On our recent week-long trip to the Enchanted Circle area of New Mexico, we had the opportunity to visit several places to take our RV on future trips. One little state park we found was pretty and one we would consider for a night or two on a return trip.
Eagle Nest Lake State Park is not a big park, but it occupies some prime real estate on the west side of Eagle Nest Lake, which is quite beautiful. It is a relatively new state park, only founded in 2004.
We took the opportunity, after paying our day use fee at the gate drop box, to tour this little park and check out some of the RV sites.
We started our tour at the visitor’s center, but it was locked up on that Wednesday morning. In fact, we never saw a park employee anywhere in the park during our visit. It looks like a very nice visitor’s center, and I wish we could have checked it out to see what was offered inside. There were about six RV campers in the campground, but they obviously could not use any of these facilities, at least on the day we were there. (I will give some credit here for at least keeping the park open for day visitors and campers, though, unlike the national forests in New Mexico who just seem to pretty much close up shop after Labor Day and completely lock their parks and campgrounds up to everyone. Ugh.)
For anyone with a boat, there is a boat ramp next to the visitor’s center to give easy access to the lake right in the park.
There are some nice, tall trees in the day use area, along with beautiful lakeside covered tables. A picnic here would be a lovely experience, for sure. We were the only people in this area during our visit, too.
Unlike the day use area, there are no trees in the RV campground, which is unfortunate. The draw to camping here for us, though, would be the great lakeside sites with the nice covered tables. These particular sites are also pull-through sites and looked to be pretty level. And as if to try to make up for the lack of trees here, the yellow and purple wildflowers were absolutely beautiful!
There is a small area of private residences just behind the state park, including the campground, so if you want a campground that is away from more developed areas, this one might not be for you. All of the RV sites are dry camping sites, too. However, for a small nightly fee, camping by a beautiful lake with mountains behind it, a covered table at the site and cooler summer temps is still a good deal to us! I think the nightly fee was about $10?
The town of Eagle Nest is nearby, and Angel Fire is only about ten miles away to the south. When planning a visit to this area, it would be worth checking to see what businesses are open and what businesses are closed in each community, especially if visiting in the off-season on a weekday. The little town of Eagle Nest was pretty much buttoned up on this same day when we went there and hoping to check out some restaurants and shops. There is a Lowe’s grocery store in Angel Fire, if needed.
This was a fact-finding, or RV park-finding, trip for us, and if/when we return to this area again, I think we might spend a night or two in this pretty little park. The nightly rate is so cheap, and it would put us a bit closer for day trips to Eagle Nest and Red River, as compared to staying in Angel Fire where we stayed during our trip. Our only disappointment was finding the park facilities to be locked up with no one on duty, but for just a night or two, we would probably be fine with that.
We also paid a quick visit to two campgrounds at Cimarron Canyon State Park, Ponderosa Campground and Maverick Campground. I was driving the car and did not take any photos, unfortunately, but we really liked that park. Just like Eagle Nest Lake State Park, the sites are dry camping, but we would most definitely consider camping there for a few nights. The draw to that park for us is a true forest camping experience with access to the Cimarron River and some nice hiking trails. Larger RVs use the Ponderosa Campground in that park, but smaller ones have a few more options in campgrounds.
Since I have no photos to share of this pretty park, here are two helpful links.
Photos of Cimarron Canyon State Park
Campsite Photos – Cimarron Canyon State Park
I have more to share on our trip soon. 😉