Established Camping
Lower Ridge Road — Elephant Butte Lake State Park
About
This state park has 173 developed campsites, beach camping and boat-in camping. If you like camping, fishing, boating, or just being outdoors, Elephant Butte is for you. There is plenty of water and plenty of beach room and this is New Mexico's largest State Park. Besides sandy beaches, the State Park offers restrooms, picnic areas, playgrounds, and developed sites with electric and water hook-ups for RV's. Park Elevation 4,527 ft
Access
- Drive-InPark next to your site
- Walk-InPark in a lot, walk to your site.
- Boat-InSites accessible by watercraft.
Stay Connected
- WiFiGood
- VerizonFair
- AT&TAvailable
- T-MobileGood
Site Types
- Tent Sites
- RV Sites
- Standard (Tent/RV)
- Group
- Yurts
Features
For Campers
- Market
- ADA Access
- Trash
- Picnic Table
- Firewood Available
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- Showers
- Drinking Water
- Electric Hookups
- Toilets
- Alcohol
- Pets
- Fires
For Vehicles
- Sanitary Dump
- Sewer Hookups
- Water Hookups
- Pull-Through Sites
- Big Rig Friendly
HUGE state park with many camping options
General: There are many different camping options at this state park from dispersed (especially on the beach) to those with electric/water hookups. We stayed in the Lions Beach campground with the w/e hookups.
Site Quality: Lions Beach is laid out much like an RV park with little to no separation between sites. Each site has a fire ring, and covered picnic table in addition to the hookups. The driveway was paved and level.
Bath/Shower: Only vault toilets close to the Lions Beach campground. They are ADA accessible complete with a ramp but although clean, there was no hand sanitizer in any of them. The only restrooms with running water, flush toilets, and showers are located about a mile from Lions Beach and IMO, not adequate for the crowds this park attracts, especially on the weekends. The showers looked sketchy, and I decided not to use them.
Activities: If you like to fish or have a boat, this is the place for you! There is a marina. Some hiking trails. We enjoyed Riverbed Hot Springs a few miles down the road in Truth or Consequences. We don’t have a boat or fish so although we stayed for two nights, we chose this campground because it was on our route.
Because dispersed camping on the beach is allowed, it is very popular, especially on the weekends but be warned the sand is soft and deep – I’m not sure how vehicles without 4-wheel drive can navigate it without getting stuck. We were told there were wall-to-wall RVs on the beach on the weekend before our arrival (third weekend in April) so thankfully we were not there on a weekend! If we were to return, we would select the sites overlooking the lake on Ridge Road with no hookups but generally, not our preferred camping vibe but for others, it might be different.
- (20) View All
Good State Park campground
Site is typical for state campground, well maintained, clean with water, electricity, RV dump, and showers (had hot water!). Sites are fairly level on asphalt pads. Childrens' playground on site. The lake is very low during my visit but still had some boating going on. Nice trails adjacent to campgrounds. Great reception for Mint. Internet is available for $8/day. Fair connection, I was able to watch movies and football without too much buffering.
I stayed at the Desert Cove campground. It was quiet and well maintained. Stayed a couple of nights on long trip to rest up. I would stay here a again.
Note: Seems every park is going the way of private booking for reservations and NM is no different. Had to book on line or phone. Used both methods and was fairly easy.
- (4) View All
A place to stop and take a load off.
Very friendly crew running this massive place. Very clean and well maintained roads. A little fishing, boating, hiking and dog freindly. We had a great time.
Location
Lower Ridge Road — Elephant Butte Lake State Park is located in New Mexico
Directions
From I-25 South or North take exit 83, turn onto NM State Rd 195 South. North bound traffic goes 4.2 miles and turns left off 195 to the Visitor Center. South bound traffic goes 4.6 miles and turns left off of 195 to the Visitor Center. After the Visitor Center go right to the end of the boat parking lot.
Coordinates
33.18831482 N
107.20278982 W