Vista Linda Campground
1Heads up1 fire 9.4 mi away
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 15:47 UTC
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 13All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Vista Linda Campground sits in the San Diego Canyon on the Jemez National Recreation Area. There are thirteen sites throughout the campground. Potable water and vault toilets are provided amenities. Each campsite has picnic tables, a fire ring, and a charcoal pedestal. Sites with shad features are available; not all sites provide shade features. Keep reading
Recreation
Vista Linda Campground is one of five developed campgrounds in the Jemez National Recreation Area on the Jemez Ranger District. There are numerous outdoor recreation opportunities throughout the Jemez National Recreation Area, from scenic driving to fishing accesses and day-use picnic areas. Vista Linda Campground is a brief drive from numerous developed day-use sites on the NM-4 Corridor and a short drive from multiple access points to Trail 137 Facilities Vista Linda Campground provides potable water access and vault toilets. Electric hookups are not provided. Note: Please call the Jemez Ranger District Office at 575-829-3535 for potable water systems updates.
Natural Features
Vista Linda Campground is situated in a basin of the San Diego Canyon, south of the town of Jemez Springs, NM. It is surrounded by redrock and sandstone mesas in a vibrant cottonwood bosque. The Jemez River runs parallel to the campground, and provides ample fishing access for campers. The campground provides excellent stargazing options on cloudless nights.
Nearby Attractions
Vista Linda Campground is part of the Jemez National Recreation Area. There are numerous developed, dispersed, and undeveloped recreation opportunities throughout the Jemez National Recreation Area. It is also near the Valles Caldera National Preserve, Bandelier National Monument, Dome and Bandlier Wilderness Areas, the town of Los Alamos, and a two-hour drive to Santa Fe.
What the agency tells you
This campground will take reservations for the 2026 season starting on June 16th, 2026, with the first date available for reservations on June 30th, 2026. It will revert back to First Come, First Served after October 11th, 2026, for the off-season.
No dump station available at this campground.
Dead and down only in fire rings; do not cut standing trees.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
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 https://www.dontmovefirewood.org/
Charcoal only in pedestal grills.
Check-out time is at 11:00 noon.
Check-in time is at 1:00 PM.
Potable water is provided in the campground. Please contact the Jemez Ranger District Office at 575-829-3535 for updates.
There is no electrical hookups in the campground.
Quiet hours are between 10pm and 7am. Generators are not to be used during that time.
Click here for more information about the Santa Fe National Forest.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 13
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 13
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…the campground. Potable water and vault toilets are provided amenities. Each campsite has picnic…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…sites throughout the campground. Potable water and vault toilets are provided amenities. Each…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Auto Touring
- Birding
- Fishing
- Stargazing
- Night sky · 112th darkest of 164 in NM
- Bortle 3
6 of 26 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:47 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 19
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 15:47 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
13 sites
All 13 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. 13 of the 13 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Main Loop | 01 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $20 |
| Main Loop | 02 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $20 |
| Main Loop | 03 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $20 |
| Main Loop | 04 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $20 |
| Main Loop | 05 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $20 |
| Main Loop | 06 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $20 |
| Main Loop | 07 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $20 |
| Main Loop | 08 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $20 |
| Main Loop | 09 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $20 |
| Main Loop | 10 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $20 |
| Main Loop | 11 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $20 |
| Main Loop | 12 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $20 |
| Main Loop | 13 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $20 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the phone number
Where it is
Paliza Group CampgroundSanta Fe National Forest · 5.1 miPaliza Family CampgroundSanta Fe National Forest · 5.4 mi
PalizaSanta Fe National Forest · 5.4 mi
Jemez Falls CampgroundJemez National Recreation Area · 9.5 mi
Redondo CampgroundJemez National Recreation Area · 11 mi
San Antonio CampgroundJemez National Recreation Area · 13 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Cañon, 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
Vista Linda 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 →