Pinon Campground (Quemado Lake)
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $15From, per site
- Sites
- 25All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Pinon Campground is a mix of first come, first served campsites and reservable group sites. The campground is located across from Juniper Campground and is less than 2 miles from Quemado Lake. For more information, you can visit our website: Gila National Forest : Recreation Group - Quemado Lake Recreation Area Recreation Recreational opportunities include fishing and boating on Quemado Lake, hiking forest and lakeside trails, and RV and tent camping. Keep reading
Facilities
Tent Camping/ Trailer/RV Camping / Picnic Tables / Vault Toilets / Grills / Campfire Rings Natural Features Forested / Unrestricted Night Sky Views Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (575) 773-4678. Nearby Attractions -El Caso I-3 Campgrounds -El Caso 4 & 5 Campgrounds -Juniper Campground -Quemado Lake and Day Use Area -Boat Ramp at Quemado Lake
What the agency tells you
All Gila National Forest sites have a 14 day stay limit.
Hunting and target shooting are prohibited in the Quemado Lake Recreation Area.
Horses are prohibited at the Pinon Campground and the Quemado Lake Recreation Area.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
All pets must be on a leash except in enclosed areas.
Fires are permitted only in fire rings provided.
For fishing conditions go to wildlife.dgf.nm.gov
For water conditions go to www.env.nm.gov
A dump station is available at Pinon Campground (Quemado Lake) for a $15 fee.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 25 · 15 tent-only, 2 group, 2 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 25 of 25 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 25 of 25 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Backpacking
- Biking
- Birding
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Kayaking
- Mountain biking
- Non-Motorized Boating
- Paddle Boating
- Paddling
- Picnicking
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 · 16
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 Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
25 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 25 mapped sitesAll 25 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 25 of the 25 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. 2 of the 25 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Pinon | 37 | tent only nonelectric | 97 ft | 1,603 ft | 518 ft | |
| Pinon | 38 | rv nonelectric | 89 ft | 1,513 ft | 566 ft | |
| Pinon | 39 | tent only nonelectric | 100 ft | 1,577 ft | 615 ft | |
| Pinon | 40 | rv nonelectric | 89 ft | 1,491 ft | 636 ft | |
| Pinon | 41 | tent only nonelectric | 73 ft | 1,481 ft | 738 ft | |
| Pinon | 42 | rv nonelectric | 81 ft | 1,424 ft | 732 ft | |
| Pinon | 43 | tent only nonelectric | 73 ft | 1,435 ft | 810 ft | |
| Pinon | 44 | rv nonelectric | 78 ft | 1,346 ft | 831 ft | |
| Pinon | 45 | tent only nonelectric | 96 ft | 1,395 ft | 920 ft | |
| Pinon | 46 | rv nonelectric | 99 ft | 1,306 ft | 933 ft | |
| Pinon | 47 | tent only nonelectric | 96 ft | 1,332 ft | 1,014 ft | |
| Pinon | 48 | tent only nonelectric | 106 ft | 1,235 ft | 1,112 ft | |
| Pinon | 49 | tent only nonelectric | 106 ft | 1,134 ft | 1,144 ft | |
| Pinon | 50 | tent only nonelectric | 118 ft | 1,075 ft | 1,075 ft | |
| Pinon | 51 | tent only nonelectric | 88 ft | 1,144 ft | 962 ft | |
| Pinon | 52 | rv nonelectric | 88 ft | 1,217 ft | 935 ft | |
| Pinon | 53 | tent only nonelectric | 75 ft | 1,222 ft | 849 ft | |
| Pinon | 54 | rv nonelectric | 78 ft | 1,296 ft | 827 ft | |
| Pinon | 55 | tent only nonelectric | 75 ft | 1,269 ft | 781 ft | |
| Pinon | 56 | rv nonelectric | 94 ft | 1,346 ft | 740 ft | |
| Pinon | 57 | tent only nonelectric | 106 ft | 1,331 ft | 691 ft | |
| Pinon | 58 | tent only nonelectric | 104 ft | 1,435 ft | 601 ft | |
| Pinon | 59 | tent only nonelectric | 161 ft | 1,540 ft | 455 ft | |
| Pinon Groupsite A | group shelter nonelectric | 382 ft | 1,558 ft | 345 ft | $50 | |
| Pinon Groupsite B | group shelter nonelectric | 502 ft | 2,011 ft | 75 ft | $50 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Juniper Campground (Quemado Lake)Apache National Forest · 0.3 miEl Caso I-IV CampgroundApache National Forest · 0.8 miArmijo Springs CampgroundApache National Forest · 5.7 mi
Valle Tio Vinces CampgroundApache National Forest · 11 miApache Creek CampgroundGila National Forest · 23 miThe campground is located 14.2 miles south of Quemado. Take NM 32 south to Quemado Lake/NM 103 sign. Turn left onto NM 103 and drive 4 miles to Quemado Lake/Forest Road 13. NM103 ends when the paved road turns to gravel. The gravel road is an indication that you are now driving on Forest Road 13. Continue driving on Forest Road 13 for 1.4 miles to reach the Pinon Campground. Turn left into the campground.
Latitude : 34.138103 Longitude : -108.483553 Elevation : 7,899 Feet
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Quemado, NM
Typical weather
Typical October night 27°F, day 71°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 13°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
Pinon Campground (Quemado Lake) is in New Mexico’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Gabe Vasquez (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →