Cimarron Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $22–$40Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 36All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Cimarron Campground is located in the scenic Valle Vidal within Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico, at an elevation of 9,300 feet. The sites are tucked among spruce, aspen and fir trees, and the camp offers an open range feel. Visitors have opportunities to enjoy a variety of recreational activities in a picturesque setting. Viewing wildlife and simply relaxing in the mountain air are popular activities. Keep reading
Recreation
Anglers can fish for Rio Grande cutthroat trout in Comanche Creek and the Rio Pueblo. Nearby Shuree Ponds offers excellent fishing. The smaller pond is a fishing hole for kids 12 and under. The main pond is stocked with rainbow trout and is also popular for float tubing. The area around the campground is open to horseback riding, and there are few maintained trails. Elk and deer hunting is excellent.
Facilities
The campground contains 36 overnight campsites, which includes eleven horse sites and one double site. Vault toilets are provided. Sites are equipped with picnic tables and campfire rings with grills. Horse corrals and water troughs are available in the campground. A host is on-site.
Natural Features
Some of the finest mountain scenery in the Southwest is found in the 1.5 million acres within the Carson National Forest. Elevations range from 6,000 feet to 13,161 feet at Wheeler Peak, the highest in New Mexico. Big game animals roam the Carson, including mule deer, elk, antelope, black bear, mountain lion and bighorn sheep. Many species of smaller animals and songbirds can also been found in the forest. Cimarron Campground is located within the beautiful Valle Vidal, a Spanish term meaning "Valley of Life," of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Shuree Ponds, Comanche Creek and the Rio Pueblo are all near the campground, offering excellent fishing. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (928) 537-8888.
What the agency tells you
Standard Single Family sites: Recreation Use Fee allows ONE camping unit ONLY.
Extra Vehicles: Cannot be paid for in advance - upon arrival coordinate with the host for payment and where to park.
Campground is remote. The nearest gas station or convenience store is approximately 29 miles away in Costilla, NM. Access roads may have sharp rocks and gravel: bring a spare tire and changing tools.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
Late Arrivals: campers are not considered a "no-show" until 24 hours after arrival date check in time. Our policy is that your site will not be released before that.
FIRST COME FIRST SERVE sites must be booked in person. DO NOT call to determine availability, as they are only available on-site.
NOTES: Horse facilities are available. Off-road vehicles are not allowed in the campground.
Bears frequent the area: please obey all food storage rules and regulations. Check with your host for details.
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.
This site is pack it in pack it out. No trash services here.
Click here for more information about Carson National Forest
Opening and closing dates are weather permitting, please call 928-537-8888 for more information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 36 · 11 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 180 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed at 25 of 36 sites
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…eleven horse sites and one double site. Vault toilets are provided. Sites are equipped with picnic tables…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 36th darkest of 164 in NM
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
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 · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $22–$40 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 · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 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
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.
| Loop A | 001 | equestrian nonelectric | 44 ft | 39 ft | 1,495 ft | $22 |
| Loop A | 002 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 39 ft | 1,457 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop A | 003 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | 135 ft | 1,403 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop A | 004 | equestrian nonelectric | 44 ft | 112 ft | 1,431 ft | $22 |
| Loop A | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 71 ft | 1,322 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop A | 006 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 71 ft | 1,255 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop A | 007 | standard nonelectric | 180 ft | 109 ft | 1,220 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop A | 008 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 109 ft | 1,285 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop A | 009 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 58 ft | 1,319 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop A | 010 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 91 ft | 1,316 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop A | 011 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 58 ft | 1,278 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 012 | equestrian nonelectric | 44 ft | 93 ft | 1,380 ft | $22 |
| Loop B | 013 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 80 ft | 1,385 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 014 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | 80 ft | 1,459 ft | $22 |
| Loop B | 015 | equestrian nonelectric | 32 ft | 92 ft | 1,529 ft | $22 |
| Loop B | 016 | equestrian nonelectric | 36 ft | 67 ft | 1,529 ft | $22 |
| Loop B | 017 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 67 ft | 1,467 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 018 | equestrian nonelectric | 36 ft | 93 ft | 1,514 ft | $22 |
| Loop B | 019 | equestrian nonelectric | 70 ft | 89 ft | 1,465 ft | $22 |
| Loop B | 020 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 89 ft | 1,384 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 021 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 117 ft | 1,328 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 022 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 103 ft | 1,358 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 023 | equestrian nonelectric | 36 ft | 103 ft | 1,287 ft | $22 |
| Loop B | 024 | equestrian nonelectric | 38 ft | 150 ft | 1,141 ft | $22 |
| Loop B | 025 | equestrian nonelectric | 61 ft | 109 ft | 1,123 ft | $22 |
| Loop B | 026 | standard nonelectric | 53 ft | 41 ft | 1,235 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 027 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 41 ft | 1,227 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 028 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 61 ft | 1,168 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 029 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 67 ft | 1,230 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 030 | standard nonelectric | 34 ft | 90 ft | 1,173 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 031 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 101 ft | 1,251 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 032 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | 91 ft | 1,163 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 033 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 91 ft | 1,255 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 034 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 89 ft | 1,181 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 035 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 54 ft | 1,261 ft | $22–$40 |
| Loop B | 036 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 54 ft | 1,207 ft | $22–$40 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
25 of 36 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Fawn Lakes CampgroundCarson National Forest · 14 mi
Elephant Rock CampgroundCarson National Forest · 14 miFawn Lakes CampgroundCarson National Forest · 15 miLa Bobita CampgroundCarson National Forest · 16 miDriving Directions: From Costilla, NM, on State Highway 522, travel east on State Highway 196 past Amalia to the intersection of Forest Service Road 1950. Travel on 1950 (a gravel road) east to the unit boundary. Follow Forest Service Road 1950 to the junction with Forest Service Road 1900. Turn right; you will cross Costilla Creek. Continue on Forest Service Road 1950, 10 miles to the junction with Forest Road 1910. Climb 1 mile up the hill to Cimmarron Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Red River, NM
Typical weather
Typical October night 25°F, day 56°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 7°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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Cimarron Campground 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 →