Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFee
Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · NM · 35.98050, -105.91442
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 Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,334 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Santa Cruz Lake 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 Santa Cruz Lake 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
- @Mail1 mi
- EVEV fast charger3 mi
- WWater5 mi
- +Urgent care5 mi
- ShShower5 mi
- FFuel7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- MMechanic8 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- RxPharmacy9 mi
- OOutfitter20 mi
- AAir-up22 mi
- DDump24 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, 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 — Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
6,334 ft
Ground slope
11.9% · noticeable
Nearest highway
~9.4 mi · US Hwy 285
State
NM
Coordinates
35.98050, -105.91442
Cost
Fee · priced on the land manager's own page (blm.gov, read 2026-09-19)
Nearby & resupply — around Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · NM (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSanta Cruz River · ~0.3 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Santa Cruz Lake (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townPotrero · ~1.2 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~9.4 mi · US Hwy 285
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.8 mi
- FuelFuel · ~7.0 mi
- Propane / LPGFerrellgas · ~8.6 mi
- Dump stationJuniper Campground Dump Station · ~24.1 mi
- GroceriesStore · ~8.3 mi
- PharmacyCVS Pharmacy · ~8.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicClinic · ~5.1 mi
- HardwareHacienda Home Center · ~8.5 mi
EV charging — from Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · NM — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger2.7 mi straight-line NW — La Arboleda Senior Center, Chimayo, NM (at a public site) · RED_E · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach27 within 25 mi · 49 within 50 · 93 within 100 · 151 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)25.2 mi — Santa Fe, NM - Cerrillos Road - Tesla Supercharger, Santa Fe
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO8.4 mi — AVANYU AVANYU RIGHT, Española
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.8 mi — JEMEZ ELECTRIC CPF50 #1, Hernandez, 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 449049 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · NM — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletSclra North Shore Lower Camping Area Single Vault · at this camp · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletSclra North Shore Camping Loop Double Vault Toilet · at this camp · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletSclra North Shore Fishing Dock Parking Lot Double Vault Toilet · at this camp · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletSclra North Shore Boat Ramp Single Vault Toilet · at this camp · BLM
Coming out here — Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · NM
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Santa Cruz River as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.3 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 11.9% — 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 is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) — abandoned, lifted and out-of-service track excluded, so a rail-trail does not count as one.
- US Hwy 285 is mapped ~9.4 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 Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area elsewhere
Other camps near Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- BLM dispersed camp — Santa Fe County, NM~1.1 mi
- Borrego Mesa Campground~7.9 mi
- Borrego Mesa~8.0 mi
- Big Tesuque Campground~15.8 mi
The unit that manages Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area
Santa Cruz Lake 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.
How we know this — Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area
Fee note
Per the BLM page, read 19 Sep 2026: "Fee station (self-service) is located at the entrance of the North Shore area, and a self-service pay station is located at the Overlook Campground. Exact change is required and should be deposited into fee tubes; entran…" https://www.blm.gov/visit/santa-cruz-lake-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: $9 per night first come first-served Annual Day Use Pass $20 per vehicle -- page says "Fee station (self-service) is located at the entrance of the North Shore area, and a self-service pay station is located at the Overlook Campground. Exact change is required and should be deposited into fee tubes; entran…". Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/santa-cruz-lake-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 Santa Cruz Lake 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 — Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading your camp page →All field notes →