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Dispersed camping · New Mexico

Lincoln National Forest dispersed camping rules

You can camp up to 14 days in any 45 on this forest, with some corridors limited to marked sites. The card below is the whole rule set — every line links the order or page it came from, and all of it was checked on .

14 days in any 45

Camping Stay Limit Order 03-08-00-25-001 (in effect December 15, 2025 - December 31, 2027) prohibits "camping for more than 14 days, whether or not consecutive, within any 45-day period," and adds: "After 14 days, a user of the Described Area must move at least 30 airmiles from the previous camping location." Property must not be left unattended for more than 48 hours. The forest's dispersed-camping page states the same 14-in-45 limit.

Where you can camp

Designated sites in some areas

"Most of the Lincoln National Forest is open to dispersed camping, which is when you camp away from developed facilities and associated amenities (e.g. bathrooms, picnic tables, fire rings)." A July 2026 forest release adds: "Visitors may disperse camp up to 300 feet on either side of an open road or trail unless restricted by a closure order." On the Sacramento Ranger District, Order 03-08-02-25-001 closes a mapped area to dispersed camping and directs campers to an Alternative Dispersed Camping Corridors Map. source

Keep your distance

  • 300 ft — Stay-close corridor rule, not a keep-away: "Visitors may disperse camp up to 300 feet on either side of an open road or trail unless restricted by a closure order" (forest news release, July 1, 2026). Open roads/trails are those designated on the MVUM. source
  • Recommended: 100 ft — Forest dispersed-camping page, Leave No Trace section: "Preserve fragile watersheds by camping at least 100 feet from lakes, ponds, rivers and meadows." Presented as Leave No Trace best practice, not an order - rendered as guidance. source

Roads and vehicle access

Check the motor vehicle use map

Dispersed-camping page: you can "only drive off the road in certain locations and by certain distances, as listed on motor vehicle use maps." Forest release (July 1, 2026): "Motor vehicle use off a designated road or trail is only permitted for accessing dispersed camping locations to unload gear and supplies. No additional off-road travel is permitted."

Fires right now

We don't watch this forest's fire orders yet — check its own site before you light anything. Here's what stage 1 and stage 2 mean when an order is up.

Closures and special orders

  • Camping Stay Limit Order - Order 03-08-00-25-001 The stay-limit order itself: no camping more than 14 days, whether or not consecutive, in any 45-day period; then move at least 30 air miles. In effect December 15, 2025 - December 31, 2027.
  • Sacramento Ranger District Area / Dispersed Camping and Motor Vehicle Use - Order 03-08-02-25-001 Prohibits dispersed camping, off-road vehicle use, and campfires within a mapped closure area of the Sacramento Ranger District (issued over illegal OHV use and resource damage); an Alternative Dispersed Camping Corridors Map shows where to camp instead. In effect August 12, 2025 - August 31, 2026 - expiring soon; check whether it is renewed.
  • Occupancy and Use Prohibitions - Order 03-08-00-23-002 The prior forest-wide occupancy order (14-in-45 stay limit, 30-air-mile move, 48-hour unattended-property limit), start date December 1, 2023; its stated term ran through November 30, 2025 but it was still posted on the alerts page at verification. The December 2025 stay-limit order above is the operative restriction.

Rules checked against the pages linked above — the full list is below the card.

Rules change by forest order and posted signage — confirm with the Forest Supervisor's Office, Alamogordo at (575) 434-7200 before you go.

How to read these rules

Dispersed camping means camping outside a developed campground — no fee, no table, no toilet, no water. You pick an already-used spot, pack out everything you brought, and the rules above are the whole deal you're agreeing to. The stay limit counts the way the card says it counts, not the way it counts on the forest next door: some places count per spot, some across the whole forest, some inside a radius, and moving a short distance often doesn't restart the clock.

Distance rules come in two shapes. Keep-away rules ("at least 100 feet from water") protect the thing you're camping near; stay-close rules ("within 300 feet of the road") keep vehicles on ground that can take them. A line marked recommended on the card is the office's guidance, not an order — the rest are enforceable rules, and a posted sign at the site beats everything on this page.

The motor vehicle use map is the legal answer to "can I drive in there to camp" — if a road isn't on it, that road is closed to your vehicle, and many forests only allow roadside camping along the roads the map marks for it. It's a free PDF; download it before you lose signal.

Fires are a separate rule with a separate clock. Nothing on this page says you can light one — the card's fire line says where that answer lives today. If a fire is allowed when you get there, buy your wood near camp — hauling firewood from home is how tree-killing pests reach new forests, and the BTU chart says what that local bundle is actually worth.

Where these rules come from

Every rule above was read on the forest's own pages and orders on the dates shown — nothing here is borrowed from another forest or an old guidebook. The managing agency is U.S. Forest Service, Southwestern Region (R3).

Before you go