Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM)
1Heads up1 fire 4.7 mi away
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 2 of the next 3 nights read 14:34 UTC
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 36All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
At 8475 feet in elevation, Black Canyon Campground is in a great location to experience some of the finest mountain scenery the Southwest has to offer. The facility is newly renovated and provides access to a variety of outdoor recreational activities. Campers can enjoy warm days and cool weather in the summer months, providing a scenic getaway from the desert heat. Keep reading
Recreation
Hikers enjoy a pleasant hiking 1.5-mile trail that loops around the campground and into the surrounding forest. Several additional hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding trails are located nearby. The Pecos Wilderness can be accessed eight miles from the campground, with many trails leading to majestic peaks and through valleys, canyons and forested groves. Many recreation opportunities exist along Highway 475, both above and below Black Canyon Campground, including hiking and biking trails and picnic areas. In the winter, the area offers both Nordic and alpine skiing.
Facilities
The campground offers many single and double-family sites, most of which are accessible. Some sites are designated as walk-to sites for tent camping only. A few are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Each site is equipped with a table and campfire ring with grill. Accessible vault toilets are provided. The highway to the campground is paved. There is currently no water available on the campground, bring your own water . The campground is adjacent to New Mexico's Hyde State Park, where a dump station is available.
Natural Features
The campground is situated in a forest of pine, aspen and fir trees. A good mix of sun and shade is found throughout the area. Many beautiful views are found in the surrounding forest. Contact Info This location has limited staffing. Please call (505) 753-7331 for general information.
Nearby Attractions
The campground is located about seven miles northeast of the town of Santa Fe, New Mexico. This unique town is known for its cultural heritage, art galleries and museums.
What the agency tells you
Our facility is experiencing a temporary water outage. Please bring all the water you’ll need for your visit, including drinking water.
Cellular coverage is limited inside the Campground.
Click here for more information about the Santa Fe National Forest
Everything else this campground posts · 2
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.
Additional fees will be collected for extra vehicles at the campground - $5.00 per extra vehicle - limit of one.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 36 · 6 walk-in
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 61 ft
- Paved pads
- 35 of 36
- Accessible sites
- 35
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…and campfire ring with grill. Accessible vault toilets are provided. The highway to the campground is…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…campground is paved. There is currently no water available on the campground, bring your own water .…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- Biking
- Hiking
- Night sky · 142nd darkest of 164 in NM
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 6 days ago, 8.4 km away
- Peak color
Full this Saturdayread 14:34 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
1 campground has sites open within 30 miles, read 15:03 UTC. See them
OpenBookedClosed
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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 · 13
What you actually pay
“Additional fees will be collected for extra vehicles at the campground - $5.00 per extra vehicle - limit of one.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $20 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
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 · 6
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 1
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 15:03 UTC
- Juniper Campground (NM)Bandelier National Monument · 25 mi · 16 of 35 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 14:34 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
36 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 36 mapped sitesAll 36 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 36 of the 36 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 36 of the 36 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| BLACK CANYON | 001 | walk to | yes | 49 ft | 294 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,623 ft | $20 | |
| BLACK CANYON | 002 | walk to | yes | 49 ft | 301 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,581 ft | $20 | |
| BLACK CANYON | 003 | walk to | yes | 72 ft | 426 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,531 ft | $20 | |
| BLACK CANYON | 004 | walk to | yes | 72 ft | 401 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,496 ft | $20 | |
| BLACK CANYON | 005 | walk to | yes | 84 ft | 701 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,336 ft | $20 | |
| BLACK CANYON | 006 | walk to | yes | 84 ft | 780 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,266 ft | $20 | |
| BLACK CANYON | 007 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | yes | 120 ft | 922 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,186 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 008 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | yes | 60 ft | 1,034 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,173 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 009 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | yes | 60 ft | 1,084 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,124 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 010 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 99 ft | 1,182 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,106 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 011 | standard nonelectric | 99 ft | 1,258 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,153 ft | $20 | ||
| BLACK CANYON | 012 | standard nonelectric | 59 ft | yes | 99 ft | 1,325 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,219 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 013 | standard nonelectric | 61 ft | yes | 85 ft | 1,491 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,406 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 014 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | yes | 51 ft | 1,558 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,472 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 015 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | yes | 51 ft | 1,579 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,433 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 016 | standard nonelectric | 49 ft | yes | 90 ft | 1,644 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,521 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 017 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 95 ft | 1,776 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,571 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 018 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 87 ft | 1,863 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,572 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 019 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | yes | 47 ft | 1,950 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,616 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 020 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | yes | 47 ft | 1,949 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,656 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 021 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | yes | 55 ft | 2,005 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,637 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 022 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | yes | 55 ft | 2,015 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,688 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 023 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | yes | 65 ft | 2,071 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,690 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 024 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | yes | 95 ft | 2,114 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,642 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 025 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | yes | 42 ft | 1,968 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,526 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 026 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | yes | 42 ft | 1,969 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,490 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 027 | standard nonelectric | 57 ft | yes | 89 ft | 1,881 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,469 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 028 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | yes | 73 ft | 1,885 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,390 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 029 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | yes | 100 ft | 1,979 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,398 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 030 | standard nonelectric | 49 ft | yes | 106 ft | 1,918 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,293 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 031 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | yes | 73 ft | 1,820 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,334 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 032 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | yes | 61 ft | 1,689 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,324 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 033 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | yes | 61 ft | 1,634 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,334 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 034 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | yes | 76 ft | 1,600 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,260 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 035 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | yes | 46 ft | 1,521 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,266 ft | $20 |
| BLACK CANYON | 036 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | yes | 46 ft | 1,535 ftLittle Tesuque Creek | 1,311 ft | $20 |
25 of 36 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Holy Ghost Group AreaSanta Fe National Forest · 8.5 miHoly Ghost CampgroundSanta Fe National Forest · 9.0 mi
PanchuelaSanta Fe National Forest · 9.5 miFrom downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico, travel north on Washington Avenue to Artist Road (Hyde Park Road/State Route 475) and turn right. Continue for 7 miles to Black Canyon Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Rio en Medio, 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 · a letter you can send
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
Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM) 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 →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyTeresa Leger FernandezU.S. Representative · New Mexico’s 3rd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationBen Ray LujánU.S. Senator · New Mexico
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMartin HeinrichU.S. Senator · New Mexico
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM), Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico
Dear Teresa Leger Fernandez, I’m a constituent in New Mexico’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM), Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico, and couldn’t. All 36 sites at Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 16 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM) (Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM), Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico
Dear Ben Ray Luján, I’m a constituent in New Mexico. I tried to camp at Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM), Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico, and couldn’t. All 36 sites at Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 16 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM) (Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM), Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico
Dear Martin Heinrich, I’m a constituent in New Mexico. I tried to camp at Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM), Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico, and couldn’t. All 36 sites at Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 16 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM) (Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico) via campanac.com