Spoiler Alert: Roswell, NM, is more than just aliens and UFOs!
https://video.wixstatic.com/video/921228_f547bc5559f9421a9746b9aa5f6ee080/1080p/mp4/file.mp4
Take a stroll and frolic about and around Lazy Lagoon Lake for some playtime that will make you feel like a kid again!
Bottomless Lakes SP: located just 14 miles from Roswell, and it Blew. My. Mind.
Because of work and needing a strong cell/wifi connection, we ended up staying in Roswell, NM, a little longer than we had frankly hoped or planned to. As anxious as I was to move on to Carlsbad Caverns and the Guadalupe Mountains, the extra time “stuck” in Roswell could not have served us better! Had we rushed through Roswell, we would never have explored New Mexico’s first state park… and what a gem of a state park it turned out to be!
The unique lakes at this state park are actually sinkholes, and they range from 17 to 90 feet deep. The aquatic plants contribute to the water’s greenish-blue color, which is what gives the lakes the illusion of such great depth.
Lea Lake, located on the south end of the park, hosts a sandy beach and is the largest lake. It’s a popular summer day-use spot where one can rent paddleboards and pedal boats, bring your own kayak or canoe, camp (with and without RV hookups), fish (at Cottonwood and Devil’s Inkwell Lakes only – not Lea Lake), picnic, swim, hike, go birding or even scuba dive!
Lea Lake is a popular and unexpected summer recreation spot… BUT I fell in absolute love and wonderment with the seven other smaller spring-fed lakes off the Pecos River!
The escarpment (a steep slope or long cliff that forms after faulting or erosion occurs and separates two relatively level areas resulting in different elevations) is an ancient limestone reef similar to the limestone at Carlsbad Caverns. Just as they formed at Carlsbad Caverns 80 miles south, caves also formed here within the limestone. As the Pecos River eroded the escarpment, the caves eventually collapsed, leaving behind several deep, almost circular lakes known as cenotes (a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock and exposing groundwater). These small blue-green lakes/cenotes/sinkholes sunken at the bottom of tall-reaching, cliff-like, red rock wall backdrops are absolutely stunning and quite the feast for the eyes and soul!
We enjoyed a few great hikes up, over, and around the lakes/sinkholes/cenotes that led to some spectacular views of the sinkholes and the surrounding red rock.
Another fun spot within the state park to explore is the Lazy Lagoon (see video above). This “lake” provides a completely different experience than the other sinkholes in the park and was a blast to run around, take in and savor the desert oasis euphoria that one feels when finding water and spongy soft white terrain in the middle of a desert red rock landscape!
If you find yourself in Southern New Mexico, definitely don’t pass up a chance to visit this desert oasis! If festive, frolicking, and jovial crowds, swimming, and non-motorized lake sports are your jam, then the warmer months would be a great time to plan your visit. However, if one wants to experience the serenity of this desert oasis with no crowds, I recommend visiting during the off-season! Either way, you will not be disappointed! That said, we saw a total of 3 people from a very long distance away, had the place almost entirely to ourselves, and we felt like our own wide-eyed and bad-ass versions of Dora the Explorer, so yeah, I’m biased for the off-season visit!
Lake Names: Lazy Lagoon, Cottonwood, Mirror, Devils Inkwell, Figure Eight, Pasture Lake, and Lea Lake.
Check out the map below to see all the camping options. Both RV hookups and tent sites are available.
Click below to download a Bottomless Lakes State Park Map:
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