Amole Canyon Group Shelter
1Heads up1 fire 24 mi away
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 12 of the next 15 nights read 16:54 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Amole Group Shelter is located immediately adjacent to the popular wooded Amole Canyon Day Use Area at 8,400 feet in elevation. The group shelter accommodates up to 100 people with plenty of solitude since this is the only group facility in this location. Keep reading
Recreation
There are approximately 11 miles of non-motorized trails located in the Amole Canyon Day Use Area. Here, visitors can enjoy sections of the nearby South Loop Trail, with views of the Rio Pueblo Valley, and nearby Bear Mountain and Penasco Mountain. Along the Upper Cutoff Trail, views of Picuris Mountain are readily available. The trails are popular for hiking, mountain biking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing and are rated easy to more difficult. The Amole Canyon Trailhead also provides access to the Forest's Motorized Trail System via Trail 182, the Tio Maes Trail.
Facilities
This location provides gated access, twin barbecue grills, picnic tables and a group-sized fire ring. In addition, accessible twin vault toilets with a paved path to the shelter are provided. There is no water at this facility and no trash service. Please bring all the water you will need for your stay and pack out your trash. There is group camping for up to 100 people with 4 paved single vehicle parking spots, and gravel spots for passenger vehicles or camper trailers/RVs. All designated parking is surfaced with gravel or pavement. The pull-thrus can either be used for passenger vehicles or RVs and camp trailers. All parking, regardless of vehicle type, must be on surfaced parking areas.
Natural Features
The group camping area has been constructed within a stand of tall ponderosa pine trees. The shelter has been constructed on a small hill overlooking a pristine meadow. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (575) 587-2255.
Nearby Attractions
Amole Canyon Group Shelter is located approximately seven miles away from the unincorporated community of Penasco with art galleries, some restaurants, fuel and automotive services, and a small hardware store; seven miles from Sipapu Ski and Summer Resort with a resturant and a nationally ranked disc golf course; eight miles from the Taos Campus of Southern Methodist University and the Pot Creek Cultural Site; 11 miles from Picuris Pueblo; 15 miles from Taos which has a hospital and most services; 15 miles from access to the Pecos Wilderness and world class fly fishing at the Santa Barbara Trailhead; 20 miles from the Serpent Lake Trailhead which accesses the Pecos Wilderness and Jicarita Peak (12,800 feet); 20 miles to Taos Pueblo with events and pueblo tours; and 30 miles from the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument with word class rafting, kayaking and flying fishing.
What the agency tells you
A combination code will be provided to you by Recreation.gov to open the gate to the group shelter. If you have questions regarding your reservation please contact Recreation.gov at (877)444-6777 or (877)833-6777 for TDD devices. If you have questions about the Carson National Forest in general, please contact the Camino Real Ranger District at 575-587-2255 during normal business hours (Monday through Friday 8:00-4:30) .
There is no cellphone service at Amole Canyon Group Shelter. The nearest cell phone recetion for most providers is at Sipapu Ski Resort or along the highway in front of Southern Methodist University.
Be Bear Aware - Keep a clean camp, store all food items in closed containers.
Everything else this campground posts · 7
There is no water service at the group shelter so bring your own water or fill up in Taos or Penasco.
Click here for more information on the Carson National Forest
For more information on the Camino Real Ranger District call (575) 587-2255
No more than twenty vehicles are allowed in this facility.
Find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CarsonNF/
Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
No trash service is provided, please pack out your trash.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 30 ft
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- ACCESSIBLE VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…paved path to the shelter are provided. There is no water at this facility and no trash service. Please bring…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Climbing
- Historic site
- Visitor center
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 89th darkest of 164 in NM
- Bortle 3
Something open on 9 of the next 12 bookable nightsread 16:54 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBookedNot on the booking system
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 26. read 16:54 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:54 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| A | 1 | group standard area nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 2,161 ft | $100 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Agua Piedra CampgroundCarson National Forest · 5.7 mi
Santa Barbara CampgroundCarson National Forest · 6.8 miArroyo Hondo CampgroundRío Grande Del Norte National Monument · 12 miLone Juniper CampgroundRío Grande Del Norte National Monument · 12 miPilar CampgroundRío Grande Del Norte National Monument · 12 miPetaca CampgroundRío Grande Del Norte National Monument · 12 miFrom State Road 68 in Ranchos de Taos, go south on 518 14.2 miles to the junction with National Forest System Road 703, go southeast on FSR703 approximately 0.4 mile to a gate locked with a coded padlock. The code will be provided to you in an email. Unlock the gate and proceed south into the group shelter parking area.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Vadito, NM
Typical weather
Typical October night 32°F, day 61°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 18°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Amole Canyon Group Shelter is in New Mexico’s 3rd congressional district. Its representative, Teresa Leger Fernandez (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A+. See every public-lands vote →