Fenton Lake State Park

This campground is nestled in the woods among large Ponderosa pines and is blissfully out of cell phone range. We loved the peace and quiet afforded by its location off the main road.

There were 5 RV sites and a number of tent camping sites available making this a very relaxing environment in the middle of the Jemez Mountains. We woke up with views of the frozen lake and snow-capped mountains while watching the wildlife come alive with the sun. The park staff were incredible, friendly and helped us find the nearby hot springs with ease. Most roads were closed to nearby attractions on account of snow, but could be accessed on foot. I definitely recommend the hike to San Antonio Hot Springs, it's not to be missed. ~5 miles each way from the main road.

Practical Details:
-RV sites had water/electric hookups.
-No dump station, but drinking water was available
-Vault toilets available
-All dirt roads beyond main access gate
-In mid-February, conditions were muddy during the day and freezing at night, but we were able to navigate just fine in a 2WD Jeep Grand Cherokee.
-Due to freeze/thaw conditions the road had a number of large potholes, but our 20' trailer
handled it ok.
-Consider filling up ahead of time as the nearest gas station is a bit of a trek

We got lucky here. The majority of the sites can be reserved online and were all booked up. We rolled into camp at around 10:30am and were lucky enough to catch somebody who was packing up to leave. It was literally the only site coming available that day and we would have missed it if we had been 5min later. There were several vehicles that rolled by looking envious of our good fortune. When we left the next morning, there was already another car waiting to take our spot. THIS PLACE IS POPULAR, either reserve a spot ahead of time or get there early and cross your fingers. If you can't get a spot at Fenton lake, you will have passed several other campgrounds on the way in that looked to be a little less crowded.

This is a wildly popular campground for good reason, our site was HUGE, while the parking at it was really only big enough for our van and maybe another car. A larger RV would have a hard time getting into site 13 but there were several much larger sites in the campground. Aside from the massive site that had a fire ring and large picnic table, the pit toilets and trash were just the right distance from camp (not too close, not too far)

Fenton Lake itself had an almost ridiculous amount of trout in it and it seemed like everyone there was catching plenty. It looked like a great place to spend a day with the family and introduce some young ones to the joys of fishing. The lake was just a short hike from our campsite, but we drove because we are lazy, and we wanted to fill our big water jug at the spigot that is next to the boat ramp.

A beautiful little creek runs down from the lake through a beautiful meadow along the front of the campground. There were several fisherman on the creek, but they didn't seem to be having as much luck as those fishing the lake.

The campground is a great "home base" if you want to visit the various natural attractions that are spread along highway 4 (Spence hot springs, Battleship rock, soda dam etc.)

I know the park rangers are spread thin, but the check-in system is pretty disorganized. If you aren't familiar with the park and campground, it could be easy to take a wrong turn if you're trying to find your own way. And that would be no fun in an RV. We arrived at 4pm in our Class A, and there was a park ranger checking folks in. He found our reservation, but NOT the extra payment we had made for our kids to be able to drive to meet us and park on our site (extra $10 per day per vehicle). Later, I found the paperwork proving we had paid, but not until my kids had already paid for a day when they arrived. And getting a refund was going to be too much hassle. And they don't always have any staff at the entry. So some folks are left to fend for themselves when trying to find their campsites.

That's the bad news. Good news is that this tiny little lake and the surrounding area is lovely. It's great if you fish. We don't, but we took several easy but longish hikes and it's just beautiful. Lots of birds, wildflowers and we even saw a beaver on the lake! The campsites are nice too…many are right along the Rio Cerros river (stream really) that makes up the lake. The one loop with electric sites (where we stayed) is a bit back from the water, but there is still LOTS of shade. We sat our for hours and enjoyed the quiet.

30 amp service only. Decent water pressure. No dump station on site (another drawback). No cell service of any kind. There are a couple of satellite wi-fi hot spots around, but after 30 minutes, you have to pay, and it is incredibly slow. I had to use it once for work; not great. So just plan to be 100% disconnected. I liked the 2pm check out time, by the way. We slept in quite late for us on our last day, and still had plenty of time to get packed and out of there!

We are already talking about next year's visit!

Most of the campground is dry camping (still closed while we were there. The loop with amenities had only had 6 sites. Water was still turned off because of overnight freezing. Camp staff I interacted with was pleasant. Be aware, no dump station. Road in park rough. Leveling can be challenging. Valley’s Caldera, Bandelier and Manhattan Project National Monuments are accessible but you do have to drive a bit. The lake is a popular fishing destination.

Great park with only 4 or 5 electric site. Cost is $10 + $4 (for electric) + $4 (per day for park use)
The lake is stocked with Rainbow trout and it is a popular destination. Everything was clean and well maintained. The satellite Wifi was not in service during our stay. We drove to the park from Los Alamos and when we left the SP we wanted to keep going on 126 towards Cuba (West) but the road became a dirt road. We drove on it for a couple of miles (very slow and not pleasant) but we decided to turn around while we could. Glad we did ! The drive down to Jimez Springs was amazing!