Jemez Falls
This campground is in a wonderful ponderosa pine forest. If you stay
here, be sure to take the short hike to Jemez
Falls (hike page not yet up) or go further to Battleship Rock (also not yet up).
This campground is popular, and expect it to be full on summer weekends.
If you arrive and find it full, check out the nearby Redondo campground.
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Campground data:
| Controlling agency: | Santa Fe National Forest; Jemez Ranger District; campground web site |
| Location in the state: | North-central; Jemez Mountains |
| Waypoint(s): | JMZFALLSCG |
| Elevation: | 7985ft; 2434m |
| Number of campsites: | 52. One site is reserved for the campground host. The sites are divided between three loops. |
| When we visited it: | 2005-09-16. |
| Cleanliness: | 7/10. In the sites I checked, the litter count went as high as 48 pieces of small litter. |
| Fee: | $10.00. The fee is per vehicle, not per campsite.
Site 23 is a double site, and costs $20.00/vehicle per night. |
| Water: | Yes. |
| Garbage cans: | Yes. Garbage is a dumpster near the entrance. However, signs indicate that this can be changed, in which case teh trash cans aree near the toilets. These were bolted shut when we camped here. |
| Fire pits: | Yes. Many of the fire pits are old, and due to rust they are a fraction of their original size. |
| Cooking grills: | Yes. Not all campsites have BBQs. However, all accessible sites do. |
| Toilets: | Vault. |
| Showers: | No. |
| Handicapped accessible: | Yes. At least one of the handicapped sites (30) had the sign indicating the accessibility hidden behind grass. |
| RV info: | No electrical hookups. No water hookups. No sewer hookups. Park on asphalt. A few sites (such as 24, 41) are pull-through. |
| When to camp: | May--Sep. The actual season depends on snow. |
| General comments: | Plenty of flat areas for tents.
Many of the RVs had generators running much of the day.
Site 47 is the most isolated site.
Sites cannot be reserved.
An ampitheater is near the entrance.
If this campground is full, try the nearby Redondo campground. |
Maps:
- USGS 1:24000 Redondo Peak
- USGS 1:100000 Los Alamos
- USGS 1:250000 Albuquerque
- Santa Fe National Forest
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Getting to the campground:
From Los Alamos, take 501 west. Starting the odometer at the stoplight
after the bridge, at 4.2 miles, you reach the junction with NM 4. Turn
right (west). At 21.9 miles, a sign for the campground is on the left.
Turn left, and after about 0.7 miles more, the campground is on the right.
Or, if you are coming from the other direction, start at the junction of
NM 4 and NM 126 in La Cueva. Head east on 4 (toward Los Alamos) about
six miles. You sill see the sign indicating the campground turnoff on
your right. After about 0.7 miles more, the campground is on the right.
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The campground:
 | The campground is in a primarily ponderosa forest, as you can see here.
|
This is site 30, one of the accessible sites.
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 | Site 34.
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Site 36
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Plants we saw in the campground:
Animals we saw in the campground:
Reader comments about this campground:
On Thu Jan 19 09:44:42 2006 Bob from Carlsbad, NM said:
Great campground with many sites. Very well shaded and pretty
clean. Campground is very busy or even filled on the weekends.
During the week it is almost empty. Nice short hike down to the
Falls. Highly recommend this site for a Monday to Thursday trip,
otherwise it will be very crowded.
On Wed May 24 03:01:53 2006 Jake S. from Albuquerque, NM said:
My friends and I have camped around here many times before. It is
almost very clean and we encountered friendly people. It is a very
nice place for people who like to hike, because there is a trail
along Battleship Rock that leads to a hot spring (though you are
likely to see old hippies nude). The trails are nice and quiet,
though, and if you are the adventurous type, you can climb to the
top of Battleship Rock! Wonderful view.
On Wed Jun 7 18:35:06 2006 Jimbo from Albuquerque, NM said:
A great campsite for a few nights out with your family. Nicely
shaded and pretty good temperature. A little cold through the night.
Insects are not a problem most of the time. Campsite can be quite
busy, however.
On Sun Aug 6 21:06:49 2006 Tim from Albuquerque, NM said:
Just returned from a weekend stay at Jemez Falls (8/4/06). This
was an excellent campground, very clean, toilets alway had TP, no
mosquitoes, even with all the recent rains. Arrived about 1:00pm
on Friday and found it roughly half-full, filling completly by about
5 or 6. Lots of nice shade from the beautiful pine trees. Our
loop(first) was not at all noisy even though it was full, however
walking through the next loop over, Sunday morning around 8 or 9,
there were a couple sites playing loud music and a generator running.
We will definitely return to this campground. I like the fact that
it is back in away from State Rd 4.
On Fri Aug 3 21:26:37 2007 Todd Birchfield from Rio Rancho New Mexico said:
I have camped in the campground 2 times and think its beautiful, as a matter of fact me and Fiancee are getting married there on Sept 2nd 2007
On Fri May 30 22:34:57 2008 Anonymous from Albuquerque said:
We visited 5/16,17/08. The campground was temporarily out of water w/ no information as to when they would have water. The campground was clean and quiet. Will definately return.
On Mon Jun 1 12:31:47 2009 J from Albuquerque said:
My wife and I JUST got back from what was looking to be a long weekend at this campground. The Falls walk has proven to be a wonderful experience. This time was no exception. Unfortunately, turns out it was one of the worst CAMPING weekends (holiday or non-holiday) we ever had. First off, there wasn't a campground host -as normally expected. There is a CRITICAL need for them in this location. Second, the bathrooms had NO toilet paper. The little we did find was located on loop 4, which was closed- but the bathroom were open.
What REALLY took the prize was an underage drinking party on loop 1 on Saturday at noon through Sunday 3 am. No Ranger made the rounds until 10am Sunday. The 6 cars and dozens of kids were in no mood to discuss being quiet as the hours of Sunday morning came. We both were relived that they left later on Sunday.
Not to be for long.
Two very young couples came to the exact location (spot 13) and proceeded to drink heavily and yell until the early hours of the morning. The worst part was hearing them engaged in LOUD romance. Your imagination in this would be most accurate. Likely this was heard into loop 2. Also they had 3 dogs (one was a pitt bull) that ran without leases and managed to terrify some other sites. Again, with no actual recourse, we endured a sleepless night - as likely many others did. If I a phone nearby, I would have called the police.
Basically these campgrounds NEED hosts that can be attentive to the activities of the visitors. These fine facilities are too close to Albuquerque and the riffraff that can travel from there. The hosts NEED to be there for that small percentage that ruins it for others. I will NOT go back to this site.
On Tue Jun 9 09:57:59 2009 Jen from AQB,NM said:
campground was very nice,though very clod at night even the first weekend in June.The bathrooms had no TP.We didn't see a ranger until Sunday at 4pm which if there had been any issues how would they have been dealt with?But all in all a nice experience!
On Sat Jun 20 17:05:46 2009 Kristin from Rio Rancho, NM said:
Great developed site! We stayed in spot 7 and really enjoyed it. Would defiantly recommend. Having toilets when camping as a female is always nice! No matter the condition.
On Tue Aug 25 12:32:40 2009 Daniel from New Orleans, La. said:
Stayed there in early July. As we were settling in on an early Thursday afternoon, the peace and serenity was broken by the arrival of a large group of boisterous teens who had just arrived. So we decided to move on to a quieter spot in another loop (site #50), which was very spacious. To be fair, the group quieted down and were very respectful when we met some of them later, on the trail to the waterfall. Also the campground host made numerous passes and was quite friendly. He informed us that he had an ally in the local police and assured us that any uncooperative guests who insisted on being bothersome to other campers were "asked" to leave the campground. He even said that he routinely closed the campground gates on weekends when the sites were filled to keep out locals who liked to party too loudly.
We look forward to returning there again on our next visit to New Mexico.
On Wed Aug 26 02:02:09 2009 Anonymous from Somewhere said:
We stayed at Jemez falls last September in campsite 25 and loved this camp. Lots of shade and the little meadow area behind the camp was great for the dog. There were several trees in our camp that some idiot had taken an ax to and cut scars into the treas. Lots of friendly people, yet quiet and relaxing.. one night there were a few teens partying but by midnite it was quiet. We take a porta potty so I was able to stay away from the vaults. There was an area in some rocks across the way where a group had been using it for a bathroom area.. NASTY.. but we told host about it and they took care of it right away
We are going back tomorrow for 5 days and Im so excited about it. Friends are meeting us on the weekend and I wouldnt suggest this place to friends if we just didnt love it. Plus I have a whole new tent to break in.. Happy Camping.
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