Campsite Review: Pine Springs Campground

Campsite Review: Pine Springs Campground, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, this is RV is camping in a parking lot. Not my style of camping. Guadalupe Mountains NP is not an RV destination. It is a hiking destination and backcountry camping destination but it is not an RVing destination.

We didn’t visit Dog Canyon Campground because the park service website says that the RV sites are only 23 feet long.

I prefer to camp outside the park at Chosa Campground there is a lot more room and Chosa is free. Here is a link to our review: Chosa Campground

Chosa Campground is also not a campground but at least it has space. Chosa is also quite a few miles from the hiking at Guadalupe but also has easy access to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Location

Pine Springs Campground, Guadalupe Mountains National Park is located west of US Highway 180 also known as US Highway 62 at the top of Guadalupe Pass. Near the visitor center is the historic Pinery Butterfield stage stop.

Details

Website: Pine Springs Campground Guadalupe Mountains

Address: 400 Pine Springs to Guadalupe Peak, Salt Flat, TX 79847

Link to Google Map for the area: Pine Springs Campground Guadalupe Mountains NP

Phone Number/Reservations: None, First-Come-First-Serve

Dates stayed: March 19, 2019

Comfort: When we camped there the weather was typical of late winter with clear skies. At night the temperature dropped into the 40-degree range.

Elevation: 5822′

Season: Year-round, although temperatures in the summer are hot. Snow is possible in the winter but isn’t likely to happen frequently.

Price Paid: $7.50/night. Here is a link to the article I wrote on how I get such a low price. FoxRVTravel-Snippet: America The Beautiful Pass

Our Site: Not designated, we were camping in the southeast most parking spot. There was barely enough room for our RV and car in the site.

Hook-ups: None

Dump station: No

Restrooms: Yes

Shower: No

Laundry: No

Potable Water: Yes

Water to fill your RV storage tank: Only pour in, no pressure water hookups in the campground.

Cell service: Verizon – weak service / AT&T – weak service

Observations

Campsite Review: Pine Springs Campgroundinsider info:

We camped on the southheast edge facing west to expose our solar panels to the sun. They did a good job keeping our batteries topped off until sundown. We didn’t have to run our generator, a good thing, because generators are only allowed between 8 am until 8 pm.

The park service says that there is room for twenty RVs up to 50 feet long. I count room for eight large RVs and eight for short RVs. I didn’t find the other four sites. Another NP website says there are nineteen RV sites and that #21 is wheelchair accessible. Perhaps National Park counting doesn’t match my counting method.

There are two group sites that can be reserved. Which may make up for the discrepancies.

There are no hookups of any kind. The parking lot also serves as the trailhead for the Pine Springs trailhead. To be fair Pine Springs Campground does have some tent sites to the east of the parking lot.

Caution

Guadalupe also has some strange rules pertaining to camping fees. Every other National Park I have been to gives the same discount to military campers as is given to Senior and Access Pass holders. Even Guadalupe Mountain NP volunteers and pass holders pay full price. For a slot in the parking lot, the fee is expensive.

Cooking on propane is allowed, no charcoal or wood fires.

One source said that the stay limit is four days? I didn’t read this on the NP website.

Layout & Satellite Views

That is our campsite review of the Pine Springs Campground. Here is our link to our interactive map. Campsite Reviews