Free tent sites in New Mexico and Arazona?

[gnarledwolf]

hello,  going to be going through New Mexico and into Arizona in the next few days.  I'm looking for good suggestions for free  tent camping locations in those places.... hopefully we can get to them before it gets dark.... tired of setting up in the dark. 
Matt

 

[highdesertranger]

wolf I replied to this on my tent thread. but to recap on BLM and Forest Service land you can camp almost anywhere. in fact the only place you can't camp is when it's posted "NO CAMPING". hope this helps if not give us a shout out we will get more detailed. highdesertranger

 

[WriterMs]

If I have your location right from your thread on 3 weeks to go,you are in Amarillo and headed west .. on I-40 I assume.

It is hard to give you specific ideas when we don't know where you want to stop or what you want to see. If you have no interest in hanging in ABQ or Santa Fe and keep going, you'll get to signs for El Morro near Grants, NM. That is a Park Service site but I'm pretty sure they no longer charge fees for their campground. And there are some pretty neat lava flow things to see out there.

Don't forget, folks gave you several sites to look into for free campsites on your Free Campsites thread, too.

About camping anywhere on Forest Service or BLM... from my experience anywhere near Albuquerque, that is not quite true... like in the Sandia Mtns. I am not aware of any boondocking sites there. I was living in a sticks and bricks in the East Mountains for a few years. Maybe someone will know otherwise, but there is so much private land intersperced.. I never could find a spot anywhere around except Cracker Barrel and Walmart.

 

[gnarledwolf]

If I have your location right from your thread on 3 weeks to go,you are in Amarillo and headed west .. on I-40 I assume.  

It is hard to give you specific ideas when we don't know where you want to stop or what you want to see. If you have no interest in hanging in ABQ or Santa Fe and keep going, you'll get to signs for El Morro near Grants, NM.  That is a Park Service site but I'm pretty sure they no longer charge fees for their campground. And there are some pretty neat lava flow things to see out there.

Don't forget, folks gave you several sites to look into for free campsites on your Free Campsites thread, too.  

About camping anywhere on Forest Service or BLM... from my experience anywhere near Albuquerque, that is not quite true... like in the Sandia Mtns. I am not aware of any boondocking sites there. I was living in a sticks and bricks in the East Mountains for a few years. Maybe someone will know otherwise, but there is so much private land intersperced.. I never could find a spot anywhere around except Cracker Barrel and Walmart.

Thanks for the suggestions. yes we are on I-40 and are camping our way to the grand canyon and the other sites around there, as well as any really interesting sites on the way.  I am using the freecampsites website... a great service, but sometimes it's offerings are slim, and in many cases a tent can't be used.... and our cars are too stuffed for sleeping in....

 

[WriterMs]

Check out the official site for El Morro and see if that works for you. I love to visit the area but have not camped there. It is about 400 miles or 6 hours of driving (plus stops and maybe some delay going thru ABQ). Depending on when you leave your site, you should be there before dark.

And then you can be in Williams AZ (one of Bob's faves to camp near the Grand Canyon) with only about 4 or 5 hours of travel from El Morro.

Wish I was out there now!!! LOL

 

[akrvbob]

Go to this page and I have a map full of campsites.

http://www.cheaprvliving.com/find-campsite/

Scroll down and it's standard Google map, just use the "+" button to zoom in on AZ and you'll find campsites very near Flagstaff AZ and a really great campsite on the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

But here is a post on how to find campsites without asking someone else:

http://www.cheaprvliving.com/blog/finding-boondocking-sites-part-1/
http://www.cheaprvliving.com/blog/finding-campsite-part-2-understanding-and-using-the-mvum/

Bob

 

[cyndi]

http://freecampsites.net/

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Feel free to help the camping community out and review/update/add listings