Nice park! It's quiet, especially for a state park, and the scenery is really nice, especially along the river sites as there's a very tall cliff just across the (narrow) river to look at. Fun to watch the hawks hunt and, as night falls, the bats. Good views of the stars, and there's a footbridge across the river leading to a 1km overlook trail that's nice to hike. Choose your site carefully. I saw one that was in the visitor center parking lot, on asphalt. Not nearly as nice as the regular gravel sites. Most sites have an adobe picnic shelter. GPS users: Your GPS will send you halfway up the wrong mountain and turning around will be impossible until you then go all the way up said wrong mountain. Ignore Garmin. Go to the town of Villanueva, and take the only non-highway street out of town. There will be signs, but they're small and easy to miss. We camped here in a Motorhome.
A very pretty park that is very remote. The park is off State Road 3 approx 15 miles south of I-25, and 25 miles north of I-40. It's located alongside the burbling Pecos River. Don't trust your GPS - the road leading into the park is the north-most road in the village of Villaneuva, heading east. The GPS incorrectly showed the Park as being as being three miles south of town. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This is a very lovely well managed park. It does get crowded. Some of the sites are close together. I was there on a Thursday without reservations and had to settle for a tent site on the entrance road. I thought it would be noisy but the ranger closed the gate promptly at 10PM and opened it at 7AM. I spent a very quiet and peaceful night. I highly recommend this park. It is right on the Pecos River. There are good trails. There is a camping area on the mesa overlooking the park but the road up is only for the most daring RVer with a short rig and once you are there you will find it isn't half as nice as the riverside campsites. Unless you are tent camping be sure and get reservations. We camped here in a Tent.
Beautiful State Park located approx. 20 miles off of the I- 40 on hwy 3 in a narrow canyon with the Pecos River running through it. River was very silty (brown) but enjoyed the sound of the water. Some of the sites are close together , some have shelters and some don’t. Reservations are accepted, book early as this is a very popular park. Nice to see trees again after spending the last 10 weeks in New Mexico’s southern regions. Elevation here is 5,600 ft. No cell phone service. No problem getting a signal for our satellite TV. There are 12 electric sites with water nearby, ( long hose a must ) the rest are developed sites with water throughout the campground. The road is paved but the sites are either dirt, gravel or grass. Got to be a little dusty when windy but not too bad. Most of the sites appear to be level, some are in the trees and others are more out in the open. Water pressure was OK, and the electric hookup was fine. We had no problems finding room for our slideouts and tow vehicle. There was one tree branch when entering the Park we found to be a little low so be on the look out. Otherwise, there were no problems getting around and into a site. Most of the sites are roomy enough. The hiking trail starts on the other side of the footbridge which takes you to the canyon overlook. Fishing is year round, with best time to fish being in the Fall - Spring, and they do stock the river. Check the state park website for more info. They have a brochure you can download. There is a playground for the kids and a dump station which my husband said he didn’t even want to try and get into. It seems that this dump site was up on a hill with a steep drop off. We found a convenience store in the middle of town and a post office. Park rangers were very friendly and helpful. Enjoyed the park immensely until the weekend when thoughtless campers came in and blasted their music and couldn’t build a fire to save their lives. We were choking in the smoke. Wish someone would teach campfire 101.… We would return but probably mid week and in March or April.. We camped here in a Motorhome.