Bottomless Lakes State Park Camping

Inside Bottomless Lakes State Park

Thousands of visitors come to Bottomless Lakes State Park each year, attracted by the shimmering blue-green lakes and rocky desert landscape. Visitors enjoy playing on the beach, lounging in the sun, and swimming and boating on Lea Lake. From November to March, anglers can fish for rainbow trout at Devils Inkwell and Cottonwood Lake. Around the lakes, visitors can also hike and mountain bike along the desert trails and watch for different species of native and migratory birds.

Here are more details on the parks most popular activities:

Hiking and Mountain Biking – Skidmarks Trial is a popular 3-mile trail for mountain biking featuring well-planned drops and twisting turns. The shorter Bluff Trail and Wetlands Trail are ideal for quick hikes that showcase the parks unique geology. With over 500 species of birds, the park has some of the states best birdwatching, so try to spot roadrunners, pelicans, and other birds while on the trails!

Boating and Swimming – Lea Lake is the only lake that allows swimming and boating at the park. Splash around the lakes stunning blue waters or lounge on the sandy beachfront. During the summer, lifeguards are on duty and rentals are available for paddleboards, canoes, kayaks, and pedal boats.

Tetra or see Mecca, a series of freshwater springs that produce over 9 million gallons of water each day, creating near perfect visibility for underwater exploration.

Bottom Lakes State Park Campground

The parks Lea Lake Campground offers 32 RV campsites with partial and full hook-ups all within sight of the beautiful Lea Lake. With modern restrooms, WiFi, and a snack bar, you will have all you need to recharge after a full day exploring the park. Sites are popular, so reserve in advance! Rates are $14-18 per night.

• Water hookup: Yes

Located Just 14 Miles Southeast Of Roswell Bottomless Lakes State Park Is Your Place For Bottomless Fun

Enjoy non-motorized boating in your kayak or canoe, camp, fish, picnic, swim, hike, go birding or even scuba dive! The unique lakes at this park are sinkholes, ranging from 17 to 90 feet deep. The greenish- blue color created by aquatic plants is what gives the lakes the illusion of great depth.

NOTICE: Lea Lake Recreation Area is under construction starting mid-February.

Park Elevation 3,617 ft

• Pedal Boat/Paddle Board/Lifejacket rentals
• Lea Lake Campground Facilities
• 32 total campsites with hook-ups
• 6 full hook-up campsites, 26 sites with water/electric hook-ups
• RV Dump Station
• Lea Lake Day-Use Area Facilities:
• Beach
• Outdoor Shower Towers
• Group Shelter

545 A Bottomless Lakes Rd.Roswell, NM 88201

Park Ranger Supervisor

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Outside Bottomless Lakes State Park

When you think of Roswell, its hard not to conjure images of flying saucers and little green Martians in your head. While its true that Roswell is a cultural phenomenon in its own right, theres more to the city than the infamous UFO incident of 1947. Unusual landmarks, cultural attractions, and natural wonders are found in Roswell and the surrounding areas. If youre interested in a day trip beyond Roswell, the cities of Albuquerque and Carlsbad are a short drive away and feature museums, restaurants, parks, and other points of interest.

Bottomless Lakes State Park Does Not Disappoint Unless Of Course You Expected Bottomless Lakes

Okay so none of the eight small lakes at Bottomless Lakes State Park just east of Roswell, New Mexico, is actually bottomless. But considering their small circumference, they’re very deep . In fact, scuba divers come here to practice depth diving.

At first glance, you don’t even realize these are lakes. The colourful limestone wall that lines the northeast side of the park seems to be dotted with amphitheater-shaped depressions, possibly dry sinkholes.

It’s not until you step up to the edge that you see the relatively clear water – a lake – in each location.

The lakes formed when water, reacting with salt and gypsum layers created underground caverns. Gradually the ceilings of these caves collapsed, leaving the sinkholes, which filled with water to become small lakes. The water is runoff, seeping through cracks from the mountain ranges to the west, actually flowing underneath the Pecos River.

With the recent years of drought through much of the southwest, it was a treat to see this string of tiny lakes filled to normal capacity.

The park wasn’t busy despite it being a long weekend and beautiful summer weather. The facilities are exceptional and a large sand beach, with a well-designed shaded, stone corridor for picnic tables is, I’m sure, very popular in summer. A local person I met on the trail mentioned temperatures often hover above 100 degrees.

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Our First True Boondocking Of The Trip

On Monday we left the park and moved on to Las Cruces and our first real boondocking site of the trip. Ahhhh!!! Now it feels like we’ve arrived!

We know this area from previous visits so we are pretty sure of the public land boundaries but we’re excited to have a new tool on this trip. So far, I think it’s going to come in guite handy. The Public Lands App doesn’t require an Internet connection once it’s installed. A quick glance at our phone indicates our location and various map colors show whether the surrounding land is private or public .

The app seems to work equally well while we’re in transit as when we’re stationary. Of course, it’s still important to check for signage that may indicate differently but the app is just one extra tool to put our minds at ease that we’re camped legally.

Unfortunately, Randy’s still not feeling well. I had thought the fresh air, beautiful scenery, and warm, sunny days would be enough but alas, after day three, we have resorted to the standby remedy that, hopefully, works in any climate and country: bed rest and fluids,fresh fruit and veggies, and homemade chicken soup. He must have picked this bug up at home surely, there’s no flu season down here, is there? It was probably that goodbye kiss from the grandkids. Darn kids aren’t old enough yet to realize full-on lip kisses are yucky 🙂

Days On The Road at time of writing: 9

Camping Costs To Date: $20.00

Rv Resorts & Campsites In Bottomless Lakes State Park

With glimmering lakes and tall rock cliffs, Bottomless Lakes State Park is simply stunning. But if you check into a hotel or motel, youll likely stay far away from these natural wonders. Consider another option: renting an RV!

RVs let you enjoy the beauty of a state park without giving up amenities like A/C and comfortable beds. RVshare makes it easy to rent an RV near your home or travel destination. Close to Bottomless Lakes State Park, you can find RVs in Roswell and stay in campgrounds nearby, including:

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Bottomless Lakes State Park

PASS or PERMITAddressAnonymous.

The fee is normally $14/night but with the annual state park camping pass, it is free. Electricity does cost extra.

Beautiful desert camping

Reviewed May 5, 2021

My boyfriend and I were traveling with our two dogs and picked this place near Roswell because of my name . We pulled into the Lea Lake campground area late in the day and grabbed the last campsite. We watched several disappointed campers come through looking for a spot. We were in site 1 next to the little quarry lake. It was lovely. We had a short hike and enjoyed the sunset. We got up in the morning to tour Roswell.

There were 2 portapotties that we shared with one other site.

Stayed here in a 8 foot-long Class A + a Toad . Lea would stay here again.

Is this review helpful?

Quiet, tons of stars, clear, has trashcans

Has water, quiet campsites, has tent and RV spots, vault toilets at the tent area, flush at the RV area.

Wifi near the RV area

No issues sleeping in my car, other people used tents or vans.

Stayed here in a Passenger Vehicle. AlaskaMoose would stay here again.

Cellular Signal Bars

Off the beaten path, but a nice State Park campground.

Stayed here in a 42 foot-long Class A + a Toad . Sunny Weathers would stay here again.

Cellular Signal Bars

Stayed here with a passenger vehicle and a tent. w8stedpotential would stay here again.

Cellular Signal Bars

Nice place beautiful scenery

Cellular Signal Bars

Cellular Signal Bars

Bottomless Lakes State Park Overview

Bottomless Lakes State Park Campground has 32 campsites for tents, trailers and RVs. All campsites have water/electric hookups and 6 have full hookups. Six sites have sewer connections. Each campsite also has a nicely designed covered picnic tables, fire ring and grills.

The campground has drinking water, flush toilets, outdoor showers and a dump station. Theres also a visitor center, swimming beach, picnic area, playground, volleyball court and hiking trails throughout the park.

Brantley Lake State Park is 69 miles to the south. Oasis State Park is 104 miles to the north just outside of Portales.

Bottomless Lakes State Park Area Recreation

The Park has 7 small bottomless lakes that are actually sinkholes in the local gypsum terrain. Odd geology and water chemistry create homes for unusual plants and animals, like the Pecos sunflower. Lea Lake is the deepest lake 90 feet) and is the only lake where swimming is allowed. During summer, visitors can also rent paddleboards and pedal boats for a small fee. You can fish at Devils Inkwell and Cottonwood Lake during the winter months .

Other outdoor recreation includes mountain biking, hiking, swimming, fishing, picnicking, wildlife viewing and scuba diving.

• Restrooms
• RV Hookups

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