Dipping Vat Campground (Gila National Forest)

Latitude, Longitude: 33.42319, -108.50130; Elevation: 7451 ft

Weather Forecast:  https://tinyurl.com/DippingVatWeather

Fire Restrictions: https://nmfireinfo.com/fire-restrictions/

So, I didn't take the scouts here.  I haven't formally been a scoutmaster for several years now.  But, my family was looking to go to the Gila Catwalks and we decided we wanted to go camping instead of staying at some hotel near Glenwood.  When I saw a description about Dipping Vat as one of the most remote campsites in the Gila National Forest, I was hooked!  (I really don't like having lots of people around when I camp)

USFS Dipping Vat Campground Webpage

Our campsite at Dipping Vat.  Lots of space between adjacent sites.

A few other assorted photos below.

A view of Snow Lake from our campground.

A morning view of our campsite.

        

A view of Snow Lake from atop the dam on the South Side.  (I've heard there are no natural lakes in all of New Mexico, but all are reservoirs formed by a manmade dam.  I haven't personally verified that, but every body of water I've been to, perhaps with Blue Hole as the exception, did have at least some small dam on one end.  Even Horseshoe Lake.) 

Weather and Desirability:

So, this shouldn't surprise you, but a campground at 7500' can get cold.  The Ranger at Reserve mentioned that they were getting into the 30's at night in town, and that with the lake another 2000' higher or so, I should be prepared for it to get into the 20's.  Hmm, a little chilly for a family campout.  We came prepared with double-bags and lots of other gear to stay warm.  We did fine.  I'm proud of my family for doing so well.  The Ranger wasn't entirely right.  Using two independent thermometers that I have some measure of trust in, it seems it got down to 16F overnight.  That's a bit chilly.

Other factors: This is, in spite of the long distances to get here and the strange route I took (see below), a drive-in campground that I imagine many who pull trailers might use.  There is nice spacing between the campsites, vault toilets, and potable water (although it was turned off for the winter while we were there in April 2021).  I'd like to imagine that such a remote location doesn't get a ton of visitors, even in the summer, but I just don't know.  There were quite a few sites, and they take good care of the place.  I'm inclined to think it wouldn't be so well established with so many sites if they weren't used.  And, for those that care, they do stock the lake for fishing.

I certainly wouldn't mind going here again.  It would be great to bring a kayak or something else to play in the water with.

Also of interest: The Continental Divide trail runs right through this campground, right by the lake.  That's kind of cool.  The night we were there, someone was backpacking through as part of an 8-day trek along the trail.  Another couple liked to have extra food and snacks on hand to share with the backpackers.  What a cool idea!  I'm not sure how I hadn't heard of this with my years of camping and backpacking, but I guess I haven't spent a lot of time around the Continental Divide trail or any other epic trek routes.

Side trip:  

So, the real purpose here was to go to the Catwalks.  I had never been.  This post is really about the Dipping Vat Campground, but the Catwalks are great, and if you haven't gone, you should.  They are about 4-5 hours from Albuquerque, depending on how you get there, so most wouldn't consider it a day trip.  Here are a few nice pictures to whet your appetite.  Go research the rest on your own.

Getting to Dipping Vat:

Fun story.  In researching the trip, I had read about how part of the road to Dipping Vat was kind of rough, and would benefit from a high clearance vehicle.  Nothing technical, like a Moab trail, but would not be friendly to a minivan.  Okay.  We'd be going in with a 4WD Suburban, so I wasn't worried.  Turns out that section of the road from Dipping Vat to the Gila Catwalks was still closed for the winter.  The road from Datil or Reserve was supposed to be much better.  I even called the Reserve Ranger Station to confirm the remaining roads were open and passable.  The ranger was very helpful and indicated I should be careful, as Google Maps could lead people down undesirable paths.  We did a quick check of what it was telling me, and decided I had the right directions.  I should have asked more questions.  It was all good, except for one small detour at the very end.  It led to a lot of adventure that ultimately turned out fine, but it was a bit precarious.  In the image below, you should see a section of map where we traversed down highway 28 doing just fine.  

It's a good, clean, well-maintained gravel road (I'm told it had just been graded a week or two before we went).  Suddenly, google told us to take a hard left at "Loco Mountain Road".  That should have been a warning!  It immediately went from a well-maintained road to what I would describe as a more traditional back-country forest road, with ruts and whatever.  It wasn't immediately very bad, but we had to slow way down.  I remember thinking that even in the Suburban, parts of this might have been tricky after a good rain - very muddy and hard to navigate.  Well, it got worse.  It was exciting.  It was narrow.  There was navigation over large rocks, steep declines, sharp turns.  There was one point where only the combination of high clearance and 4WD got us through.  But, we eventually made it to the lake.  Woot!  What memories!  Well, once we got there, I was discussing the route with another couple at the lake, and they knew exactly what I was talking about.  They said, "No - that's an old ATV trail.  Just go straight out of here, take the one turn toward Reserve, and then stay on that good road. It's pretty decent all the way back to the 'main road' ", which I'm pretty sure was 141.  Sure enough, it was just fine on the way out.  In fact, it wasn't obvious where we had made the wrong turn as directed by Google, but my son later identified it.  If you stay on 28, on a decent gravel road, not taking any sharp turns off to some other road, it will lead you straight to the camp site with no trouble.  So, we took the Suburban where it had no right to go, but it did just fine!  :-)  We definitely took the road less traveled.  Actually, regardless of that detour through Loco Mountain Road, this trip was the most either of us had ever driven on dirt roads for a continuous stretch.  Hours of dirt roads... not just the last 10 miles.  Good times!

Fun point of interest: https://goo.gl/maps/K9hFyBZ7iGCoBab78  

We found a lonely little shelter with an old abandoned pay phone in it!  Out in the middle of nowhere.  Maybe a good hour or more from a paved road.  Not connected anymore.  Just there.  Take a picture!

The map below (as well as the GPS coordinates at the top of the page) show the location we camped at.