Guadalupe Mountains National Park guide · 2 min read
Pine Springs and Dog Canyon Campsites: Book Ahead
Reserve your campsite before you arrive at Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The park has no overflow campsites, so if the campgrounds are full and you do not have a reservation, you will need to line up a place to stay outside the park, whether lodging or camping.
Setting up camp in a parking lot or beside a park road is not permitted, and anyone who does so will be cited.
Booking for both Pine Springs and Dog Canyon runs through recreation.gov, and you can make reservations up to six months ahead. Both campgrounds need a booking for each site that is open, so reserve early during busy periods. Pine Springs has two group sites and Dog Canyon has one, each suited to groups of 10 to 20 people. Check each campground's page for current booking details.
Pine Springs Campground lies beside United States Highway 62/180, close to the visitor center, in a desert canyon below Guadalupe Peak. Twenty gravel walk-in sites serve tent campers, and junipers and oaks give most of them some shade. The recreational vehicle area has 13 sites on pavement, and any rig 55 feet or longer, trailers included, is not permitted. The restrooms have flush toilets and meet accessibility needs, and a utility sink is on site, but there are no showers. Water is meant only for filling bottles and hydration packs.
Dog Canyon Campground is tucked into a wooded canyon on the park's north side, roughly two hours of travel from the Pine Springs area. Campers find picnic tables, recreational vehicle sites, and horse corrals there.
Backcountry campers have ten primitive sites, each with four to eight hardened tent pads. Anyone backpacking overnight has to sleep at one of these camps, since camping off trail is prohibited. Holding a backcountry permit secures you a spot, though you will not be assigned a particular site.
