Cebolla Mesa
| A campground right on the edge of the Rio Grande Gorge. Watch the sun set on the Taos mountains, then go to sleep to the sound of the rapids 800 ft below. Wake up and watch the sun descend into the canyon, then descend into the gorge yourself on the Cebolla Mesa trail. |
| Campground data | Waypoints | Maps | Getting to the campground | About the campground | Plants around the campground | Comments |
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| Date: | 2006-09-01 |
| Cleanliness: | 7. Most sites were clean, but two had beer cans and one had a half-full disposable propane bottle. |
| General notes: | On Labor Day weekend, we saw one couple who came to hike. Otherwise we had the campground to ourselves. |
| Waypoint | Type | Description |
| CEBOLLACG | Campground | Carson National Forest Cebolla Mesa campground |
| 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 |
| 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. |
| Wheeler Peak | BLM | 2001 | 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. |
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From Taos, head north on NM 522 (this highway starts out as US 64, but on the north edge of Taos, 64 goes left and 522 continues north). Between mile markers 15 and 16 you will see a sign about Forest Road 9 and Cebolla Mesa. Take Forest road 9 west (left) abour 4 miles. The road goes to the campground and a rougher road continues past it. This is the view as you approach the campground.There is no sign along the road to indicate you have arrived. When we visited, the road had ruts indicating that it becomes slick and muddy when wet. |  |
 | The easternmost campsite has its table away from the parking area. It
would be a good tent location. This site is isolated from the other
sites.
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This is the sunset view.
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 | The westernmost campsite is on a point of land, with the gorge on one
side and a smaller canyon on the other.
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Plants we saw around the campground:
Reader comments about this campground:
Add your comments about the Cebolla Mesa campground.
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We camped here about 12 years ago. Found it magical. Want to go back this summer. High on Mesa with hikes down to Rio Grande. Camping among sage..probably hot in midsummer. On Thu Jun 7 17:27:26 2012 Patricia M. Moynihan from Albuquerque, NM said:
Cebolla Mesa is an excellent place to get away from it all. The campground is at the very edge of the Rio Grande Gorge and offers some beautiful views. Sunrise on the mesa was beautiful as was the view of the night sky. A large number of stars can be seen as well as a portion of the Milky Way. Several of the tent areas are slightly away from the rest and give the illusion of being secluded. There are no showers, no running water, and only vault toilets but there also isn't a fee. We camped in October near the end of the season, there were no other campers, mostly day hikers, perhaps because the evening temps were down to 28 degrees. The hike down to the Rio Grande is brief, only 1.6 miles but you drop approximately 1000 feet in elevation. The trail is mainly switchbacks and pretty steep in some places with areas covered in pebbles. I ended up using a walking stick and found it very helpful in keeping me upright. The trail ends at a log bridge that crosses the Red River, where it connects with the La Junta and Little Arsenic Trails in the Wild & Scenic River Corridor. To get here take StateRoad 522 north from the old blinking light (north of Taos) to Forest Road 9, across from the community of Lama. Turn left and go about 4 miles. The road is rough and I imagine would be nearly impassable during wet weather, however I did make it in my Honda FIT. On Sun Jul 1 08:19:57 2012 Anonymous from First Mesa, AZ said:
Was a little disappointed with this campground. My 9-year-old son and I arrived around 2 pm to an empty campground, which we thought was how it was going to be. There are half a dozen sites but nothing mind blowing to me. Before the sun set, about half a dozen cars arrived at various intervals as people got out and surveyed the area. Night fell and we got into the tent, and 30 minutes later a carload of people arrived. They didn't make a whole lot of noise but they were easily heard as they were having some sort of party. The noise tailed off and by 11 pm it was over. Then, at 6 am, I awoke to the same people driving away. I guess they slept in car or truck? Anyway, my son and I packed after one night and headed for a fawn lakes (which was great). The hike to the river is a huge plus for this site.