Exploring Diablo Canyon in New Mexico

We left Florida during Hurricane Irma and we were excited to be back out west! We didn’t take much time to stop along the way since we were trying to get to the southwest in time for winter. So after exploring in Arkansas we booked it west and eventually made it to Santa Fe, New Mexico! It felt so exciting to be here. And couldn’t wait to start exploring the areas natural beauty. To start, we found a really nice free BLM camp spot near Diablo Canyon Recreation Area. It felt like New Mexico was saying “Welcome!” – or maybe we were just super stoked to be here.

Quick Info:

Cost: Free

Ownership: BLM; 14 day limit

Directions: It’s easiest to just Google Diablo Canyon Recreation Area for directions.

Road Conditions: Extremely bumpy/washboard dirt road but flat and 2WD capable.

Solar: Excellent

Cell Service: Yes

Miles From Town: About 19 miles from Santa Fe

Our Experience Camping at Diablo Canyon Recreation Area

To get to the Diablo Canyon free camp spot we drove (slowlyyy) for seven miles down a very bumpy but well maintained road. It felt like we were driving on cattle guard the entire time. After shaking up the house real good we finally made it! We got there after dark but easily found a spot to camp. When we woke up the next morning we were greeted with an amazing view of Diablo Canyon! The canyon was gorgeous, the camping was free, and there was only on other couple at the ‘campground’.

We went out for a morning stroll to check out the area. There was a trail that went through the canyon as a wash and continued once the canyon got wider.

Exploring Diablo Canyon

When we set off on our walk we had no destination in mind. And once we got back to the trail sign we realized that we didn’t decipher the map very well! We realized (a little late) that we had made it about a half mile or so from the Rio Grande and didn’t even know it! Though we did find some cool plants, flowers and bugs while we were walking.

So after lunch we decided to venture back into Diablo Canyon. We read that there was rock climbing here so we looked for rock climbing bolts. We found a bunch but we only have the gear from top roping and there didn’t seem to be the set up for that there.

While we were free climbing a little up the wall of Diablo Canyon, a military helicopter flew right past us in between the walls of the canyon. It looked as though they were practicing some maneuverability rescue drills or something. Definitely unique and interesting to watch and to be so close to that while up a wall inside of a canyon. We scrambled back down and put our rock climbing stuff away and then decided to run to the Rio Grande and back. It was a little over a four mile run.

We didn’t run with our camera so no pictures, but the river was beautiful – rushing, wide and refreshing to walk in. The fall colors on both sides of the river were beautiful and this huge river in the desert felt magical.

Thank you for reading!

We had a lot of fun checking out Diablo Canyon. This was a great free camp spot – scenic, adventurous, and peaceful with great stars! If you’d like to see some other free camping articles check out the links below:

Camping at Diablo Canyon was about 16 miles from Santa Fe. This ended up being convenient because we were able to set up some of our hand crafted longboards and t-shirts at the square downtown. If you’d like to see our latest line up hand painted longboards, check out our Lost Coast Longboarding Shop!

On that note, if you’d like to see a fun longboard adventure we went on in New Mexico, check out our article Longboarding the Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument.

Thanks again for your support! 🙂