Bottomless Lakes State Park

State Park New Mexico

Visited October 2013

Entrance sign for Bottomless Lakes State Park

Bottomless Lakes State Park is located east of Roswell a few miles south of US-380. New Mexico's first state park, Bottomless Lakes was developed in the 1930's. The Bottomless Lakes are a chain of eight sinkhole lakes along the foot of a bluff. The largest of them is Lea Lake, where the developed campground is located.

An overall view of the camping area can be had from the top of the bluff across Lea Lake. This is also a very popular day-use area in the summer, with its large swimming area, beachhouse and picnic cabanas.

Greetings from

Bottomless Lakes State Park

An overall view of the camping area can be had from the top of the bluff across Lea Lake. This is also a very popular day-use area in the summer, with its large swimming area, beachhouse and picnic cabanas.

Ribbit! The WxToad

Around the campground

Lots of empty sites when we arrived in late October. We selected site 12.

Sites 10-8 on the left, 31-28 on the right.

Sites D-11 - D-13 are sites for tenting - no hookups, but water is nearby.

There are nine pull-through sites; these are 25-27.

On the west side of Lea Lake is a large day-use picnic area, where tent camping is also allowed. There are 25 sites with roofs over the picnic tables.

The bathhouse is clean and modern with free hot push-button showers. Our only complaint was the lack of a bench or hooks inside the stalls.

There is a large open pavilion with a fireplace in the center of the campground.

The beachhouse was built by the CCC in the 1930's. The shaded wings on each side are filled with picnic tables. At the left is a dock where paddleboats can be rented during the summer.

There are lots of interesting things to explore at Bottomless Lakes. Across the road from the campground is a restored marsh; water flows from spring-fed Lea Lake into the marsh, making it a great place for birds.

The Bluff Trail is a one-mile path from Lea Lake northward along the foot of the bluff.

Along the way one finds some of the smaller sinkhole lakes - this is Lost Lake. And no, none of them are really bottomless - their depths range from 17 to 90 feet.

The flies are really a nuisance here! This shows just a few of them on our screen door. Somehow quite a few managed to find their way into the RV; Liz was busy with the fly-swatter.

Back on the roadSee all 402 campgrounds