★ Field-verified · Dave's ownBLM · dispersedFree
BLM public land
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · Santa Fe County, NM · 35.57785, -106.14150
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Ask about this camp →Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on Bureau of Land Management land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
On BLM land outside of Santa Fe. On the rim of a canyon overlooking the Santa Fe River (trickle). This is one of the best sites you will find so close to the city. Primitive. No fire ring or amenities. Great cell service. Enough room for two or three vehicles. Secluded with great views of mountains all around. Nearby petroglyphs. Possible light BLM road traffic. Four-wheel drive recommended. There is a neighboring campsite on the rim with a fire ring, but it was muddy during my visit. Recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 29 January 2020. No agency publishes a season for this site, so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at BLM public land
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,205 ft.
Fire & smoke — around BLM public landNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · NM
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater2 mi
- MMechanic4 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- GGrocery5 mi
- EVEV fast charger7 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- +Urgent care7 mi
- AAir-up7 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- ShShower9 mi
- OOutfitter13 mi
- DDump17 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 5 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — BLM public land
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
6,205 ft
Ground slope
5.6% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~2.1 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~2.1 mi · Interstate 25
County
Santa Fe County, NM
Coordinates
35.57785, -106.14150
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · NM (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSanta Fe River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townLa Cienega · ~1.6 mi
- Nearest rail line~2.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~2.1 mi · Interstate 25
- Drinking waterBottles & Fill Station · ~1.8 mi
- FuelValero · ~5.0 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump stationJuniper Campground Dump Station · ~16.9 mi
- GroceriesAllsup's · ~5.0 mi
- PharmacyPharmacy · ~6.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicVA Santa Fe Clinic · ~6.8 mi
- HardwareLowe's · ~8.5 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
Had a signal
Getting there
High clearance / 4×4
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Recommended
EV charging — from BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · NM — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger6.6 mi straight-line E — Santa Fe, NM - Tesla Supercharger (at a shopping center) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach22 within 25 mi · 66 within 50 · 99 within 100 · 149 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS6.8 mi — Walmart 3423 (Santa Fe, NM), Santa Fe
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO6.8 mi — Walmart 3423 (Santa Fe, NM), Santa Fe
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)5.7 mi — RANCHO CARRERA SOUTH LEFT, Santa Fe, NM · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 102307 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · NM — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop 13: La Bajada (Welcome Center) · ~3.6 mi S
- RestroomAtalaya- Lower · ~14.3 mi NE · USFS
- RestroomAtalaya - Upper · ~15.2 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCrrt Diablo Canyon Trailhead Rec Site Single Vault Toilet · ~15.7 mi N · BLM
Coming out here — BLM public land · Bureau of Land Management · NM
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Santa Fe River as a perennial river, ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 5.6% — gentle. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Rail line mapped ~2.1 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records commuter rail service on it. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Interstate 25 is mapped ~2.1 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open BLM public land elsewhere
Other camps near BLM public land
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Diablo Canyon Recreation Area Camping and Parking~15.7 mi
- Juniper Family Campground~16.9 mi · fee
- Black Canyon Campground~20.0 mi
- Ponderosa Group Campground~21.4 mi · fee
The unit that manages BLM public land
BLM public land is in the Taos Field Office, Farmington District, Bureau of Land Management. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — BLM public land
Source
Dave's own travels
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
FIELD VERIFIED by Dave Lalande -- he has stood on this site. Coordinates are his own GPX track point, not a geocode. County and state confirmed against the FCC Census Block API (Santa Fe County, NM). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record.
A night on record
Dave's own GPS diary, 2017–2020: the date of the waypoint he saved here. The timestamp is UTC, so an entry saved in the evening carries the next morning's date. An observation of one night, never a forecast.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 29 January 2020. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about BLM public land
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- How many rigs actually fit
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — BLM public land
What “dispersed” means here →Stay limits →Your first dispersed night →Picking a spot →All field notes →