Orilla Verde BLM Recreational Area Camping REVIEW

Orilla Verde BLM Recreational Area is beautiful! To get here head North on 68 from Espanola. In Pilar, turn left onto 570 and follow the river. There are 6 different campgrounds but only 2 of the campgrounds have electric/water.

Value 4/5
$3 dayuse, $7 camping or $15 for electric and water. The dayuse is included with your camping fee.

Site Quality 4.5/5
Our packed gravel site #1 in the Rio Grand Campground was level. We didn't have to do any leveling at all. There was a fire ring and a barbeque pit as well as picnic tables. Some sites had covered picnic areas. Electric and water only. No sewer or RV dump. Washrooms/$showers

Facility Fun 3.5/5
Rafting and fishing if you have your own supplies. Hiking.

Natural Surroundings 5/5
You are in a valley surrounded by Mountains, a river behind you. Beautiful mature trees. BEAUTIFUL!
A Rafters paradise as the river is directly behind you and easily accesible from launch area (rafts not motorized boats). There are many trails to hike, and we saw many mountain bikers in the area too.

Bathrooms 4.5/5
Very clean. Outdoor sink for dishes, pay showers at $1 for 3 minute HOT shower (at our Rio Grande campground, only showers here I think)

Staff 5/5
The campground host has been there 1 year and is staying for 1 more year. He was very friendly and stopped by our site a few times to chat. He was very helpful when asking about things in town as well as inquiring as to where we are headed and sharing ideas to go to along the way.

Location 4/5
Only about 15-20 minutes from Toas which has almost everything you need. Including a Walmart that allows Overnighting for RV's, river rafting tours are at the corner of 68 and 570. Visitors centre just Souh of 570.

Overall 4/5
Beauiful, natural surroundings. Not much traffic and safe enough for the girls to run around a bit and not have to worry too much about them. No internet service for about 8 miles North and South of here. Some people had satelittes up but we didn't try ours. Close to Taos. We would come here again even though there was no internet.

An open field and the bahroom/showers behind us. RV site #1

The bathroom/shower building with an outdoor sink
 for tenters dishes



There are tent sites behind us and then the river, fire pit, picnic table
and barbeque pit available



View of the tent sites with covered picnic areas

View of the river

Navajo Lake State Park, driving through New Mexico and Orilla Verde BLM

We woke this am at Navajo Lake State Park. We stopped here as it was late, dark and we couldn't easily find a boondocking site. We really need to do laundry and if we don't find one soon you might start seeing us in our birthday suits! LOL :)

I am not going to do a regular review for this park as we arrived late and left early so I don't think it would be a fair review.  This space was $10 for the night and $14 with electric, as are all the State Parks in New Mexico. Here are a few wet pictures from our departure.

Large pull through site with picnic table/fire pit behind

picnic table and fire pit

View behind us down to the lake

Playground which was too wet to play on :(

From here we travelled through some ever changing weather

Snow

And more snow

Yes that's hail

We saw many of these. Everywhere there are oil drills.

And ended up stopping at Orilla Verde BLM Recreational Area. It was beautiful. The mountains on one side and the river on the other. (review to follow this post)

but it is in a valley and there is no interenet service within about 8 miles north or south.

We paid $15 to say here because we needed to hook into electricity even more then we need laundry. We made a boo boo last night and drained our RV batteries...big oops! So we bought a charger in Taos at Walmart to give them a full 3 cycle charge and are now researching solar ideas. If anyones has some ideas on solar we'd love to hear them :)

FREE BLM Camping near Goblin Valley State Park Utah

To find his BLM Free camping follow 24 North from Hanksville. Turn Left on Temple Valley Road. Continue on and PASS the road to Goblin Valley on your left. (about 7 miles) Directly after there are spots to camp on your left. If you continue around the corner you will find a compact gravel camping area with toilet facilities. This area was too busy for us so we continued on. There are numerous spots that are rough and suitable for small to midsize RV's or tent camping. We couldn't find a vacant space large enough for us so we ended up parking in the second gravel lot and are so glad we did. There are litle ruins from an old homestead hat were fun to explore for the girls.

Value 5/5
FREE

Site Quality 4.5/5
Where we parked in the second compact gravel area with toilets we were quite happy. The area was level, had fire pits and newer picnic tables. There was an area with shade covering but it was taken while we were there.

Facility Fun 5/5
We had a lot of fun exploring the ruins and hiking up some of he ATV trails. There are numerous trails for hiking, quadding, mountain biking in he BLM land.

Natural Surroundings 4.5/5
We were parked at he base of 3 beautiful mountains. The trails were plenty and the colours of the setting sun on all 3 mountains was amazing.

Bathrooms 4/5
There is no running water, but toileta are available in the crushed gravel parking areas. They were very clean and well maintained.

Staff N/A

Location 4/5
Being close to soo many hiking posibilities and natural beauty i was great if you like the great outdoors. The only thing within 25 miles is Goblin Valley State Park. So if you are interested in this Park and want to camp for FREE or if their campground is full, this is an excellent location.

Overall 4.5/5
We LOVED this spot. If we had our quads we could have stayed here longer. here are sooo many trails to choose from. The old homestead ruins were perfect for our girls to explore. hey even spent some time time trying to fix them up by adding more rocks into he cracks :) They had a blast!



The "toilets"




One of the 4 ruins we found




Mounain behind us



This is he first area just past the road to Goblin Valley State Park



The first crushed gravel area which was too busy for us.
It appears to be a very popular area. We like to be a bit
further away from everyone.



 

Our campsite as the sunsets...the reflective colours were amazing



More Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef National Park and BLM camping

We woke up this morning and went back to Bryce Canyon. Entrance fees to Bryce Canyon are now $25. I had heard that it was $15 recently so the price has gone up I guess. (same price now as the Grand Canyon) This fee was covered with our America the Beautiful Pass which can be purchased HERE or at most National Parks.

 

 

The girls getting their "beauty sleep"!

Aayla riding her horsey just like her big sister

 If you don't have a pass and you don't really want to pay the $25 entrance fee there is a little secret. Well not really a secret as the park posts "Fairyland" on your map and even put a sign to it on the way out, but on the way in there is no sign, so you drive by, pay and enter the park. However if you drive up to the pay stations, turn around and head back from where you came from, watch the right hand side of the road. There will be a sign for Fairyland. Follow it to the end and park. There are trails that lead into the main park from here which would even get you into the rest of the park I believe if you are wanting a long hike. If not, here's a glimpse at what you will see at Fairyland for FREE.

 From here we headed back out to the number 12 towards Escalante through some ever changing scenery. It was an impressive drive to say the least and not for the swirmish in certain places. It was very steep and narrow in lots of places and at the peak you literally had 6 inches before a drop off on both sides of the road. Honestly! A beautiful drive for sure so long as you aren' too squirmish :)



This is near Escalante where there is a hike to the river that I heard about
 but out trailer was too big to park in the full parking lot so we continued on.
When you are heading North from Escalante, you will evenually pass a
coffee house which I can't remember the name but you will find it in the
 middle of the mountains where you least expect it. Shorly after this
 you will cross the Escalante river and will immediately come to the parking area.



This is the crazy road which has about 6 inches on each side before falling over he edge!

And now he scenery changes

and changes



and changes some more!



There is snow and coldness



and more snow



and then you are soon surrounded by beautiful red cliffs

 We then pass through Capitol Reef National Park. (A beautiful and FREE park to enter) It was so beautiful we had to stop and have lunch. There are many trails to do here, but we pushed on after enjoying the beauty of the park during lunch and a bit of time to stretch our legs.



I love the red against the green almost as much as against he blue




A family of deer visiting/living in the park



It was a lot of fun throwing the leaves and trying to catch
them before the wind swept them away.





Sierra enjoying watching the river




Daddy have a little snooze before
heading back on the road



If you visit here in the summer they open up these orchards for you to harvest for FREE! Free Friut!!!

 More scenery changes as we leave Capitol Reef

 Finally we arrive at more FREE camping on BLM land near Goblin State Park. (A camping review will come tomorrow my internet connection is bad tonight)



Exploring some abandoned buildings




Sierra and her rock treasures




A boat!




"Don't tell me I can't do this!!! I will!!!"



They had sooOOoo much fun exploring here

They even found a cold cellar which Sierra calls her bunny house

Fixing up the bunny house

Another heart rock

Sierra discovers an old car

Playing while daddy makes supper



And mom photographs the gorgeous sun




enjoying the sun from her special tree




The light tonight was amazing!




Daddy making dinner




tonights sun set



Even though we travel over 340 km's today it was one of my favourite days from start to finish. Everything was so amazing! Tomorrow we check out Goblin State Park.