Location: Northwest New Mexico southeast of Farmington.

Access: From New Mexico State Highway 44 at milepost 136 + .8 (17 miles southeast of Bloomfield, 13 miles northwest of Blanco Trading Post, 73 miles northwest of Cuba), turn east onto San Juan County Road 7175 (gravel) and proceed 4 miles to the Cliffview picnic area or 2.2 miles to the principal campground.

Facilities: 7 campsites; sites are small to medium-sized, with norminal to fair separation; parking pads are gravel/dirt, medium-length pull-offs or pull-throughs; additional leveling may be needed in a few of the sites; small areas for tents; ramada (sun shelter); fire rings; b-y-o firewood; no drinking water available so b-y-o; vault facilities; gravel driveway; limited supplies and services are available in Bloomfield.

Activities & Attractions: Scenic views of a canyon abundant with heavily eroded, buff and chalk rock formations; hiking trail; 2 day use areas with several ramadas (sun shelters) and vaults.

Natural Features: Located along the rim of Kutz Canyon in the Nacimiento Badlands; vegetation consists mostly of scattered junnipers, brush and tall grass; rattlesnakes; Angel Peak, a 40-million-year-old barren butte with a summit which fancifully resembles said spirit with outstretched wings, rises to 6,988′about a mile from the campground; bordered by a high desert plain; campground elevation 6,500′.

Season, Fees & Phone: open all year, subject to weather and road conditions; no fee; 14 day limit; Bureau of Land Managemenbt Farmington Resource Office (505) 325-3581.

Camp Notes: The campground provides the closest views of Angel Peak from within the recreation area.  However, its facilities might be a bit disappointing, even for a freebie.  If your not self-contained and just need a place to spend the night it is possible to merely park along the edge of the good-sized, level parking lot in the Cliffview picnic area.  (It is routinely done; the area is also signed as “Cliffview Campground”.) The rimside parking lot location offers a spectacular, 360 degree view of a big piece of northwest New Mexico.  After dard, the light of Bloomfield and Farmington gradully become aglow on the northern horizon.  All night long, only the desert wind disturbs the awesome silence.  It is unknown whether the stalwart, stone spirit which stoically stands guard over these badlands is of mythological or biblical ancestry.  Is it a member of one of the nine identified ‘choirs’, or just a generic cherub who performs a seasonal assignment atop a tree?