Water Canyon Campground

25 miles east of Socorro and 4.5 miles down a sometimes paved road takes you to one of the quietest campgrounds we’ve visited lately. The campground is reached by following a rutted and somewhat washed out dirt road uphill to the right of the entrance. I engaged 4WD as the road was moderately steep with loose gravel and a few rocks and I didn’t want to spin out hauling our fully loaded 25 foot travel trailer up it. Once in the campground we saw only one other camper with a tent driving a newer standard run of the mill SUV. A quick run through brought us back to the first campsite at the top where we had plenty of room to park without unhooking. We hung out with drinks in hand in our easy chairs by the cement picnic table and let the two cats wander on leashes around the area. As the sun set the temperature dropped to a pleasant upper 60s. By morning it was chilly. Coyotes chattering down canyon were the only sounds all night long.

The campsite shows a fair amount of neglect. While the restrooms were very clean and odorless (yay) the sites showed damage from heavy downpours that must have hit the area some time ago. Repairs need to be done to roads and landscaping and fire pits could be cleaner. That said, it was still a pleasure to stay there because it was so quiet!

The short access road (~100 yards) was badly washed/rutted but managed to tiptoe my Accord in there w/o dragging. A camper in the adjoining group camp came by to borrow a match and marveled that I was able to get a sedan up it. Only a few sites have level tent pads but we managed to get one of those as there was only one other camper there, a delightful middle-aged hippie there to collect pine nuts. He came over to introduce himself, and make sure his dog wasn't bothering us (he wasn't), after his very well behaved dog came over and tried to give us the sad-eye panhandle as we snacked on beef jerky. Perfectly quiet campground - no boomboxes, RV generators, road noise. Wonderful view of moon rise over cliffs from our tent window. "It don't get no better than this" - unless they run a grader up the access road. A neat Vinegaroon wandered by our tent one evening, no stinger but they spray acetic acid (vinegar) if disturbed. Bosque del Apache NWR is nearby and worth a visit during waterfowl migrations.

I read somewhere that this is a very popular spot, but I arrived the Tuesday after Memorial Day and the crowds had gone home. There were just three of us in the campground. The road from US60 is paved most of the way. The unpaved section is relatively short with some chunky patches, but sedans made it to the campground. A tight turn might be a problem for some rigs. Vault toilets, trash bins, tables, fire rings, the usual dry camping setup. The sites aren't very big, the campground having been built before the days of monster RVs. Several sites have tent pads. A couple of sites are double wide. There's a group camp farther down the road but it's gated and available only via reservations. Cell service jumped between one bar of 3G and 1X but mostly no service. It's in a canyon, after all.