San Lorenzo Canyon | Wild Camping

March 14th, 2024 by Delica_girl

Beautiful canyon, lits of spots to camp, some are just breathtaking. I stayed a bit on the slightly higher ground by the aspen stand. Nice hike around the southern rim. Lots of people during the day, but quiet at night. No cell service in the canyon, but spotty service along the rim.

February 20th, 2024 by danielbarwick

This site was the highlight of a recent trip to New Mexico. I was there in the last week of February, weather was mild, I was the only person camping in the whole Canyon. From reading the comments, I believe this site is not as popular as it could be because you cannot get there by following Google maps or Apple Maps. I’ll put some brief directions at the end of this review.

This was the first time I’ve ever been able to camp by driving right through the bottom of a small canyon. The rock formations are beautiful. The area is completely clean. You drive in through BLM land and pass 20 to 30 possible pull off sites along the way until you hit the canyon. In the canyon itself there are about a dozen campsites, clearly visible, because each has a fire ring. Beautiful, marked hiking trails abound, and honestly, the entire road (riverbed) through the canyon is a gorgeous walk by itself. As you drive through the canyon, when you hit the stand of Cottonwood trees on the right, then you’re probably at the farthest point you will be able to turn around a big rig. Normal wheelbase vehicles can go all the way to the end. Zero AT&T service in the canyon.

Here is the simplest way to get there: take exit 156 off the highway. If you’re headed north on the highway, take a right, then another immediate right to go down the two lane paved road that parallels the highway. Follow that road 4.6 miles, where it will take a right and go through a tunnel underneath the highway. Immediately before that tunnel is a left-hand turn onto a dirt road. Take it, and you will see a sign that indicates that you are on the road to the canyon. Drive 1.8 miles and take a right, where there is another sign that says that the canyon is 2.5 miles away. At this point, you can’t get lost. Just follow the road and eventually you will be in the canyon.

January 14th, 2024 by Jennifer Plum

Beautiful spot. We came here to hike with our dog but will be back to camp. As others mentioned do not follow google. No facilities, but guests have treated area kindly. There's no trash!

September 14th, 2023 by exploring509.de

Warning: flashfloods are a serious danger in this canyon - especially during monsoon season, end of summer. We had luck today and made it out of the canyon before the wave hit us. There was just a little bit of rain in the area, the water is coming from far away! Be carefull!

October 25th, 2022 by taylorabney.adventures

You have to manually plug in the coordinates, Google GPS will lead you astray. The San Lorenzo Canyon is beautiful. Drive off the pavement and down the dirt road for a while and a cattle grate on the right has a pull off and sign. That dirt road leads for a while through desert and the canyon pops up.

This is an incredibly beautiful special place and I hope it stays respected and quiet. Used by locals and some fellow nomads. First road on the right coming into the canyon is narrow, there is one spot for a van or RTT in a slot canyon. Go straight and some pull offs offer nice spots for even a trailer and after a large strand of cottonwoods- then there are no more big pull offs and a couple more small canyon corners.

Explore. Enjoy this serene canyon. Small hikes around. Zero service. Be smart with rain in canyons, this one shows evidence of flash floods.

October 14th, 2022 by TheSavageSkoolie~~Youtube

Fit past this spot even in our 40’ 22,260lb skoolie. Some loose spots but blasted through them and didn’t even slow down. However big boys beware if raining it could be a totally different ballgame. However I didn’t experience that so wouldn’t know

May 24th, 2022 by macg114

Like others said, absolutely beautiful spot!

Google GPS is wrong, but follow directions posted below or GPS to other post “Top of a Hill” and just keep going straight until you hit another sign for it then from there’s a sign for the canyon where you take a right over a cattle grate then pretty much straight to the canyon. The road was pretty loose at points but was able to keep my speed through and make it in an ‘05 dually sprinter. Definitely worth the hassle

April 17th, 2022 by skipwatson1951

absolutely amazing place! no real marked hiking trails, but you can easily make your own. came in in our 30' TT, towed by a 20' F250 and made it just fine. the person who said it's not big rig friendly also admitted he went the wrong way. you can definitely bring any size rig in here. if you have a big rig don't be afraid to drive into the canyon. lots of great spots and turn arounds...UNTIL, you get to a stand of cottonwood trees on the right. there is turn around room on the left right there. vans, cars and truck campers could go on till the end, but don't take a bigger rig any further. best is during the week when the locals aren't here. weekends the local ATVs race up and down the road stirring up lots of dust and making a racket of noise. like others have said, pack it in pack it out. surprisingly clean for no facilities and as many young partiers come on weekends.

April 13th, 2022 by dieselbeast.the.bus

Wow, absolutely beautiful alien looking landscape. Several sites available within the canyon with fire rings. One of the most stunning free campsites I've visited so far. Made it here in a 6 window skoolie, do be careful though because the road is soft sand at some points so there is a risk of getting stuck. No service. Take the left turn off of I-25 frontage road under the single lane underpass, follow directions as other have previously stated.

March 15th, 2022 by rjerculiani

Road was freshly graded today making travel in effortless. I can only add another WOW! to describe this place.
definately a Must See place on your travels!

February 17th, 2022 by artbyxan.com

This place is absolutely incredible!!! The instructions listed by the previous visitor are if you're coming from the south. Basically, you want to end up driving on "Grand Echantment Trail" which is easier to find on Google maps.

This is hands down the coolest place we've stayed yet. Our 5 window skoolie made it down the canyon just fine, too.

No cell service.

February 11th, 2022 by lauramichellewoods

such a gorgeous amazing spot! highly recommend to come here!!
we had issues with Google maps as well- instead, get off at lemitar exit and take the access road on the west side of the highway for about 5 miles. when the road curves to go under the highway, instead take a left onto the dirt road. you'll see a sign for the canyon (there is an earlier tunnel to go under the highway, but it's not that one!). take the dirt road on the left for about 4 miles and you'll cross a cattle guard to get into the park!! there are a ton of amazing spots to park, not just this location. the entire road in the canyon is about 2.5 miles, and there's a few turnaround spots along the way. no service at all, no amenities, pack it in pack it out! lots of cool hiking spots too! we were in our 2wd ford transit van and made it fine, but 4wd is definitely preferred.

November 27th, 2021 by The.Savage.Skoolie~Youtube

Tried to take our 40ft bus…
We drove down a dirt road for around 10 miles before it told us to take a right. The right turn wasn’t even really a road… more like tire tracks in a field.
Ended up parking in front of someone’s home. Luckily we were able to turn around. The guy that lived there said if we would have drove another quarter mile we would have gotten stuck.
He said he’s had half a dozen people follow gps out here and they ended up getting stuck.
I would say this location is not big rig friendly.

November 21st, 2021 by ericaelamarr

adding a photo of directions to this spot from the closed gate route the GPS will take you to. beautiful spot. directions are easy to follow.

June 11th, 2021 by Tyler Jewell

This is a amazing place. Sleep under 150ft canyon walls. Locally used as I am from new Mexico and come here to camp. Drive on a old river bed out here. It's a big slot canyon. beautiful, big horn sheep.

do some research on google before coming out for a some directions as sometimes google takes you to a closed gate. This place is open year round.