U.S. Forest Service · Gila National Forest · NM

Willow Creek Campground

ClosedBen Lilly and Willow Creek Campground Closure.
Right now
ClosedThe agency’s own sentence, quoted below
A night
FreeNo camping fee
Drawn from the record · 7,910 ft · 15% tree cover · Willow Creek within reach · Bortle 2 sky
7,910 ftElevation
22 ftWater · Willow Creek
42 miNW of Little Walnut Village, NM
15%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 13th darkest of 164 in NM

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Willow Creek Campground provides a quiet, peaceful area in the pines. Willow Creek is located approximately 55 miles from the town of Reserve. Willow Creek is a very beautiful campground nestled in the canyon under tall pines. The camp sites run along both sides of the stream.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Creek
Source: Stated in the agency description

Nothing to book until it reopens

Ben Lilly and Willow Creek Campground Closure.

The closure above is the reading. We hold no availability snapshot for this campground, so there’s no thirty-night strip to draw under it.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe record
A night, when it reopensFreeNo camping feethe agency’s fee record
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
What’s open near here
Tell me when it reopens

Watch for it to come back

One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.

We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.

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’ll write once, when the agency reopens it.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Directions
Every line of the receipt · 3

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
Camping feeFree
There is no fee ($0.00) for this campground.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
How we know this receipt · 4
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026
What the agency said · 1

Ben Lilly and Willow Creek Campground Closure. The Gila National Forest is issuing a temporary closure order for the Ben Lilly Campground and the Willow Creek Campground, in effect from 6 a.m. on July 21, 2026 through January 1, 2027 (or until rescinded). This order serves to protect public health and safety as monsoonal flood events have become hazardous in this area.

U.S. Forest Service · posted Jul 21, 2026

Filed as emergency from the agency’s own words “public health and safety”. That reading is ours.

Open within 60 miles · 3

The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.

Open near here: Agency-published status, in the CAMPANAC campground index · Oct 17, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Overnight26°Mostly Clear
Saturday57°Mostly Sunny
Saturday Night31°Mostly Cloudy6% rain
Sunday59°Chance Rain Showers30% rain

NWS forecast for Mogollon, 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.

90°32°0°

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.

Measured at: LUNA RS, NM (USC00295273), 36 miles away and 860 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

who answers for it

Who answers for this land

Gabe Vasquez, official portrait

Willow Creek Campground 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: B. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service’s own notice puts it in the closed position. Its sentence is quoted below.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Mogollon, NM, 12 mi E (a census designated place). Straight line.