Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFee
Orilla Verde Recreation Area
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · NM · 36.33572, -105.73318
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →Bureau of Land Management lists this site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Orilla Verde Recreation Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,091 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Orilla Verde Recreation AreaNIFC · 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 Orilla Verde Recreation Area · 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
- @Mail7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- LLaundry9 mi
- RxPharmacy9 mi
- WWater10 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- OOutfitter10 mi
- ShShower31 mi
- AAir-up48 mi
- DDump48 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 7 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 — Orilla Verde Recreation Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
6,091 ft
Ground slope
11.6% · noticeable
State
NM
Coordinates
36.33572, -105.73318
Cost
Fee · priced on the land manager's own page (blm.gov, read 2026-09-19)
Nearby & resupply — around Orilla Verde Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · NM (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureRio Grande · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townRanchos de Taos · ~7.5 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~9.6 mi
- FuelSpeedway · ~7.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesSpeedway · ~7.4 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~9.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicHoly Cross Cardiology · ~9.8 mi
- HardwareRio Grande Ace Hardware · ~8.1 mi
EV charging — from Orilla Verde Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · NM — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger8.5 mi straight-line NE — Eco Park, Taos, NM (at a public site) · RED_E · CHAdeMO, J1772 · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach13 within 25 mi · 41 within 50 · 106 within 100 · 166 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS9.4 mi — Picuris Travel Center, Penasco
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)9.7 mi — TAOS COUNTY EV DC STATION 2, Taos
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)8.5 mi — Eco Park, Taos, NM (at a public site) · RED_E · CHAdeMO, J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Adobe & Pines Inn - Bed & Breakfast - Tesla Destination, Ranchos de Taos, 6.8 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 396927 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Orilla Verde Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · NM — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletOvra Taos Junction Day Use Site Vault Toilet · at this camp · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletVault Toilet Confluence Site - Ovra · at this camp · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletVault Toilet Confluence - Ovra · at this camp · BLM
- Flush restroomOvra Taos Junction Campground Flush Toilet Building · at this camp · BLM
Coming out here — Orilla Verde Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · NM
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Rio Grande as a perennial stream, under 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 11.6% — noticeable. 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- 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 Orilla Verde Recreation Area elsewhere
Other camps near Orilla Verde Recreation Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Old Spanish Trail National Historic Trail~11.1 mi
- Las Petacas Campground~12.2 mi
- Amole Group Shelter~12.4 mi · fee
- John Dunn Bridge Dispersed Campground~13.9 mi
The unit that manages Orilla Verde Recreation Area
Orilla Verde Recreation Area 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.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Gallegos Peak at 9,460 ft, about 14 miles away. It sits about 3,369 ft higher than this camp, so treat it as a guide rather than a reading for this spot. We do not repeat a depth here, because any number we stored would be stale by the time you read it — the station publishes today's.
How we know this — Orilla Verde Recreation Area
Fee note
Per the BLM page, read 19 Sep 2026: "Download the Recreation.gov mobile app prior to arrival Self-service pay stations are located at the campgrounds and Taos Junction Bridge. Please bring exact change or checks to pay the fees. Day Use (6 a.m. to 10 p.m):…" https://www.blm.gov/visit/orilla-verde-recreation-area
Source
Bureau of Land Management recreation data
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
BLM RIDB record, agency-listed. Its fee field is empty -- no fee statement -- so the cost is unpriced (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up). | Fee 2026-09-19: $3/day per vehicle to use the area -- page says "Download the Recreation.gov mobile app prior to arrival Self-service pay stations are located at the campgrounds and Taos Junction Bridge. Please bring exact change or checks to pay the fees. Day Use (6 a.m. to 10 p.m):…". Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/orilla-verde-recreation-area (worker_W, figure verified on that page).
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
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Orilla Verde Recreation Area
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.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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 — Orilla Verde Recreation Area
What “dispersed” means here →Dumping grey & black →Stay limits →How to read this page →All field notes →