I was researching a trip next year up to Colorado and figured I would stop in New Mexico for the night to rest on the way up and back. I was checking out the camping options and found that New Mexico charges a $225 annual fee to out of state people for tent camping in addition to their nightly fee. Residents have to pay $180! LOL I’d be pretty upset if I lived there and they charged me $180 a year to camp at the state parks.

http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/PRD/FeesPermits.htm

Now, I’m not accustomed to state parks charging an annual fee as we don’t have one in Oklahoma or Arkansas where I do most of my camping, but I have seen this in Wisconsin on a trip up there. I think theirs might have been $60 or something.

I posted this in the regional section and got slammed for ‘whining.’ Does anyone else see $225 as excessive? I question how they justify that amount? Even Colorado is only $60 for an annual pass as far as I can tell and I picture Colorado as a much more desirable location for camping. Are there states that have similar or higher annual fees for camping?

I see people posting about traveling on a budget and tent camping as an alternative to motels. This might be a good head’s up if you’re not familiar with a particular state’s fees for camping. I can see the appeal of a KOA or similar in such a situation.

 

Just camp in a national forest; it's free. New Mexico has a few of them. That beats any state park or KOA.

 

$225 is crazy. I think on certain days you can camp in national parks for free. If people are gonna call you a whiner for asking questons, they need a swift kick in the @$$.

 

Yeah, I eyed the National Forest next to Santa Fe for my return trip…… even the sites with facilities are cheap, but I have heard you can pitch a tent wherever you can find a spot for free.

I never really saw the appeal of a KOA before this came up, but I may hit one on my trip up for a place to pitch my tent where my only other options are state parks that charge the annual fee.

 

Yeah, national forests have organized camp sites that require a fee, but like you said, you can pitch a tent anywhere else for free. I may be mistaken, but I think that each national park has it's own rules like your campsite has to be a certain number of feet away from the main trail. I've gone to the organized campsites and asked the manager if they knew of any good spots. That usually worked out for me.

 

You might want to give the folks at NM state parks a call, they'll clear up your confusion for you... They're good folks, I've stayed a bunch of nights in their parks on trips through the state...

 

Wow - that seems very excessive to me! If you're only talking 5 day's of camping - you're only a couple bucks shy of a hotel each night, averaged out. Of course the longer you spread out the camping the cheaper it'll be. But still!
Another thing - if you're looking at camping in the fall - it should be alot cheaper then at the summers peak seasonal rates.
FWIW, I'd be whining too at $220+ just to camp! Even more ridiculous if your traveling state to state!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by LookMaNoHands

You might want to give the folks at NM state parks a call, they'll clear up your confusion for you... They're good folks, I've stayed a bunch of nights in their parks on trips through the state...

Am I mistaken to read that page to say that they charge $225 for a yearly pass to camp?

 

Yeah, I was just looking at 2 nights as I was travelling through the state to Colorado and back.

 

back country camping is the best. just make sure you read up on the local predators and their habits, and use common sense. also, local people know some of the better places to camp, so talk with gas station attendants etc whenever possible.