El Porvenir

No short text A pleasant campground in an open ponderosa pine forest. With access to trails, this campground would also make a nice base for day hikes or longer backpack trips. A small stream runs through the edge of the campground. This campground has many great tent sites, as well as some sites that work well for RVs. The altitude makes for a pleasant stay in the summer.

Campground data Waypoints Maps Getting to the campground About the campground Plants around the campground Comments

Campground data:

Controlling agency: Santa Fe National Forest; Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District
Official URL:USFS CG web page
Region: North-central; Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
The campground is on the east side of the mountains, near Las Vegas.
Campsite count: 19.
Visual density: 4.00.
Fee: $8.00.
Season: All year.
Dogs: Yes. On leash
Horses: Unknown.
Handicapped accessible: Yes. The toilets are accessible. There are not specific accessible campsites, but the ground is fairly level.
General tent notes: No tent pads, but there are many good tent locations.
RV parking surface: gravel
RV pull-through spaces? Yes.
RV parking notes: Only campsites 10 and 13 are pull-through.
General RV notes: Most campsites have level parking areas.
General notes: Trailheads for two hikes take off from this campground.

At the trailhead parking, a sign says that people allergic to bees should carry an epipen due to ground-nesting bees.

ATVs are prohibited in the campground.

Campground facilities: water (A hand pump in the middle of the loop.), trash can(s), vault toilet(s) (New in 2011 (or late 2010). In June 2011, the ranger said that they were already having problems with graffiti and vandalism. However, they had been painting over the graffiti, and the toilets were clean when we were there.), cooking grill, fire pit, tent-only (no RV) camping area (Several campsites are walk-in, some across a bridge over a seasonal stream.).
Campground attractions: hiking, wilderness access, wildlife (We saw Abert squirrels, mule deer, a chipmunk, and lots of birds. People in a neighboring campsite reported a bear with a cub, a raccoon, and a skunk.), stream.

When we visited it:

Date: 2011-06-05
Cleanliness: 9. Our campsite had only a few small pieces of litter, but some were broken glass. Overall, we only saw a couple of large pieces in the whole campground.

Waypoints:

Waypoint Type Description
El Povenir CGCampgroundEl Povenir Campground, near water pump

Maps:

Geohack online map list

Paper maps:

Map name Cartographer Year Scale Topo map? Online access Notes
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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Getting to the campground:

From I-25 in Las Vegas, NM, take exit 345. We were northbound and set our odomoeter to 0.0 at the stop sign from the northbound side of the exit ramp. Head into Las Vegas (left if you are northbound) to the stop sign or stop light (it was under construction) at Grand Avenue. Turn right.

Go to the stop light at Mills Avenue, 1.0 miles from the freeway. Turn left.

At 2.5 miles from the freeway, turn right on Hot Springs Road.

At 6.7 from the freeway, you pass through the town of Montezuma, where the Armand Hammer United World College is located. You can see the "castle" on the right.

After Montezuma, the road becomes narrow and has lots of tight turns. Drive carefully; there are not always guardrails, and you will meet people coming the other way. Not all of them are driving safely.

At 15.3 you come to a sign indicating Gallinas canyon is to the left and El Porvenir is to the right. Go right. The road ends in the campground at 17.4 miles from the freeway. In spite of this seemingly short distance, it will have taken you over half an hour to get here.

Note that there are two signs for the campground. One near a parking area for the Hermit's Peak trailhead and one a little farther down the road that is more of a real campground entrance. In between is a turn-off for a church camp.

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About the campground:

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Campsite 10 is similar to most of the campsites that are open to RVs (as well as tent people). You can see that the campground has plenty of trees.
The most isolated campsites is located on the other side of this bridge.
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This is the campsite on the other side of the bridge. You get to place your tent on a bed of ponderosa pine straw.
The tent-only campsites have plenty of flat places for pitching your tent.
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This stream runs along the side of the campground.

Plants we saw around the campground:

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