Brantley Lake State Park

We loved the privacy and quiet of this park! The campground is a long drive off of the highway (watch for cows!), but the roads are in good shape. The ranger station was not open at the specified check-in time, but we had reserved and paid online so we proceeded to our spot (it was never open when entering at other times, but there are self-pay stations at the park entrance and at the campground). The campground host did come around and let us know about the freeze warning in effect. Our back-in site was level with a covered picnic table area. As other reviewers have noted, the bathrooms weren't great so we didn't use them - opting instead to use and dump our portable tank. Our dogs enjoyed walks along the trail right outside our campsite. There is quite a bit of wind at times as well as some not-so-great smells from the oilfield across the lake, but it isn't bad at all. We will definitely be back when we are in the Carlsbad area. Be prepared to travel at least 15 minutes to the closest gas station and about 20-25 minutes for groceries. Verizon and AT&T were not very strong, but we were able to use for remote work.

Brantley is a very nice state park. The lake is great and there are lots of walking trails. The RV sites all had electric/water and great views of the lake and Chihuahuan desert. Both Verizon and ATT work well here. The bathrooms and showers are awful. I don’t think they were cleaned once during the week we were here. I saw the same huge clumps of hair on the shower floor every day and the walls have not been cleaned for a very long time. All I ever saw the camp hosts do was drive around and clip “out” dates on the campsites. Bottom line is it is a nice place if you don’t have to use the facilities.

I was a little disappointed in this park. The sites are nice, electric and water, covered table, grill and enough space. But the restroom was a mess. The sign says closed for cleaning daily for 1hr, not happening. Also, there was no hot water to take a shower. I had heard it was at least warm so I went, not warm at all, cold! And the water in the sinks don't work, either. And don't let the name fool you, if there is swimming access in the park, I couldn't find it. All I found was Rocky shoreline when I hiked down to the water. I have a NM parks pass, which saved a lot of money, just hope this is not indicative of the parks system.

First off, the price was great for a managed camp site with hook-ups. But, it didn’t really seem to be managed. We reserved a campsite on-line which gave us peace of mind that there would be a spot for us when we got there. However, when we arrived sometime around 3 pm on a Friday, the gate was already closed, and camping had reverted to an honor basis. Our spot was marked as reserved, but much to my surprise someone had decided that they liked our spot better than the one they had reserved. So they took it for themselves. Rather than get into a dispute about it I decided to take the high-road and just take the spot-thief’s un-level, cramped, spot. This of course annoyed my wife quite a bit, and if you are familiar with the term “happy wife, happy life”, it easy to imagine that this was a low point for our trip. Through the night I saw several more incidents of unmitigated spot stealing, and the ensuing confrontations that arose. Then a wind storm rolled in. You need to know that this site is located on top of a hill surrounded by flat earth, so in the windy season (year-round in NM) the wind here is no joke! Gusts reached up to 65 MPH that night. Obviously, the weather isn’t the campsites fault, but it’s certainly a possibility to be aware of I feel you plan on traveling here to enjoy some confrontation and bad people.

I have found all NM state parks to be on the same par, and this one was not much different. You can't really complain about a 4 nite stay for 65 bucks(fees included) with water and electric. Views of lake were nice but there are better. Was on the road boondocking so wanted a nice hot shower but that came up way short. Bathrooms as ive experienced in NM s.p are older and not very accommodating - people seemed nice and it was a quiet stay - While Verizon was between 3-4 bars, the signal was spotty - Long ride into park but a nice paved road in off 285 - about 10 minutes outside of Carlsbad

When looking for an RV park that is close to Carlsbad Caverns, this one stands out simply because its so beautiful. Its a bit of a drive (25 minutes from the town of Carlsbad) but the roads are good and the stars are clear at night. Most of the sites have views of the water (and all are just a short walk to the shore line). Its high desert so expect to see rabbits and cayotes; this lake is also on the fly zone so expect to see lots of water fowl.

The drive to Carlsbad Caverns is less than an hour. Best grocery store in town is the Albertsons. The local Zoo & Botanical Gardens are a bit tired and in need of attention (so show them some love and drop by).

Stayed for two nights as we traveled south from Roswell. It was several miles off the highway, more than we expected. But in the end it was a safe spot. We did not reserve so we were in the non-reserve spots, which are no different than the reserve spots. We took a quick look in the bathrooms and saw more spiders than we were comfortable being around (bathroom=fail). The camp hosts were decent but it was obvious no one cleaned up after people left.
It was super quiet at night. The noisiest thing was a pack of coyotes yelping one morning.There are a few small trails but not many. We did see a few cool bunnies on an evening hike. Not a ton to do here end of October. The other campers were nice. We would stay here again.

Loved it here. Had an outside ring site in the non-reservable area. Overlooked the lake that was a little down but great view anyways. Could get a little windy but keeps bugs down. The campground hosts are friendly. Restrooms could have used a little more attention on some days, but overall the campground is clean. Short hiking trails from campsite. Visit Sitting Bull Falls or hike there from Queen's Highway (Rt 137) near the town of Queen.