Ponderosa Group Campground (NM)
5Heads up3 park alerts · 2 fires, nearest 15 mi
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 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:30 UTC
- Sites
- 2All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Ponderosa Group Campground is located 6 miles (9.7 km) from the park's main entrance and is an ideal place to stay for large groups visiting Bandelier National Monument. The campground is adjacent to Ponderosa Trailhead providing access to more than 70 miles (113 km) of hiking trails and is just a short drive from the Visitor Center, the Frijoles Canyon Shuttle System (mid-May to mid-October), and the town of Los Alamos, Valles Caldera National Preserve, Manhattan Project National Historic Site, and the Santa Fe National Forest. Keep reading
Ponderosa Group Campground is open year-round (water is only available from mid-May to mid-October, subject to delays and/or early shut off). Same-day reservations are not permitted. Frijoles Canyon and the park Visitor Center are accessible only by shuttle bus from mid-May to mid-October. The shuttle bus system stops at the Bandelier Visitor Center, Juniper Campground, and the White Rock Visitor Center in the town of White Rock. Outside of the designated shuttle bus period, visitors may access all park areas by private vehicle. Public events are prohibited at Ponderosa Campground. Private events that adhere to campsite capacity limits, may be permitted after obtaining a special use permit. Visit the park's Permits & Reservations web page or call (505) 672-3861 ext. 1102.
Recreation
Accessible from Ponderosa Group Campground, the Ponderosa Trail descends into the park through ponderosa pine forest and connects to many other trails including the Middle Frijoles Trails which leads 8 miles (13 km) through Frijoles Canyon to the Visitor Center and Main Loop Trail. The Visitor Center houses museum exhibits, park film, information and ranger programs, Western National Parks Association sales outlet, and more. Entrance to Frijoles Canyon and the Visitor Center is by shuttle bus only from mid-May to mid-October. These areas are accesibile by private vehicle outside the shuttle bus period. Although rock climbing is prohibited within Bandelier National Monument, many popular climbs are within a short drive up Route 4 into the Jemez Mountains.
Facilities
This campground is located at 7600 feet (2316 m) and is usually free of snow from mid-April through mid October. Water is not available during any months with freezing temperatures (potentially mid-October to mid-May). Vault toilets (with no running water), drinking water, a picnic shelter, picnic tables, food storage lockers, and campfire rings are provided at this facility. No hookup campsites are available. These sites are tent-only, but one RV per site can be accommodated in the parking area. Each site can accommodate between 10 and 50 people. Check-in time for the campground is 4:00 pm. Check-out time for the campround is 11:30 a.m. Group Picnics : Sites can be reserved for large group picnics, however the fee and process is the same as reserving the site for an overnight stay.
Natural Features
Bandelier National Monument protects over 33,000 acres (13,355 ha) of rugged, beautiful canyon and mesa country which features evidence of human presence going back over 11,000 years. Petroglyphs, dwellings carved into the soft rock cliffs, and standing masonry walls pay tribute to the early days of a culture that still survives in the surrounding communities. Bandelier National Monument sits at the southern end of the Pajarito (Spanish for "little bird") Plateau. The plateau was formed by two eruptions 1.6 and 1.4 million years ago. Home to the Bandelier Wilderness, Bandelier ranges from 5340 feet (1628 m) at the Rio Grande River to the south and 10,199 feet (3109 m) at the summit of Cerro Grande to the north, almost a mile (1.6 km) of elevation change in just under 12 miles (19 km). This elevation gradient creates a unique diversity of habitats specific to Northern New Mexico. The diversity of habitats and quick access to water supported a relatively large population of Ancestral Pueblo people. Currently, Piñon-Juniper woodlands dominate in the southern parts of the park transitioning through ponderosa pine savannahs and forests, finally reaching mixed conifer forests at the highest elevation. Scattered throughout the park are desert grasslands, montane meadows, and riparian areas in the canyon bottoms. Over 70 miles (113 km) of trails at Bandelier climb in and out of deep canyons and cross large flat mesas, showcasing the entire spectrum of volcanic geology and ecosystems found within the park. The park is home to over 55 species of mammals including mule deer, Abert's squirrels, mountain lions, black bears, and 16 species of bats. Reptiles and amphibians of all shapes and sizes can be seen. Birds such as Steller's jays, canyon towhees and mountain chickadees stay year-round, whereas turkey vultures, western tanagers, and black-headed grosbeaks are summer residents.
Nearby Attractions
The town of Los Alamos has shopping, museums, amenities, a movie theater, ice rink, ski hill, and is home to the Los Alamos unit of Manhattan Project National Historic Site. Nearby Department of Energy and US Forest Service lands provide trails which accommodate pets. Valles Caldera National Preserve is 16 miles (26 km) west of Bandelier. Jemez Historic Site is 37 miles (60 km) west. Pecos National Historical Park is 70 miles (113 km) southeast. Santa Fe, 40 miles (64 km) south of the park, is home to the New Mexico state capitol, museums, historic districts, art galleries, food, accomodations, and more.
What the agency tells you
Ponderosa Group Campground is available by reservation only. You may book reservations up to 12 months in advance until the day before arrival (subject to availability). There are no first-come, first-serve sites or same day reservations.
Entrance Fees. Bandelier National Monument charges an entrance fee separate from camping fees. You may pay the fee upon arrival at the automated fee machine at the Bandelier Entrance Station, at the Bandelier Visitor Center during business hours or purchase in advance. The park also honors Federal interagency passes (e.g., annual, senior, access, 4th grade, Golden Age pass etc.). For more information visit the park's Fees & Passes web page.
Check-in Time. Check-in time for group campsites is 4:00 p.m.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Check-out time. Check-out time for the campground is 11:30 a.m.
Quiet hours are from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. and will be strictly enforced. All areas beyond campsites are closed after dusk to all public use. Generators may be used only from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Tents only. Ponderosa Group Campground is for tent camping only, but you may park one RV per site in the parking area.
Parking. The use of all vehicles (including bicycles and trailers) is restricted to the parking area. All vehicles belonging to campers must be parked in the campground parking area – NOT in the trailhead parking area. Vehicles parked in the trailhead parking area after dark without a backcountry permit will be ticketed.
Food Lockers. Bears are known to be active in Bandelier National Monument. Please keep food, garbage and scented items locked up and unavailable to wildlife. Bear lockers are provided in the campground for storage of these items.
Pets. Pets are permitted in the campground, picnic area, and parking lot only and must be leashed at all times. Pets are not allowed on any hiking trails within the park.
Water Availability. Water is not available during months with freezing temperatures (potentially mid- October to mid-May). There are no shower or laundry facilities in the campground or in the park.
Minimum and Maximum Group Size. Camping at Ponderosa Group Campground is for groups of 10 to 50 persons per site. Camping is permitted only in the campsite for which campers have a reservation.
Prohibited activities. Group sports (volleyball, horseshoes, etc) are prohibited at campsites. Possession and/or use of fireworks or metal detectors is prohibited. Use of firearms is strictly prohibited and they may not be carried inside of government buildings. Digging or any other soil disturbance at campsites prohibited.
Firewood and Campfires. Gathering firewood is prohibited. During hot and dry summer months, fire restrictions are common and campfires and charcoal fires may be prohibited. Check the Alerts & Conditions page on the park website or call the Visitor Center for information on current fire restrictions.
Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. Moving firewood is illegal in some states. Visit dontmovefirewood.org to learn more.
Special Use Permits for Special Events. Public events are prohibited at Ponderosa Campground. Private events that adhere to campsite capacity limits, may be permitted after obtaining a special use permit. Visit the park's Permits & Reservations page or call (505) 672-3861 ext. 1102.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 2 · 2 group
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets - year round
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Bear boxes
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Meadow
- Birding
- Hiking
- Picnicking
- Stargazing
- Wilderness access
- Wildlife viewing
- Fall color · reported 4 days ago, 37 km away
- Patchy color
Full this Saturdayread 16:30 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
6 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 16:57 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
Every one of the 2 sites on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 2 are free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:30 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 22
What you actually pay
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
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 6
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first; the nearest 5 of 6. read 16:57 UTC
- Juniper Campground (NM)Bandelier National Monument · 5.0 mi · 40 of 70 site-nights open
- Cochiti CampgroundCochiti Lake · 13 mi · 32 of 160 site-nights open
- Redondo CampgroundJemez National Recreation Area · 15 mi · 92 of 112 site-nights open
- Vista Linda CampgroundJemez National Recreation Area · 22 mi · 6 of 26 site-nights open
- Clear Creek Campground (NM)Santa Fe National Forest · 28 mi · 9 of 24 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:30 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
2 sites · the site map
All 2 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 2 of the 2 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 2 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Juniper Campground (NM)Bandelier National Monument · 5.0 mi
Tetilla Peak13 mi
Cochiti Campground13 mi
Jemez Falls CampgroundJemez National Recreation Area · 14 mi
Redondo CampgroundJemez National Recreation Area · 15 mi
San Antonio CampgroundJemez National Recreation Area · 17 miFrom Santa Fe (appx 1 hour travel time):
- Take Highway 84/285 (Saint Francis Drive) north toward Los Alamos.
- Merge right onto NM 502 to Los Alamos.
- Exit onto NM 4 toward White Rock.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Los Alamos, NM
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 63°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 21°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Ponderosa Group 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 →
Who can change it · 4
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 office that runs itBandelier National MonumentNational Park Service unit
- 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 the National Park Service to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up, and to post what that share is.
Subject Hold back a share of sites at Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) for campers who drive up
To the National Park Service, Bandelier National Monument: I tried to camp at Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) in New Mexico and couldn’t. All 2 sites at Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 2 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m asking for one specific thing: set aside a published share of the sites at Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) as first-come, first-served, and post what that share is so it can be checked. Somebody who drives up has no way in, and no way to find out whether they might have had one. Sent about Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) (Bandelier National Monument, 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 Ponderosa Group Campground (NM), Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico
Dear Teresa Leger Fernandez, I’m a constituent in New Mexico’s 3rd district. I tried to camp at Ponderosa Group Campground (NM), Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico, and couldn’t. All 2 sites at Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 2 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Ponderosa Group Campground (NM). I’m asking you to put it to the National Park 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 Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) (Bandelier National Monument, 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 Ponderosa Group Campground (NM), Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico
Dear Ben Ray Luján, I’m a constituent in New Mexico. I tried to camp at Ponderosa Group Campground (NM), Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico, and couldn’t. All 2 sites at Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 2 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Ponderosa Group Campground (NM). I’m asking you to put it to the National Park 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 Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) (Bandelier National Monument, 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 Ponderosa Group Campground (NM), Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico
Dear Martin Heinrich, I’m a constituent in New Mexico. I tried to camp at Ponderosa Group Campground (NM), Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico, and couldn’t. All 2 sites at Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 2 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Ponderosa Group Campground (NM). I’m asking you to put it to the National Park 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 Ponderosa Group Campground (NM) (Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico) via campanac.com