Black Canyon Campground (Santa Fe National Forest, NM)

We love spending time at Black Canyon. It is such a beautiful place and the camping sites are all very nice. The camp hosts are friendly and helpful.

We love spending time at Black Canyon. It is such a beautiful place and the camping sites are all very nice. The camp hosts are friendly and helpful.

Love the park and it is very well maintained. My only reason for giving it a 3 star review is that the caterpillar outbreak was so bad we had to leave a day early. The email that was sent out didn’t explain how bad it was. It was raining poisonous caterpillars. There was no escaping them and as a result we were not able to enjoy the beautiful area.

Love the park and it is very well maintained. My only reason for giving it a 3 star review is that the caterpillar outbreak was so bad we had to leave a day early. The email that was sent out didn’t explain how bad it was. It was raining poisonous caterpillars. There was no escaping them and as a result we were not able to enjoy the beautiful area.

We had a reservation at a nearby campground that was cancelled due to a water main break. Recreation.gov showed 4 sites available at Black Canyon Campground. I tried booking each of the 4 separately but had the same issue. Once I went to checkout i received an error message that "this site is already reserved and unavailable". This is even though it showed 'available' throughout every step until checkout. I waited until the following day to see if something was amiss with the website. This time it showed two sites available. One did the same thing as the day prior. I was able to book the other site, #11. Upon arrival, #11 had only a pullover spot to park our van and it was only about 6 ft wide. So our van was in the middle of the road. Amongst other concerns, everyone walking the campground passed withing inches. It was also on a significant hill, very far from level. Steps led to a table and tent site, but we stay in our van. The photo was of the table/tent site only. This was exceptionally unacceptable but since we had nowhere else to go and it was 7 pm..... Recreation.gov charges a fee for themselves. I expect an accurate website, not showing sites are available when they are not. I also expect that unacceptable situations to be revealed. Our van is a standard size van. Anyone in a small RV or larger could not have stayed there as it would have blocked the road. This is the first negative experience I have ever had booking a site in many states. Transparency of what to expect can alleviate a lot of issues.

There's no water! JK, there hasn't been water in 15 years. Still a great spot, hope the price doesn't go up too much next year.

We had a reservation at a nearby campground that was cancelled due to a water main break. Recreation.gov showed 4 sites available at Black Canyon Campground. I tried booking each of the 4 separately but had the same issue. Once I went to checkout i received an error message that "this site is already reserved and unavailable". This is even though it showed 'available' throughout every step until checkout. I waited until the following day to see if something was amiss with the website. This time it showed two sites available. One did the same thing as the day prior. I was able to book the other site, #11. Upon arrival, #11 had only a pullover spot to park our van and it was only about 6 ft wide. So our van was in the middle of the road. Amongst other concerns, everyone walking the campground passed withing inches. It was also on a significant hill, very far from level. Steps led to a table and tent site, but we stay in our van. The photo was of the table/tent site only. This was exceptionally unacceptable but since we had nowhere else to go and it was 7 pm..... Recreation.gov charges a fee for themselves. I expect an accurate website, not showing sites are available when they are not. I also expect that unacceptable situations to be revealed. Our van is a standard size van. Anyone in a small RV or larger could not have stayed there as it would have blocked the road. This is the first negative experience I have ever had booking a site in many states. Transparency of what to expect can alleviate a lot of issues.

There's no water! JK, there hasn't been water in 15 years. Still a great spot, hope the price doesn't go up too much next year.

The campground was nice and we liked the close proximity to Santa Fe. We were notified ahead of time that there was no water available, so it was fine to bring our own water. We were also notified ahead of time about the tussock caterpillar outbreak. The caterpillars ended up being very irritating! There were so many of them and we couldn't use the table because caterpillars were constantly on it. I'd camp here again once the caterpillar outbreak has ended!

The campground was nice and we liked the close proximity to Santa Fe. We were notified ahead of time that there was no water available, so it was fine to bring our own water. We were also notified ahead of time about the tussock caterpillar outbreak. The caterpillars ended up being very irritating! There were so many of them and we couldn't use the table because caterpillars were constantly on it. I'd camp here again once the caterpillar outbreak has ended!