East Side Campground — Sumner Lake State Park

There are at least 4 formal campgrounds and several more primitive places to camp. You certainly can choose what works for you. No real shade anywhere and I would think it would be brutally hot in the summer. Pretty darn warm right now. 14 bucks for a nice flat spot with services. 8 dollar charge to reserve online and all the sites with services require it.

I stopped in this camp when taking a brief trip through Fort Sumner on the way back to Texas from Las Vegas. The town of Fort Sumner itself is known for its Billy The Kidd presence and there are many things to do in the area in regard to that which are interesting. But just as much as I wanted to check that out, I wanted to check out another unique spot in New Mexico to stay the night and this campsite seemed to be one of the closest.

I liked this because there were both tent and RV sites, so naturally I felt a bit more at home than I would have it had ben a park which focuses daily on RVs and leaves tents as an after thought.

The lake itself wasn't my favorite lake of New Mexico, though it seemed large everything around it was pretty dry. The banks were more of a gravel than a beach and some of the areas were rocky with larger boulders making it a little more difficult to find a recreational place to just enjoy the water. I definitely needed water shoes to get into or near the water.

I chose a primitive site although they do have some which have connections, my reason for selecting this site was its location which I thought would have a great view of the sunrise and the lake, unfortunately it ended up raining the morning so there was no beautiful sunrise. But for only $8 I couldn't really complain especially since I was able to take advantage of the lake a bit the evening before.

I noticed the lake was typically of any lake with a lot of the activities of the park centering around it, however they also had a few hiking trails, a small visitor center to check out a little light information about the location and outdoor education programs which were mostly held on weekends.

It wasn't really that busy when I was there on the weekday I passed through and camp felt pretty quiet throughout the duration of my stay.

Restrooms located near me were vault style but they did have a bathroom with running water and showers as well, depending on where you elect to stay you will be nearby some kind of accommodations. My site being primitive was really primitive and had no table or fire ring, but I did notice for $10 you could have both just a little distance from where my site was located. I personally didn't need either when staying.

TIPS:

• Check into the park office for minor supplies, anything bigger you will need to travel Into town where there are numerous stores.

• When in the area make sure to stop in at the Billy The Kidd Museum and Bosque Redondo Park both are staples of the area and contain a lot of history which will tell the story of New Mexico past in some of the most infamous ways.