Stargazing

Coyote Keeth's RV Park

Just off Highway 87 at mile marker seven in Clayton, New Mexico—in Union County in the northeastern corner of New Mexico where the Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field's basalt flows, the Kiowa National Grassland's shortgrass prairie, and the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail's historic wagon route create the specific high-plains volcanic landscape that Clayton Lake State Park's dinosaur trackway and Gold-certified International Dark Sky Park status have made one of the most geologically and astronomically distinguished rural campground destinations in the southwestern United States—Coyote Keeth's RV Park provides full hookup 30 and 50-amp sites with large pull-through capability, a shower house with handicap access, free WiFi, horse stalls, a dog park, and the Clayton, New Mexico gateway access that Clayton Lake State Park's 500-plus dinosaur tracks and the Rabbit Ear Mountain landmark make the northeastern New Mexico destination for the outdoor traveler crossing the Texas-Colorado-New Mexico tristate corner. The dinosaur trackway within minutes and the dark sky designation that the Union County high plains produces at this specific geographic remove from urban light pollution define why Clayton, New Mexico is a destination campground stop rather than a simple overnight highway position. Full hookup sites with 30 and 50-amp electric, sewer, and water in large pull-through configurations accommodate big rigs, fifth-wheel combinations, and the horse trailer setups that the equestrian guest population brings to a campground with on-property horse stalls. A shower house with handicap access provides the hygiene infrastructure. Free WiFi handles the connectivity need. Horse stalls on the property serve the equestrian traveler who needs overnight accommodation for horses at a Union County address that places the horse stalls within a reasonable drive of the Clayton area's hunting, trail riding, and rodeo circuit. A pet area and dog park accommodate the traveling canine. Clayton's Ranch Market—the local grocery store described by the park as "just around the corner"—provides the resupply convenience that the rural Union County location would otherwise make an inconvenient chore. Clayton Lake State Park—accessible from the campground within minutes—contains the most extensive accessible dinosaur trackway in New Mexico: over 500 individual tracks left approximately 100 million years ago during the Cretaceous period when northeastern New Mexico was the shoreline of the Western Interior Seaway, a shallow inland ocean that divided North America from north to south. The tracks—representing multiple species of theropod, ornithopod, and sauropod dinosaurs—are preserved in the Morrison Formation sandstone exposed at the lake's edge, with an interpretive trail and viewing platforms that make the trackway self-guiding for independent visitors. Clayton Lake State Park also holds New Mexico's first International Dark Sky Park designation, awarded in 2010 by the International Dark Sky Association with a Gold-level certification—the IDA's highest rating—earned by the absence of significant artificial light within Union County's sparsely populated high plains. The park's observatory, equipped with a 14-inch Mead telescope operated by volunteer astronomers on Thursday through Saturday evenings from March through November, provides the public stargazing program that the dark sky certification makes possible. Coyote Keeth's RV Park is open year-round in Union County's four-season high-plains climate. The dinosaur trackway and observatory are the year-round anchors; fall hunting season for mule deer and pronghorn antelope in the surrounding Kiowa National Grassland brings the November hunting camp population. Reserve the pull-through early for elk season, plan the evening at the Clayton Lake observatory on a new-moon weekend, and let the Cretaceous trackway and the Gold-certified dark sky earn the northeastern New Mexico experience that the high-plains volcanic landscape makes genuinely singular.

from $25/night

Camp Rio

31 RV Sites, 3 Cabins, 12 Tent Sites, 2 Onsite RV/Trailers, 1 Vintage RV Rental

In the Sacramento Mountains of southern New Mexico at 6,700 feet—in Otero County where the Lincoln National Forest's ponderosa pine and Apache plume canyon landscape creates the wildlife corridors, racing streams, and cool mountain-air environment that makes the Sacramento high country one of New Mexico's most rewarding and least discovered outdoor destinations—Camp Rio at 2180 Rio Penasco Road in Mayhill offers full hookup RV sites with 30 and 50-amp service, tent camping, vintage-vehicle glamping (a Shasta trailer, school buses, a Chris Craft boat, a gypsy wagon), three cabins, laundry, baths, showers, WiFi, and a rentable pavilion on a clean family property surrounded by thousands of acres of national forest where the small valleys, mountain glens, birds, and wildlife of the Rio Peñasco watershed create the setting that the day trips to Ruidoso, White Sands, and Billy the Kid country reward from a genuinely remarkable mountain base camp. The elevation delivers cool nights. The forest delivers everything else. Full hookup sites with 30 and 50-amp electric, water, and sewer serve the RV guest, while the tent sites, the three named cabins, and the one-of-a-kind vintage glamping fleet—the Shasta trailer, the converted school buses, the Chris Craft boat on land, the gypsy wagon—provide the range of alternative accommodations that a creative campground in the middle of Lincoln National Forest's canyon country assembles over years of inventive development. Clean baths and showers, laundry, upgraded free WiFi, and the rentable pavilion for group gatherings complete the practical infrastructure. The property's position surrounded by the national forest means the wildlife viewing, the bird watching in the mountain glens, and the sound of the Rio Peñasco in the canyon bottom are immediate rather than a short drive away. Mayhill sits in the Sacramento Mountains on NM-82 between Artesia and Cloudcroft, in the forested highlands where the Mescalero Apache's traditional mountain territory and the Lincoln National Forest's 1.1 million acres create the protected landscape that preserves the elk, black bear, mule deer, and the raptor diversity that the Sacramento high country sustains. The National Solar Observatory at Sunspot, 20 miles south on the Sacramento Peak, provides the one-of-a-kind tour of the sun-watching facility whose 60-foot vacuum tower telescope has observed solar activity since 1952 in the clear-sky position the Sacramento Mountains provide. Ruidoso, 25 miles east via US-70, anchors the regional tourism infrastructure with Ruidoso Downs Racing's quarter horse meets, the Ski Apache resort on Sierra Blanca Peak (elevation 11,500 feet), the Hubbard Museum of the American West, and the Lincoln Historic District 40 miles east on US-380—the restored adobe structures of the town where the Lincoln County War and Billy the Kid's escape from the courthouse in 1881 created the most documented episode of frontier New Mexico history. White Sands National Park, 90 miles south, protects the world's largest gypsum dune field in the Tularosa Basin's extraordinary white landscape. Camp Rio operates year-round in the Sacramento Mountains' high-elevation climate, where the summer temperatures averaging 20 degrees cooler than the lowland Chihuahuan Desert below create the relief that makes the 6,700-foot Mayhill position genuinely comfortable from June through September when the lowland campgrounds of southern New Mexico are enduring their most intense heat. The fall elk rut in September and October, the winter snow that occasionally closes NM-82, and the spring wildflower bloom in the mountain meadows define the seasonal rhythms that the campground's surrounding national forest delivers in rotation. Reserve your site, cabin, or vintage glamping unit at Camp Rio and let the Sacramento Mountains' forest, wildlife, and canyon streams prove that the high road to Ruidoso is worth every mile.

from $44/night

Sandhill RV Park

from $50/night