Capulin

A nice campground in amongst Aspen and Fir. Most of the campsites here are across the stream from the road, reducing the road noise somewhat.

Campground data

Waypoints

Maps

Getting to the campground

About the campground

Plants around the campground

Comments

Campground data:

Controlling agency:	Carson National Forest; Camino Real Ranger District
Official URL:	Forest service campground page
Region:	North-central; Sangre de Cristo Mountains. East of Taos
CG elevation:	7998ft; 2438m
Campsite count:	11
Visual density:	2.33
Fee:	$5.00
Season:	May 01 to October 31. Season depends on weather.
Dogs:	Yes. on leash
Horses:	Unknown.
Handicapped accessible:	Yes. The vault toilet claims to be accessible, but the 3-inch lip at the edge of the concrete would be challenging to negotiate in a wheelchair.
General tent notes:	Some grassy areas for tents. Other sites have flat areas.
RV max length:	32ft; 10m
RV parking surface:	dirt
RV pull-through spaces?	No.
General RV notes:	Not a good RV campground, as the area for turning around is small.
General notes:	A trail takes off from right before campsite 11. The forest service web site says that this is to "Ice Cave"---a waterfall over the rock ledge. This campground has a lot of road noise 6am until midnight.
Campground facilities:	trash can(s), vault toilet(s), fire pit.
Campground attractions:	hiking (A short trail leads away from near campsite 11.), wildflowers, stream.

When we visited it:

Date:	2000-08-11	2011-08-06
Cleanliness:	7	5 Large trash (beer bottles, etc) are common, with 1-5 per campsite.

Waypoints:

Waypoint	Type	Description
CAPLCG	Campground	Capulin campground

Maps:

Geohack online map list

Paper maps:

Map name	Cartographer	Year	Scale	Topo map?	Online access	Notes
Carson National Forest	US Forest Service	2002	1:126720	N	From the National Forest Store (purchase)	Camino Real and Questa ranger districts and Valle Vidal Unit side of the map
Taos	BLM	1994	1:100000	Y	Public Lands Information Center (purchase)
Wildernesses of New Mexico	US Forest Service	1981	1:1000000	N	No online copies.	Base map with national forests, wilderness areas and highways.

Getting to the campground:

From Taos, take US 64 towards Angel Fire. After 10-15 miles, the campground will be on the south side of the highway.

About the campground:

This campground has tall trees (Aspen, Fir, Cottonwoods), chokecherries (with berries 8/11/00), clematis, thimbleberry, and lots of wild roses. The tall trees provide lots of shade to many of the campsites.

The road is not far away, so road noise may be a problem.

Site 11, at the end of the campground appears to be the nicest. Site 8 is also nice. The photo here is of campsite 4.

Plants we saw around the campground:

Box elder, ash-leaf maple, or three-leaf maple (Aceraceae Acer negundo)
Chokecherry (Rosaceae Prunus virginiana)
Douglas-fir (Pinaceae Pseudotsuga)
Gambel oak (Fagaceae Quercus gambelii)
Mountain snowberry (Caprifoliaceae Symphoricarpos oreophilus)
Ponderosa pine (Pinaceae Pinus ponderosa)
Rocky Mountain juniper (Cupressaceae Juniperus scopulorum)
Skunkbush sumac or lemonadebush (Anacardiaceae Rhus trilobata)
Western white clematis or virgin bower (Ranunculaceae Clematis ligusticifolia)
Willow (Salicaceae Salix)
Wood's rose (Rosaceae Rosa woodsii)

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