Rio De Las Vacas Campground
1Heads up1 fire 16 mi away
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 15All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 1 – November 30Open May 1 through November 30
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Less than two hours from the city of Albuquerque, Rio de las Vacas Campground offers a cool oasis from the New Mexico heat. Visitors delight in the hiking and fishing opportunities available in the shade of the pine covered Jemez Mountains. A few of the campsites have the creek running along them, providing a soothing atmosphere for campers. Keep reading
Recreation
Local streams and the San Gregorio reservoir provide fishing opportunities for anglers, and hikers will delight in the many hiking opportunities in the nearby San Pedro Parks Wilderness.
Facilities
There are 15 campsites on the campground. Most of the campsites at Rio De Las Vacas come with a paved RV pad, fire rings, picnic table, and tent pads. The campground itself has paved roads, trash bins, vault toilets and a host on site.
Natural Features
The campground is located amid stunning ponderosa pines in close proximity to the Rio de las Vacas. The campground has a beautiful open meadow and scenic views of the surrounding Jemez Mountains. Fall brings migrating birds through the campground and the sounds of elk bugling to impress potential mates.
Nearby Attractions
The San Pedro Parks Wilderness, just north of the Rio de las Vacas Campground, offers easy and scenic day hikes. The minimal grade increases of the trails into the San Pedro Parks make this wilderness an ideal backpacking destination for beginners and experienced backpackers alike. Three main trailheads, the San Gregorio, Palomas and Los Pinos, are within driving distance of the campground.
What the agency tells you
Online reservations are payment for two vehicles MAXIMUM; that includes the tow vehicle or RV and one additional vehicle.
ATVs and OHVs are not allowed in the campground. Visitors should be aware of the Santa Fe National Forest's Travel Management Regulations which detail what roads and trails are open to motorized use. Copies of Travel Management maps are available at district offices as well as on the Santa Fe National Forest's website.
Fire restrictions may be in effect. If you are unsure please contact the Cuba Ranger Station at 575-829-3264.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Check out is at 11:00 AM, Check in time is 1:00 PM.
Before making a reservation, check the driveway details section to ensure your vehicle equipment will fit on the selected site.
Quiet Hours are from 10:00 PM - 7:00 AM.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 15
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 42 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…itself has paved roads, trash bins, vault toilets and a host on site. Natural Features The campground…”
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Creek, Meadow
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Night sky · 65th darkest of 164 in NM
- Bortle 2
13 of 30 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:43 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBookedNot reservable
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 · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $20 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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:43 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
15 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 15 mapped sitesAll 15 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. 15 of the 15 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 001 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 78 ft | 116 ft | $20 |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 002 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 69 ft | 96 ft | $20 |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 003 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 69 ft | 67 ft | $20 |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 004 | standard nonelectric | 202 ft | 111 ft | $20 | |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 005 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 84 ft | 260 ft | $20 |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 006 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 84 ft | 235 ft | $20 |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 007 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 63 ft | 272 ft | $20 |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 008 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | 63 ft | 332 ft | $20 |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 009 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 72 ft | 263 ft | $20 |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 010 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 63 ft | 321 ft | $20 |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 011 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 63 ft | 259 ft | $20 |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 012 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 66 ft | 354 ft | $20 |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 013 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 83 ft | 357 ft | $20 |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 014 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 69 ft | 278 ft | $20 |
| RIO DE LAS VACAS CAMPGROUND | 015 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 69 ft | 296 ft | $20 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Clear Creek Campground (NM)Santa Fe National Forest · 0.8 mi
Clear Creek Group Campground (NM)Santa Fe National Forest · 1.1 miRio Puerco CampgroundSanta Fe National Forest · 8.5 miResumidero Camping AreaSanta Fe National Forest · 8.8 miCoyote Canyon Camping AreaSanta Fe National Forest · 11 mi
San Antonio CampgroundJemez National Recreation Area · 12 miFrom Cuba, New Mexico, travel 11 miles east of Cuba on New Mexico State Highway 126.
The campground is located approximately 11 miles from Cuba where lodging, restaurants, and gas stations are available.
The campground is approximately a one and a half hour drive from Albuquerque.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Cuba, NM
Typical weather
Typical October night 27°F, day 59°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical November night 18°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 moreOutside the published season
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
Rio De Las Vacas 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 →