Paliza
1Heads up1 fire 8.5 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $15From, per site
- Sites
- 4130 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Paliza Campground sits beneath sandstone cliffs on the Jemez Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest. The area is replete with culture, offering visitors a glimpse into the past. Ample recreation opportunities exist at or near the campground, which makes it a wonderful outdoor destination. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking, wildlife viewing and scenic drives are some of the popular activities enjoyed near the campground. Striking views of an ancient volcanic crater amid the rolling hills, can be seen from the Cerro Pelado Scenic Overlook, about 11 miles from the campground. Off-road vehicle trails and numerous hiking and mountain biking trails surround the campground.
Facilities
There is no water. The campground offers a variety of sites available for tent and RV camping. Picnic tables, lantern posts and campfire rings with grills are provided, as are accessible vault toilets. Roads within the campground are paved.
Natural Features
The newly refurbished campground sits in a forested area at the top of a hill with views of the Jemez Valley below. It was originally the site of a 1930s Civilian Convservation Corps base camp. Remnants of that camp, including log lean-to's and adirondack shelters with rock fireplaces, can be found within the campground. A small stream runs alongside the campground and sandstone cliffs on the nearby mesas provide excellent photographic and sightseeing opportunities. A small tract of private land is located north of the campground and common courtesy is appreciated.
Nearby Attractions
The campground is located five miles northeast of the town of Ponderosa, New Mexico, an area known for its vineyards and winery with a tasting room. The Jemez Pueblo and the Walatowa Visitor Center, both of which provide rewarding cultural experiences, are just 11 miles from the campground in the town of Jemez. The quaint community offers shopping and dining opportunities, as well as a variety of recreational opportunities.
What the agency tells you
This campground is a Reservation campground starting in 2026. All Site reservations can be made the day of your arrival or reservation windows are open in 6 month increments.
Online reservations are payment for two vehicles MAXIMUM; that includes the tow vehicle or RV and one additional vehicle.
Check out is at 11:00 AM, Check in time is 1:00 PM.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Quiet hours are between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Generators are not to be used between that time.
Dead and down only in fire rings; do not cut standing trees.
No ATV/ORV use in the campground. Travel is restricted elsewhere on the 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.
No dump station available at this campground.
Charcoal only in pedestal grills.
There are no potable water sources in the campground. Please ensure you have enough water for your visit.
There is no electrical hookup in the campground.
Click here for more information on the Santa Fe National Forest
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 41 · 4 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 50 ft
- Paved pads
- 29 of 41
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…grills are provided, as are accessible vault toilets. Roads within the campground are paved. Natural…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…surround the campground. Facilities There is no water. The campground offers a variety of sites available…”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Biking
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 122nd darkest of 164 in NM
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 30 of the 41 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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 rate for this season, $15 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 Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
42 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 30 mapped sitesAll 42 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 3 of the 42 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. 30 of the 42 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.
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 001 | type not stated | 663 ft | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 0010 | type not stated | 604 ft | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 0011 | type not stated | 455 ft | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 0012 | type not stated | 790 ft | 3,160 ft | |||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 0013 | type not stated | 767 ft | 2,954 ft | |||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 0014 | type not stated | 777 ft | 2,751 ft | |||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 002 | type not stated | 788 ft | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 003 | type not stated | 511 ft | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 004 | type not stated | 907 ft | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 007 | type not stated | 675 ft | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | 008 | type not stated | 415 ft | ||||
| MANAGEMENT SITES | XXX | unnamed record | |||||
| SNGL | 001 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 48 ft | 367 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 002 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 111 ft | 384 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 003 | tent only nonelectric | 10 ft | 55 ft | 460 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 004 | tent only nonelectric | 12 ft | 48 ft | 413 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 005 | tent only nonelectric | 10 ft | 83 ft | 603 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 006 | standard nonelectric | 12 ft | 83 ft | 546 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 007 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | 74 ft | 794 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 008 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 123 ft | 924 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 009 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 87 ft | 829 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 010 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 74 ft | 791 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 011 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 90 ft | 685 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 012 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 90 ft | 659 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 013 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 83 ft | 496 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 014 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 76 ft | 424 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 015 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 76 ft | 429 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 016 | tent only nonelectric | 18 ft | 199 ft | 390 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 017 | rv nonelectric | 30 ft | 117 ft | 174 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 018 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 82 ft | 198 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 019 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 84 ft | 130 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 020 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 104 ft | 134 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 021 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 82 ft | 136 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 022 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 75 ft | 30 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 023 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 75 ft | 10 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 024 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 105 ft | under 10 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 025 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 85 ft | 76 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 026 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 54 ft | 134 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 027 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 54 ft | 161 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 028 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 90 ft | 194 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 029 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 183 ft | 37 ft | $15 | |
| SNGL | 030 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 85 ft | under 10 ft | $15 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It types it MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 42 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Paliza Group CampgroundSanta Fe National Forest · 0.7 mi
Vista Linda CampgroundJemez National Recreation Area · 5.4 mi
Jemez Falls CampgroundJemez National Recreation Area · 7.8 mi
Redondo CampgroundJemez National Recreation Area · 11 mi
San Antonio CampgroundJemez National Recreation Area · 13 miFrom the town of Ponderosa, New Mexico, travel 5 miles northeast on Forest Road 10 to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ponderosa, NM
Typical weather
Typical October night 36°F, day 70°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 19°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
Paliza 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 →