Juniper Campground (NM)

It was a wonderful experience

Second time staying at Juniper Campground. Love the sites, lots of trees, bear boxes, clean bathroom, right inside Bandelier National Monument, so close to trails. Will be coming back!

The facilities were excellent at the Juniper Family Campground and the park rangers were very helpful. Frijoles Canyon had excellent hiking and the Pueblo Loop trail is a must. The Tyuoyoni Overlook trail from the campground was short and is best done at sunset. The Tsankawi site at Bandelier is another great hike, and there are many local activities worth checking out in Los Alamos.

Having no campground host on site sometimes can create a few challenges. A few generator rules were not followed, however it was a very hot weekend. The bathrooms were not as clean as normal and I stay at this campground regularly.

Nice quiet campground with shaded level spots. The bathrooms were very clean with flush toilets and a separate dish washing room. That was very handy. Also, nice clean dump area with clean water fill which we were not expecting.

The only thing negative as most sites said “shade” and that is. VERY misleading. All sites had about 85 percent shade and the sun was brutal, we left two days early as ir was just impossible. We have stayed at 100s of national parks and seek shade and most of the time when it says shade it is accurate. You should modify and state partial shade and that is a push. Otherwise bathrooms were nice and clean.

The campground is a drive or long steep hike away from the Visitor Center. There were no camp hosts and cell service was sketchy at my site. I was disappointed with how close my site was to neighbors on both sides (Coyote Loop #49) and ended up leaving a day early.

It’s worth noting that the Abert Squirrel Loop is FCFS and has some sites appropriate for trailers. The other two loops require reservations. The Black Bear loop has very few level pads and most pads are very short. The Coyote Loop has more shade, bigger pads and mostly level pads. There are clean flush toilets and no showers.

Very nice campground with flush toilets, water spigots, flat spots for tents and not too far from White Rock and Los Alamos. If you come in the summer, try to find one of the few spots that have taller pine trees which can provide shade. Also, be bear aware! Lock all food items, including grills, in the bear boxes at each campsite. A neighboring camper did not put their grill away and a bear came through their campsite and broke one of their car windows.

The Park Rangers were very helpful!