Santa Rosa Lake State Park

Date of stay: Mar. 24 - Apr. 4, price reflects discount with New Mexico annual pass

For RVs, only A Loop is open all year, and until April 1 when B Loop opened, we saw many campers drive through in the evenings looking for spots but finding none. Only some of the sites in A Loop have both water and electric, but there is water available in the park to fill your tank. Many of the sites are not super level, but no one seemed to have too much of a problem getting situated. All sites have cement picnic tables and grills, but only some have adobe ramadas, the others being totally exposed.

Even though the sites filled up almost every night, most campers seemed to be just over-nighters, and the days were pleasantly deserted. This is both a state park and a COE installment. The park's Visitor Center was rarely open, and when it was, it had little to see. There is also a COE Visitor Center with a few small displays, and a COE rest area & overlook, which is a two-story structure with benches on both levels, and a very nice restroom. There was good OATV.

The park's main activity is fishing, but there is also a nice playground, a 3+ mile Shoreline Trail, two handicapped-accessible trails (1/2 and 3/4 miles), and a 10+ mile dirt trail off the primitive Los Tanos camping area for either walking or mountain biking.

As other reviews have said, the park bathroom is terrible. Dark, with only one working shower on the women's side, and working is an overstatement. The water is freezing no matter how many times you push the button and comes out in a fine, violent spray that blows the shower curtain nearly horizontal and soaks anything you've hung on the hooks. Miserable!

The town of Santa Rosa is famous for the Blue Hole, and it's free to visit and take a dip on a hot day. There is only one grocery store in town, T&D Market, which has a decent selection for a small grocery. There is a laundromat open 7 days a week, reasonably priced and relatively clean. We got free-range eggs for $3/dz from a local rancher who had her sign up in the laundry and met us in town -- if you need some, call Grace at 575-512-5373. Unfortunately, we also had to use the services of the nearby Santa Rosa County Hospital's ER and pharmacy, but fortunately, it was there for us and is a nice little facility with 24-hour access.

There aren't many other recreational activities in the immediate area

We stayed here in late June in our 30 ft. travel trailer. There were no hookup sites left when we got there, so we had to stay in a basic pull through site. From what we saw, the few hookup sites there were are small and congested. The basic site we chose was adequate in size, easily accessed, and had relatively pleasant surroundings, but we were HOT with no AC. Even late at night the temperature failed to fall below 70º. During the day it was the high 90s or low 100s. I enjoyed sitting out in my lawn chair on top of the picnic table in the late evening at dusk. I was glad I decided to perch my chair on top of the table, as several skunks nonchalantly trooped through our campsite, making the experience somewhat anxious. The skunk visits were a routine experience EVERY night. The restrooms and showers were disgustingly filthy, making them virtually unusable. I'm sure that if a legitimate health inspector saw them, he would order them shut down immediately until they were properly cleaned. I'll not disgust you with the details - just know that they were extremely BAD. Fortunately for us, our nearby neighbors were mostly quiet and respectful. I am a serious swimmer but I could not find any decent swimming access to the lake. We do not have a boat. Access to the park is on a paved road about 10 miles from the town of Santa Rosa, and the road is very poorly marked with respect to finding it in town. Overall, I would recommend anyone wanting to see what there is to see in Santa Rosa, such as the "Blue Hole" stay at a commercial RV park in town. I DO NOT recommend this park and will definitely never return.

Women's bathroom only has one working sink, and it is cracked and dirty. The showers are too bad to use: one joint dressing room for two showers, a fine spray that is non-adjustable and NO HOT WATER!! You would have to keep pushing a button for the shower to keep going - I just tested it and did not use it. Bathroom is dark, no light fixtures. A neighbor let his dog bark until about 9:30 pm. I would not stay here again. But, at $14 the price was decent!

We stayed in loop B of the rocky point campground area which is developed sites with no hook ups. Loop A has electric and water at each site. We opted for loop B because it was less crowded and closer to the water but overall the sites are the same size and quality. There is water available throughout the campground so we were able to fill our tanks and their is a dump station at the exit to the state park.

For being on the water I was really hoping it would be more picturesque but everything is just brown, brown brush, brown dirt, brown water. There are also lots of pricker bushes and cacti so be on the look out for both yourself and your pups.

We hiked the shoreline trail which is about 2.5 miles and starts and ends at the campground. It does follow the shoreline but not as close to the water as we were hoping. There were some spots where you could get to the water and our dog enjoyed splashing around in it but it did not look too exciting or clean for human use.

If you want to go swimming go into town. Blue hole is worth a visit and they also have other lakes in town that look much nicer.

Also no hot water in the showers still.

I enjoyed the quiet and peacefulness. There are a lot of places to walk one's dog. The campground was generally clean. Trash cans appear not to be picked up that often so they were quite full. The hosts were friendly and accommodating.

I found out that there was not any hot water for showers. Apparently, the water heater has been broken for quite a while. Somewhat puzzled for a state park that they have not rectified it since the previous review had the similar experience.

I enjoyed the two days but would get bored after that since one can see it all in two days.