About Los Ranchos RV Park

Where the highways meet

Los Ranchos RV Park sits in Vaughn, New Mexico, on the high plains of Guadalupe County at nearly 6,000 feet. Vaughn is one of the rare places where three U.S. highways come together. US-54, US-60 and US-285 meet and run through town together before splitting off in three directions: US-285 southeast toward Roswell and Carlsbad, US-54 northeast toward Santa Rosa and I-40, and US-60 east toward Fort Sumner and Clovis. Heading the other way, the same roads lead to Encino, Willard, Clines Corners and Santa Fe.

That makes Vaughn a natural stopping point. Whether you’re crossing the country, hauling freight, or working a job anywhere in central and eastern New Mexico, odds are your route already runs through our front gate on 8th Street.

A town built by the railroad

Long before the highways, this was cattle country. In 1882, Jim Stinson of the New Mexico Land and Livestock Company drove some 20,000 head of cattle from Texas to the Estancia Valley along the Stinson Trail, which passed right through what would become Vaughn. A state historical marker on 8th Street still tells that story.

The town itself was built by the railroad. It takes its name from Major George W. Vaughn, a civil engineer for the Santa Fe Railway. When the Santa Fe completed its Belen Cutoff in 1907–1908, Vaughn became a division point, with a Mission Revival depot and a Fred Harvey House serving travelers. The post office opened in 1907, and in the early years the town shipped cattle, sheep and wool. The Harvey House is gone now, but the Santa Fe depot still stands more than a century later.

Still a crossroads today

Vaughn sits where two major rail lines cross. BNSF’s Southern Transcon, its main line between Los Angeles and Chicago and one of the busiest freight corridors in North America, carries roughly 80 to 100 trains a day across New Mexico. BNSF bridges the Union Pacific line right here in Vaughn. Add three U.S. highways and the steady truck, energy, utility and construction traffic they carry, and you get a small town where a great many people pass through every day.

Why stay with us

We built Los Ranchos for the people who keep this crossroads moving: cross-country RVers, railroad and highway crews, utility and energy workers, and anyone who needs a clean, quiet place to rest between long stretches of open road. Stay a night, a week or a month. We’re right on the route.