Santa Rosa Lake State Park

Most people seemed like they were just stopping as they passed through.

I liked that it was away from town & highways and was pretty quiet & chill.
The day view was over the reservoir which was nice, night not much ambient light so great star viewing.

Quite a few pull through sites, mine was a pretty good long back in.

Campground hosts were nice & helpful.

Park staff very friendly & helpful.

Sites are a little small but there are tables and access to electric and water on A loop. I can hear a generator running on B loop right now. Lots of bugs in the bathroom.
When we got here someone was in our reserved site and the host had to ask them to leave after checking my confirmation number and date. Which meant we couldn’t set up until well after our 4pm check in time.
Neighbors were loud into the night.
Our site, A5 looks like it’s the only one without shade over the table. All others have a covered table.

It's a very nice setting otherwise just your average campground. What sets it apart from other state parks in other states is the rates are very reasonable - thank you New Mexico for not nickel and diming your visitors to death. The bathrooms are older and I would rate them average at best but they were clean. A bit of a long, narrow road to get here (8 miles??) My biggest gripe is the reservation system. Too many unknowns when you're traveling to always be in a position to make reservations and, you never know what the sites will be like. I was at a campground recently that no RV on the planet would have been able to navigate the steep angle - site quality is too random to make blind choices. You can make same day reservations which is the only saving grace...if you can get an internet signal. Verizon was only one bar until I moved around a bit and, the first time I was here, I lost the site I wanted while I hunted for a signal.

Very easy to locate off of the I-40 in Santa Rosa, NM.

Met by park official as we were unhooking at our site to complete our check-in.

Nicely laid out ACoE campground in a wonderful location for things to do. WIBIT at Park Lake, the Blue Hole, fishing at Santa Rosa stock pond, and Santa Rosa itself off of Route 66.

Negatives: Convex pull-through was difficult to navigate with mature trees at the end and stupid parking posts on the edges. Bugs....millions of these little pesky gnats and flies. Lake level not easily fishable for small children from the posted B-loop trails; too far and too rugged for the littles to navigate. Lake is still fishable from the observation and boat launch side.

We found this place and made a reservation a day in advance while traveling across the country. There were a couple RV parks in Santa Rosa but we prefer to stay in state or local parks and the locations in town had HORRIBLE reviews. This area is 15 minutes off I40 which keeps it less busy and very quiet. The site we stayed in had 30 amp and water which worked great for our needs. Being around a lake in the desert there is bugs galore here but it’s the outdoors, it comes with the territory and I can’t fault the ownership with that.

We have stayed here a couple of times passing though NM have had a electric site on the top loop and none electric on the bottom loop, nice pull throughs and back ins, these sites need to be booked in advance or like on our second visit we toured round and whilst on the internet found a site vacant and booked it. They do have a walk up camping area on the other side of the dam, which have some nice sites all have lots of space between them and have some nice trails to walk with the dog.

It's an 8 mile run from Santa Rosa out to the lake on good paved road. The sites are fine, big and well spaced. The campground is clean and easy to navigate. You need to reserve a spot ahead, you can't just show up and grab an open spot. T Mobile was spotty. Lake levels are really low due to a statewide drought right now. Very quiet and dark... lots of stars. As I remember (after the fact by a couple weeks now) loop A has electric for all sites, but not all have water. The other loop (B?) is dry camping.

Drove in Thursday evening and was one of only a handful of campers. The sites are roomy enough and level. Due to fire restriction, the grills were not usable and there are no fire pits. Most sites (loop B) have cement, covered picnic tables, grill, water and 50/30 electric (no sewer). Plenty of trees as well so easy to stay in the shade.

The hiking is easy and beautiful. The wifi ($8 per 24 hours) is spotty but fine when it worked. I had zero coverage via Google Fi; wife's AT&T was steady at 1-2 bars.

Overall, this is a great spot for a night or two... would definitely bring the kayak next time!