.9387. The site had two entrances, but the first had a low ditch, so we took the second. The short drive into the site had a loop and was level.

After unhitching and setting up, we drove the road farther down to get the canyon. There's a second sign pointing you to take a right to San Lorenzo Canyon. There were plenty of spots back there, but the road had been graded, so there were mounds of soft dirt/gravel on each side. Some (not all) areas for camp sites along the road looked pretty soft, and there were soft spots on the road too, but we had no problem in our truck. As noted, the road dead ends in a large area where you can camp or turn around.

Our site along the first road had good views of the landscape and the Rio Grande valley. A cell tower was in site, getting us 3-4 bars. When we were there, it was SUPER windy, and it was only slightly better in the rocky canyon area. We didn't hear any noise (except the wind), and there were no other campers all the way back to the dead end. Our site had no trash, but there was a bit of trash at the dead end where we stopped to check out the rock formations.

Leaving, we went under the skinny tunnel under the interstate (by the first San Lorenzo Canyon sign) with no issue in our Tundra & camper. This got us to the frontage road on the east side, where we got back on the interstate to the north at Exit 163.

Definitely come in from exit 156, going north on that frontage road on the west side of the highway! It was truly a pain in the butt to use the frontage road on the other side of the highway and find that weird dark tunnel under the freeway.
I didn't actually go into San Lorenzo canyon, but I'm assuming it was really beautiful since I stayed straight and didn't take the (well marked) right turn to San Lorenzo canyon. Staying straight and going past the turn for San Lorenzo I was able to go about another half mile or so before ending up in a beautiful tiny canyon that ended with private property signs. fortunately, there was a small turn around that handled me and my pop up trailer camper just fine. Awesome place to camp but too far back in the hills to have cell service.

The GPS detection are totally wrong. Get off at exit 156 go a little west than north on the frontage road about five or six miles you will see a sign for San Lorenzo Canyon, follow sign to the left until you see the next sign that turns to your right, follow back to the end of the canyon about four or five miles total it will dead end.
Road is wash board but still a good road, you can do in car easy. Will accommodate big and small rigs.

We drove the four miles in off the interstate to San Lorenzo Canyon the directions that were given for this site only talked about the BLM area just after passing the cattle guard when I pulled up the BLM website I found the canyon four miles further in so we picked up and moved into the canyon it is a 4-mile washboard Road all gravel but as long as you go slow we kept it about 10 miles per hour it won't beat you to death. ( only parts of the road are washboard just be prepared to slow down quickly) the hiking and the views in the canyon were absolutely out of this world so glad that we decided to take our chances and go down that road. A local horseback riding group comes down on the weekends and pulling a large cattle trailer with them full of horses and they take off on the trails there was campers from Albuquerque with a Airstream parked down there so it is doable for a larger vehicle plenty of turnaround spaces and it's just make your own spot wherever you want to camp there was plenty of pull-off areas and canyons to go explore and set up camp if you have a tent!!! There are some deep Sandy Gravely areas in the road just keep your rig moving and you'll be fine!!!

As other reviews mentioned, it is a long 5 mile drive in on a wash board road which is mostly a dry sandy river bed. 4wd was needed for us with a pickup and 30' travel trailer because of the deep loose sand in places.

Also, there are TWO skinny tunnels, depending whether you come from the north or south and where you get off the highway.

It was incredibly quiet and dark at night, however, a fair amount of hiking and sightseeing traffic during the weekend afternoons.

This area is owned by the Bureau of Land Management. It's a little bit hard to find and the road is a washboard, but with patience and slow speeds, we were able to make it just fine. We did have to pass through a narrow (14'-4" square) one-way tunnel, so beware if clearance is an issue.

There were no official campsites, no hookups and no facilities, but plenty of places to pull off along the dirt road and find a generous patch of level land. The reward? Complete darkness and quietude.

We drove about 4.5 miles to the canyon turn off and then a few more miles to our chosen spot. If your vehicle(s) can take it, the deeper you go in, the better. We drove until we couldn't hear the traffic and lost our cell phone signal. We did however, cheat a little by using our antenna to tune into the Super Bowl.

We walked along the road in the morning all the way to San Lorenzo Canyon which is definitely worth seeing, gorgeous views and stunning landscape.