Columbine Campground (NM)
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $30From, per site
- Sites
- 27All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Columbine Campground is located between Questa and Red River, New Mexico. The Red River flows past the campground and a trailhead leads into the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness area. Columbine Campground sits at 7,900 feet in elevation. Keep reading
Recreation
The Columbine Twining hiking trail can be found at the south end of the campground and gives access to 14 miles of hiking trails, and leads into the Columbin-Hondo Wilderness area. The Red River runs near the campground and can be accessed near the first loop.
Facilities
This campground offers 26 single sites, potable water, and vault toilets. Each site is has a fire ring, picnic table, and tent pad. Please note that no water can be filled directly into a trailer, rv, or motorhome anywhere in this campground - the potable water is only for filling containers you bring back to your site.
Natural Features
The campground is composed of two loops. One small loop at the campground entrance, has all open sites and views of the towering mountains. The other is a long loop up the canyon along the fast-flowing Columbine Creek. The campsites in this loop are tucked in among pine, spruce and some aspen providing ample shade and good privacy between campsites.
Nearby Attractions
Be sure to explore Red River, Questa, and the Enchanted Circle while in the area. 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.
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.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
FIRST COME FIRST SERVE sites must be booked in person. DO NOT call to determine availability, as they are only available on-site.
Bears frequent the area: please obey all food storage rules and regulations. Check with your host for details.
Off-road vehicles are not allowed in the campground. Horses are not allowed in the campground.
Click here for more information about Carson National Forest.
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
Opening and closing dates are weather permitting, please call 928-537-8888 for more information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 27 · 2 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 70 ft
- Paved pads
- 25 of 27
- Accessible sites
- 2
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…26 single sites, potable water, and vault toilets. Each site is has a fire ring, picnic table, and…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “Facilities This campground offers 26 single sites, potable water, and vault toilets.”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Whitewater rafting
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 79th darkest of 164 in NM
- Bortle 3
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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $30 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
27 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 27 mapped sitesAll 27 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. 27 of the 27 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| A | 001 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 50 ft | 114 ft | $30 |
| A | 002 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 50 ft | 164 ft | $30 | |
| A | 003 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 53 ft | 161 ftRed River | $30 | |
| A | 004 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 59 ft | 103 ftRed River | $30 | |
| A | 005 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 60 ft | 66 ftRed River | $30 | |
| A | 006 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 57 ft | 74 ftRed River | $30 | |
| A | 007 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 47 ft | 110 ft | $30 | |
| A | 008 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 47 ft | 84 ft | $30 |
| A | 009 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 74 ft | 65 ft | $30 | |
| A | 010 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 43 ft | 134 ft | $30 | |
| A | 011 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 43 ft | 152 ft | $30 | |
| A | 012 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 89 ft | 103 ft | $30 | |
| A | 013 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 67 ft | 105 ft | $30 | |
| A | 014 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 67 ft | 71 ft | $30 | |
| A | 015 | standard nonelectric | 33 ft | 124 ft | 63 ft | $30 | |
| A | 016 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | 171 ft | 72 ft | $30 | |
| A | 017 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 127 ft | under 10 ft | $30 | |
| A | 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 127 ft | 95 ft | $30 | |
| A | 019 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 105 ft | 168 ft | $30 | |
| A | 020 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 79 ft | 153 ft | $30 | |
| A | 021 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 79 ft | 163 ft | $30 | |
| A | 022 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 112 ft | 175 ft | $30 | |
| A | 023 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 130 ft | 158 ft | $30 | |
| A | 024 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 107 ft | 191 ft | $30 | |
| A | 025 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 107 ft | 199 ft | $30 | |
| A | 026 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 84 ft | 178 ft | $30 | |
| A | 027 | standard nonelectric | 70 ft | 84 ft | 170 ft | $30 |
25 of 27 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Elephant Rock CampgroundCarson National Forest · 4.1 mi
Fawn Lakes CampgroundCarson National Forest · 4.7 miJunebug CampgroundCarson National Forest · 4.8 miEl Aguaje Campground ShelterRío Grande Del Norte National Monument · 8.8 miFive miles east of Questa, New Mexico via NM highway 38.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Questa, 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
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Columbine Campground (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 →