Big Tesuque
| This is a tent-only campground high in the Aspen-Fir zone of the Sangre de Christo Mountains. It is flanked on both sides by streams. Some of the campsites are a nice distance from the highway, and probably have few problems with road noise at night. |
| Campground data | Waypoints | Maps | Getting to the campground | About the campground | Plants around the campground | Comments |
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| Date: | 2001-08-03 |
| Cleanliness: | 9. |
| Waypoint | Type | Description |
| BTSQCG | Campground | Big Tesuque campground |
| Map name | Cartographer | Year | Scale | Topo map? | Online access | Notes |
| Guide to Indian Country of Arizona Colorado New Mexico Utah | Automobile Club of Southern California | 1998 | 1:0 | N | Arizona Strip Interpretive Association (purchase) | Good overview road map for northwest NM. No scale is given on the map. The corner coordinates are approximate. |
| Pecos Wilderness, Santa Fe and Carson National Forests | US Forest Service | 2004 | 1:54000 | Y | From the National Forest Store (purchase) | |
| Santa Fe | BLM | 1996 | 1:100000 | Y | Public Lands Information Center (purchase) | |
| Santa Fe | USGS | 1954 | 1:250000 | Y | from sar.lanl.gov (free) | |
| Santa Fe National Forest | US Forest Service | 2004 | 1:126720 | N | From the National Forest Store (purchase) | East half |
| Wildernesses of New Mexico | US Forest Service | 1981 | 1:1000000 | N | No online copies. | Base map with national forests, wilderness areas and highways. |
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 | The campsites are up one of the two trails near the streams. This
campsite is up the left trail, which is also the Big Tesuque Trail No. 152.
Near the campsites are large fields of thimbleberry, but I would not
count on finding enough to put on your morning pancakes.
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Both sides of the campground have a stream nearby. This photo is looking down the right stream. A trail heads up this stream also, but it is not signed and I could not find it on the topo map. Sometime when I have more time I will hike it to see where it goes. If you look closely on the far right about 2/3 of the way up this photo, you can see part of a tent at the campsite closest to the road (it is easier to identify in the bigger version of this picture). You can also see the road through the trees in the far upper right portion of the photo. |  |
 | While checking out the campground, we saw that the flowers were popular with the insect life, one example of which is here. This moth is a member of the genus Gnophaela, probably G. discreta, but it could also be G. vermiculata. Thanks to Bruce Neville for the moth information. |
Plants we saw around the campground:
Reader comments about this campground:
Add your comments about the Big Tesuque campground.
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Just spent the weekend at Big Tesuque Campground and they now have trash bins, toilets, BBQ grills and fire pits. Its still free! 6/27/05 On Tue May 30 14:13:07 2006 Kyle from Alamogordo said:
Great campground. There are two sides the, one that is in the pictures are to the right. There are about 68 more too the left. The left side is very high traffic because of the trail but still nice. No drinkable water. On Tue May 30 14:13:51 2006 kyle from Alamogordo said:
6 to 8 more On Sat Nov 5 11:52:35 2011 Jake from Albuquerque said:
Great for a small wkend trip! There are two sections, one to the left and one to the right of the parking lot. Its easy to miss the section on the left if you come in at night. Also its more like 13 miles down the road, after Hyde State Park. Campground has clean pit-bathrooms and developed sites with fire-rings. On Mon Jun 11 09:19:20 2012 Mike from ABQ, NM said:
Just got back, amazing camp site. Overall was very quiet and clean. Wife enjoyed being near the stream and was a great choice for her first camping trip, can't believe this site is free! On Tue Jun 19 08:28:07 2012 Jarod from Albuquerque, NM said:
Big Tesuque is a great camping spot for a weekend getaway. There are visible campsites from the road. If they appear to be full, hike up the main trail and you'll find quite a few campsites further up. Be prepared if you plan on camping during the monsoon season. We tried Big Tesuque twice last year, and were rained out both times...not just a little rain, but torrential downpouring, hail stones, lighting, thunder, etc.