Cowles

The Cowles campground is primarily a tent campground along the Winsor Creek, near the Rio Pecos. It is close to the Cowles ponds, where fishing is popular.

Campground data:

Maps:

Online from topozone.com Online from terraserver-usa.com Aerial Photo from terraserver-usa.com USGS Topo Quad 1:24,000 Cowles USGS Topo Quad 1:100,000 Santa Fe USGS Topo Quad 1:250,000 Santa Fe Santa Fe National Forest Map. My 1994 edition showed two other campgrounds in the area (Panchuela and Winsor Creek) which are day-use only sites. Visitor's Guide to the Pecos Wilderness

Getting to the campground:

From the town of Pecos, NM, take New Mexico 63 north. Cross the river near a sign pointing to the Holy Ghost campground (do not take the road to the Holy Ghost campground). Near the Terrero General Store (which offers showers for $5.00), the road makes a sharp right turn, but there is really no other place to go. At Cowles, take the bridge across the river. The campground will be on your right in 0.25 mile or less. Note that the road from Pecos is narrow and it has many sharp turns. Expect to take at least an hour to get from Pecos to the campground.

The campground:

	This campground has two sites which have shelters like this one. These might come in handy in the summertime when thunderstorms are common. I strongly suspect that these two sites go quickly, so if you want one, plan on arriving early.
With one exception, the rest of the sites are out in this field. Fine for picnicking or if you take your tent out to near a table.
	The campground is situated alongside the Winsor stream. To the left is a view of it as it passes the campground.

Reader comments about this campground:

On Sat Jul 12 23:50:50 2003 backpacker from tylertx said:
We used this campground as a base for a 5 day backpacking trek June 813 2003. Bascially good only as a base camp or for excellent fishing in the pond and river closeby. Trail 271 to Stewart Lake starts here. Thanks for the site very informative and accurate.

On Wed Jan 14 14:48:27 2004 Chuck Ferguson from Albuquerque NM said:
I used this campground on the night before a 3day trip up to Lake Katherine. The trip was at the end of September 2003.

We arrived at about 5 p.m. and set up camp. There was no one else there and we took the farthest east shelter. There was some wood already cut to make a fire with and the shelter had a nice little fireplace at the end. My friend and I didn't even set up tents and instead we just laid our sleeping bags out on the floor of the shelter. The fire kept us warm the whole night!

Heres the bad part: We weren't alone after about 930 p.m. when a truck full of hoodlums showed up and partied until around 4 a.m. They brought a boom box and played gangster rap music all night with no regard at all for anyone else. They passed out in the bed of their truck and you can be damned sure we weren't quiet in the morning when we packed up and left.

Alas, I digress. We were there on a Friday night before a weekend when the hunting season begins so we should have expected some sort of trouble. Overall this campground is very nice and its a great starting point for the Windsor area of the Pecos! I also would guess that this campground isn't used as much as the larger ones in the area too.

On Sun Jul 22 16:43:45 2007 Nick from Albuquerque, NM said:
Very impressed with the cleanliness of the campsite. It was very well kept. We managed to get a site with a shelter considering the large amount of people that were there. It kept us dry during the heavy rain and it was nice to relax and enjoy a fire in. However, it was hard to get wood. We had to buy a bundle of wood, from the Terreo General Store for a steep price of 10.00 a bundle which was roughly about 10 logs. But don't think that because you have to pay that it will eliminate a bad crowd, we experienced the best the ghetto had to offer with the crowd of people that came late Saturday, with their guns and beer and late night screaming. But overall it was a great experience and I will go again, Thanks.

On Tue May 6 08:43:47 2008 Ruby from Santa Fe said:
Nice, but busy. If you want to get away from it all, then it just might follow you, especially in the popular season. The Windsor is great, but well known, and traveled. It's also right there at the campsite, so hikers, and even dog walkers may taint your escape.

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