Along the River RV Park Ruidoso, NM Review

Charles.maine · 03-23-2016, 08:05 PM

Along the River RV Park

I am not associated with this park nor am I being compensated in any way for this review.

Stayed at this park in March 2016. This park is closed from Mid Jan - March 1st. The park is located about 15 mins north of Ruidoso near the intersection of Hwy 48 and Hwy 37. The park features 36 RV spots and 13 tent spots.

Water, Electric and Sewer were all as expected. However in March overnight lows were in the 30's which froze our water hose. Either bring a heated hose or simply fill your tanks and switch to tanks for overnight use. We just had the kids take showers and then unhooked water hose. Then in the morning after breakfast we hooked the hose back up and adults took showers.

There is no cable and antenna channels are very scarce. I think at one point we had like 3 channels. 1 was a local channel out of Albuquerque I think and the others were junk. Internet was pretty poor as well. However we were trying to stream television and we were trying to use our range extender. Additionally the owners were not there when we first arrived so we could not contact them about the poor internet. I am not sure if there was anything they could have done or not.

Route into and out of the park are tricky. Highway 48 has an 8% grade descending when going North. However if you come in from the North Hwy 380 between Hondo and Capitan is extremely rough.

Please see the map below:

Here are the photos I took of the spots:

View of spot #1 with the office and entrance in the background. Entrance is pretty steep if you have a heavy trailer like us. I wasn't sure if I needed it or not but I put the truck in 4HI to pull out. I could not imagine getting out in the snow.

View of spots #1, #2, #3 and #4 from the entrance. Not a lot of privacy but would be okay for 1 or 2 nights.

View of spot #2 with #16, #17, #18 and the cabin in the distance.

View of spots #5 and #6 next to the owners residence.

Looking back into the corner of spots #7 - #13. That FW is in spot #8.

View of spot #16 and #17 with the cabins in the background.

View of spot #18 with cabin in background. The stream is in the distance.

Site #19 is on the right and the road leading down to Site #24, #25 and #26.

View from the entrance looking down at Sites #20, #21, #22 and #23

Charles.maine · 03-23-2016, 08:07 PM

View of spot #20. Its probably the widest and longest site I have ever seen.

View of Sites #20, #21, #22 (very tight) and #23. All sites were long enough for our 44' FW and room for the truck to park in front.

Site #21, #22 and #23

Site #24. The stream is just over the logs on the left.

Site #26 right along the stream with the drive over bridge in the distance

Site #25

Site #28 with the stream in the distance

Site #29 right along the stream.

Site #30 with the stream just on the other side of the picnic table.

Site #30B with Site #30 and the stream in the distance

Site #30, #31, #32 and #33.

Charles.maine · 03-23-2016, 08:07 PM

Site #33 with woods and stream in the distance

Sites #34 and #35 with woods porch swing and creek in the distance

Bridge to drive across stream to the back sites. Looks rough but it is solid

View of stream looking back toward the cabins from the drive bridge

Tent Sites T1 and T2

**Mr. Dan** · 03-23-2016, 08:13 PM

We were there about 18 months ago... camped in #34 across the bridge with the rear of our trailer about 20 ft. from the Rio Bonito. We didn't spend a lot of time there - used it as a base to tour the town and surrounding area. Owners gave us a password to some sort of wifi or phone booster - don't remember what they called it. We sat on the front porch of the office when we wanted to access the internet or send texts using our phones.

You did a super review.

Charles.maine · 03-23-2016, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Dan

We were there about 18 months ago... camped in #34 across the bridge with the rear of our trailer about 20 ft. from the Rio Bonito. We didn't spend a lot of time there - used it as a base to tour the town and surrounding area. Owners gave us a password to some sort of wifi or phone booster - don't remember what they called it. We sat on the front porch of the office when we wanted to access the internet or send texts using our phones.

You did a super review.

Thanks...I am going to try to start making this a hobby when we stay anywhere. My wife says I research and plan everything. If there was a way to plan/schedule breathing I would. With that being said I really like seeing pictures of RV parks before we book a trip. I am sure there are those out there like me just want to help out and maybe start/continue a revolution of reviews.

2nd the front porch. My teenage daughter was sitting up there at 6am the morning we left downloading movies and checking out Instagram on her phone.

Tdbrn · 03-24-2016, 11:59 AM

Thank you for the most thorough review I've seen in a long time! I will watch for more from you. We haven't been back to the Ruidoso area since the mid 1990s.
In the late 1970s to late 1980s I was out there every year for the motorcycle rally in September, it's the Golden Aspen rally now. Back then it was all motorcycle touring with a pop up tent trailer in tow for the 'RV', I used to stay at the Circle B, if it's even still there. I remember the first time I was out to Ruidoso in 1976 I camped at the then KOA which was close to town and on the side of a mountain! A lot of dropped motorcycles navigating those steep hills to get to sites and all covered in gravel.
Back then the Chaparral was the center of all the action. It was torn down and condos are there now I believe. In the 80s it was the stock sale yard as the headquarters and in the 90s and today it's the event's center closer to town. Oh well, enough reminiscing! I will watch for your reviews, I really like seeing the lay of the land in my own travel planning!

Edmund · 03-24-2016, 12:09 PM

99% of RV park wifi systems are not capable of streaming movies and you are using up bandwidth that is slowing everyone else. Forget about it until you are home with your own router.

Tdbrn · 03-24-2016, 01:25 PM

Oh yeah, I was going to mention movies and TV on the road too, I load up a couple of portable hard drives and I have a "Media Player" I bought from Amazon for about $30.00, plugs into the TV through HDMI and we watch movies and TV seasons through the player from the hard drive. No commercials and as many or few as you want to see. We have satellite radio if we want news but I have yet to stay at any park that has or will allow streaming capabilities. For me this was the easier solution and just use park Wi-Fi for checking news and weather or email.

DickiedooFlagman · 03-25-2016, 04:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edmund

99% of RV park wifi systems are not capable of streaming movies and you are using up bandwidth that is slowing everyone else. Forget about it until you are home with your own router.

X2!!

Charles.maine · 03-25-2016, 05:20 AM

I understand that. However when we arrived there were only 2 others there. They appeared to be full timers. And it wasn't that it was to slow to stream it was just on and off. When it was on you could stream no problem. When I was off you couldn't even open Google homepage.

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