Villanueva State Park

We came here for what was going to be a few nights up to a week. Bought New Mexico State park pass . We were here and loved it so much we now haven’t left and are camp hosts for a few months as we don’t want to be here when cold . Camp sites are 10.00 a night. If you want power 14.00. Includes water at various areas of park and sewer dump . If you have annual pass it’s free 14 days w/o power with power 4.00 more per day . Park has awesome hiking , a general store with a ton of items and good prices 1.5 miles away . They now have a Verizon cell booster at ranger station and our phones and mifi stream videos fine on the east side of campground. There is also WiFi by its slow . They lock gates at 9 in summer 7 October they winter months so very safe and quiet .

Stayed here one night while driving through. No service! You lose service about 22 miles out from the camp site. Sometimes if the wind blows the right way you get service for a second. Park is very small, boondockong sotes and electric sites. We paid for a boondocking site after we saw pictures of some of the views and the website said all the electric sites were booked. No one answers the phone. Arrived after dark. Sign says the gates close but they were open. There is a camp host but we never saw them which is okay. We stayed in February so temps were close to freezing. Once we arrived we noticed 2 sites that were empty but had electric and 1 site that was empty but electric didn’t work. We moved ourselves so we could keep our pipes warm and paid the extra $4 cash in the pay box in the morning. No issues from anyone there. Woman’s bathroom and showers were, okay. Views were nice in the morning. Okay place but was not super impressed, probably try a different park next time we are in the area.

This is a great NM state park. We arrived in late March and all sites seemed to be first come first serve. We took one of the non-electric sites at the end of the lower section which backed up to the river. (Note the upper loop of the park was still closed for the Winter.) We checked out all of the hiking trails, which were steep with loose rocks, but worth it for the views from the cliff tops. Reading other reviews we had been concerned about the road in. We came in from the South, and only the last section dropping into the canyon was at all questionable. We left via the Northern access and had no trouble at all. There were many class A’s with dinghies in the campground, so don’t let a questionable entrance road stop you from checking out this great park!

I went there on a whim, when I saw the first state park sign coming down I-25 from CO. I didn't know anything about the park. It's quite remote so once I got there and saw it was sweet, I decided to stay a while. However, I was frantic cause I couldn't reach out to my family to tell them I was alive and where I landed. The camp host allowed me to make a call from their landline phone.

No cell service here and my jetpack had zero signal. Only wifi I had was through the camp station and it had many sites blocked. I couldn't get onto gmail, google, facebook and others, but I could get onto more obscure sites. I could get onto Youtube but no videos would play. It was weird. Through some careful trickery, I was able to get word to my family where I was and that I was fine.

Had it not been for that, I'd have stayed the full 14 days and I'd be going back again for another 14. It's right on the Pecos River and there's a bluff that rises above it. The sound of the river is very noticeable. Especially late at night, for some reason. Maybe because your sense of sight is so diminished in the dark.

The stars! The adobe shelters over the picnic tables! The arched bridge that crosses over the river to the foot of the bluff. The hiking trail up the bluff to an overlook (didn't go there) and the dirt path along the river (did that one with my dog. She used it as a race track and had an absolute blast.) The river level was low when I was there but it floods after a rain. The debris was stuck in the brush up to the level of that dirt path. (I don't know how high the water gets on the side with the campground.)

Spacious sites. Nice fire rings, some sites with electric, some primitive, none with water but there is a dump station and there are water spigots for drinking water. There's a group shelter which is nice. There's a day use area toward the back of the park with a playground for kids. Nothing fancy but still, it's nice if you've got a kid or two.

Super quiet. Remote and picturesque in an understated way. I'll definitely be going back, but for shorter stays. It's a bummer about the wifi and cell phone service. My only negative in my review. (They have restrooms with showers but I didn't check them out.) Well, no. One more negative. If you want anything like food, drink, wood, propane, etc, be sure you come with all those things. You won't be wanting to head out for supplies.

** I want to add that I camped here in the 2nd week of November, so at other times of the year, I'm sure the experience would be different. The water would be wonderful on a hot day. Bring your tubes!

It's not really a secret but it is slow going to access, I see a Class A here and I am towing a 20 foot long by 8.5 foot wide trailer which is about 11.5 feet tall, I also see the park host has a Class A so it is possible to get the larger rigs in here, just budget a lot of time to get back into this location from the major roads. I notice most rigs in here are on the compact side. When the signs say 15MPH, road narrows they are NOT kidding. I am not a hiker but from what I understand from someone camping near me there are miles of trails to hike from this location. There is a river/stream which follows the road in here. It is important to note mobile radio signal is spotty, but with a booster (Solid RF tri-band booster for ATT/T-Mobile) from site 27-C I was able to get a 4 bar LTE signal at 10Mbps download and 2~3Mbps upload speeds stable enough to post this review. My review indicating 4 bars of 4G T-Mobile is while using the booster. I am here for a one night layover but I can say the restrooms are clean and the staff was very friendly and helpful, the sites are also very clean. There is a lower level by the water for camping and the upper level which is a steep one-way loop overlooking the lower part of the park, but still well within the canyon. Even though it's mid October I am breaking a sweat on the upper level campsites, the temperature is noticeably cooler at the campsites lower by the water. It is also important to note all the electric sites are lower from what I have seen walking around. They have cookout sites and a large playground down by the water which is well shaded. The upper sites have vault toilets and the lower have flushing. There is a dump station near the ranger station. So far I am enjoying this location.

Edit: I had a well planned trip that fell apart and this was close to my route so I stayed here again April 2018, in the same site using a booster and got good T-Mobile connectivity using OpenSignal to locate the closest tower. The upper section just opened 1st of April so as for the moment I am the only one up here. Very quiet at night with great weather in the 50s (F) at night.

Same as previous review. Generous mix of primitive, electric and water, and dispersed water and reserved, one night, and non-reservable sites. Situated on the beautiful Pecos River with plenty of Channel Cat and sites along the river and a group above of primitive with shelters on a higher level. Trees and canyon provide outstanding wind protection. Close by town of Villanueva provides an emergency clinic and small store with home made eats within 5 miles of park entrance. Popular and can be crowded on weekends with local families. Open all year with winding and narrow access to I-25 to North, 9 miles and winding and narrow and steep descent to valley from I-40 to the south, 23 miles. Clean but aged toilets and hot showers centrally located at lower section.zoversll clean and well maintained. Exceptional and helpful staff. No, NADA cell service except at top of 2 mile loop trail; a bit of a scramble. Rates $10 if not water and electric.

Beautiful area. It's a long drive through the hills to get to it and way out in nowhere but worth it if you are willing to be off-grid because there is no cell coverage at all and that is probably the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars. Even with my booster I couldn't get anything. Staff was amazing and friendly. The gravel sites were clean and pretty level. 9A is a great site. It is a back-in site that is literally 25-30 steps from the river and a tall mountain just across the river.

There are several trails. we only got to do one (View Loop Trail) while there and it was great and easy. We even took our two toddlers (4&2) and they had a blast. We didn't do the whole loop because it gets narrow at a spot pretty far up and we decided to stop there, have a snack and turn back.

There is a nice, mulched playground for kids too. Our kiddos enjoyed going there a couple of times.

The dump station is easy to pull into, but you have to drive down the short road to turn around and it was a little tight but manageable with our 37' TT.

Overall, an amazing stay and we would definitely go back at a time when we don't need cell service.