Jal Lake Park RV Campground

Six RV sites with electric and water, totally free, plus a dump station with water to flush black tank. Thank you to the city of Jal for providing this oasis for travelers. Perfect stop to refresh, refill water, and empty tanks before exploring more of NM. Could not recommend this place more! There is a Pilot station and a Dollar General nearby.

With limited free camping in west Texas, Jal is a small town just across the NM border. The city park has a man made lake, lots of playground equipment and they even stock the lake with fish. A walking path surrounds the lake. Gene Armstrong came by to welcome us to Jal and give us a brochure on the history of the town and how he worked with the city council and townspeople to get this park and campground built. He is an interesting historian about the area. Free hook ups electric and water for 3 days. The only reason I didn’t give full stars is that it is right in oil country and semi-trucks are going past 24 hrs a day. It is a great stopover to get where you’re going.

We had a great stay in Jal! The park is very clean and they offer free water and 30/50 amp hookups, you can’t beat that! It was easy to navigate with our 42ft fifth wheel and we used the dump on the way out.
A local, Gene, who helped create the park dropped by the first night and let us know some interesting things about the town and park.

Lovely park with a lake. Electrical and water with a covered picnic table. Level lot.
Some kids playing basketball under the lights until 8 or so. Other than that, a quiet night in a tiny SE New Mexico town.
Jal Lake Park is easy to find. If you're in this part of the country and want a quiet night for free, a better option will never happen.
Thank you, Jal!

You just don't show up here by accident you have to map yourself to come through here, because it is in the middle of NOWHERE, how ever with that said the best backroads east/west make sure you stay topped off with fuel because its a long road. Talked with several locals and they were just so nice, one person gave me a history book of the area, the park a lake is pristine and the only green grass for a hundred miles or more. FREE water power and dump. WoW did i say Free. A great place to rewind and plan our next 4 weeks of travel.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents to the reviews already. The noise from the highway is very noticeable unless you have a soundproof rig.
The basketball courts were used as a hangout for teenagers that had colorful language. They had loud vehicles and like to rev them up to show off to the girls. There were hundreds of trucks and semi that drove right next to the park all day till about 10 PM. And just when you think you can get some sleep a train will roll by a half a block away blasting its whistle!
The air smelled of methane and oil. I just feel sorry for the hard american workers that have to breath in that foul smell everyday.
Oh and the dump station was closed down.
I would have only givin 1 star, but the place was kept in good shape and the locals were having a good time fishing, pulling 20-30 trout out of the pond.

A small city park that is well maintained. Free water and electric hookups, free dump station, and a large, modern playground. Each site also has a covered picnic table and BBQ grill which is nice. There are some vault toilets available as well.

We have a 39' fifth wheel and had no trouble navigating inside the park. The sites are spacious but all lined up next to each other. There is a gravel drive going around the pond, I think you can park out there if you don't need hookups.

There isn't much to do in the area, a couple of small restaurants and a grocery store. The area itself is kind of West-Texas oil town vibe with a lot of oil workers.

The Jal sheriff stopped by to check in on us at one point and to make sure we weren't an oil worker taking up the free spots, apparently some will come in and try to stay for longer. He wanted to make sure the park wasn't being taken advantage of by the oil workers.

You can hear a little traffic when you are outside but not when you're inside your RV.

We used the dump station on the way out and a grounds keeper wished us safe travels and hoped we would return. He said they were doing lots of landscaping and hoped to have it even better "the next time you're back." The people who maintain the park take pride in the park and we felt very welcomed here.

We stopped here on our way from Carlsbad, NM to Waco, TX after reading the reviews here in Campendium. We were only going to stay one night but decided to stay another. It was a lovely park. My son loved the playground, I loved the .7 mile paved trail around the lake as well as the exercise equipment, and my husband loved fishing in the lake as well as the price-FREE!
Gene Armstrong, the founder of the park came by to give us a tour of the city. It was a pleasure to meet him and learn more about the town. I’m so glad we decided to come here.