Cibola National Forest and Grasslands · New Mexico
Overview Situated along the Sandia Crest Scenic Byway 536, at a cool 9,200 ft of elevation, is the large and often shaded Nine Mile Picnic Ground. Newly renovated to address maintenance needs, the picnic area now offers a combination of single, double, and group picnic sites, vault toilets, hardened walkways, grills, serving tables, information boards, and access to near by trails. Surrounded by aspen, spruce, and fir trees, this forested site offers rest and relaxation conveniently along the Byway.
Sites at Nine Mile Picnic Site are reserved through Recreation.gov. Sites here can be reserved in advance through the official system, and they are claimed fast — cancellations then trickle back all season, unannounced, at any hour of the day or night.
| Total sites | 1 |
|---|---|
| Site types | Group, Picnic area |
| Location | Tijeras, NM |
| Book through | Recreation.gov |
| Official listing | Recreation.gov |
Because sites are booked months ahead, a steady share of reservations get cancelled as trips fall through. Each cancellation instantly returns that site and those nights to the official calendar — first-come, first-served, no waitlist, no announcement. Refreshing the booking page yourself, every few minutes for weeks, works in theory. In practice, the people who get these sites are the ones who hear about the opening first.
itOpened scans the Recreation.gov calendar for Nine Mile Picnic Site around the clock. When a site matching your dates and your vehicle opens, you get a text with a direct link to it. You book it yourself, in your own account, at the normal price. We never book, hold, or resell — your fee pays for monitoring, and openings are first-come, so speed is the whole game.
| Red Canyon (NM) | Cancellation alerts available |
|---|---|
| Fourth of July Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Coal Mine | Cancellation alerts available |
| Water Canyon Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Capilla Peak | Cancellation alerts available |
| Mills Canyon Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Mills Rim Campground | Cancellation alerts available |
| Oak Yucca and Locust Group Picnic Sites | Cancellation alerts available |
| Cedro Peak Camping Sites - Robin and Jay | Cancellation alerts available |
| DOC LONG PICNIC SITES - A and B | Cancellation alerts available |
| PINE FLAT PICNIC SITES - A and B | Cancellation alerts available |
| Balsam Glade Picnic Site | Cancellation alerts available |
| Capilla Peak Picnic Site | Cancellation alerts available |
| Capulin Spring Picnic Site | Cancellation alerts available |
| Cienega Picnic Site | Cancellation alerts available |
| Las Huertas Picnic Site | Cancellation alerts available |
| Water Canyon Picnic Area | Cancellation alerts available |
Page data refreshed 2026-10-29. Site facts come from the official directory listing for Nine Mile Picnic Site; cancellation statistics come from our own scanning logs.