We left the sandhills of Texas in a cloud of Paleozoic-era quartz dust as we pointed the RV to southeastern New Mexico. Our journey into the Land of Enchantment would be a first for both of us, having never visited the state in the past either driving through or on a layover. The planned destination on this leg of our journey was Colorado to visit both family and friends, and we were on a time schedule to reach the park in Grand Junction for our first set of reservations. So while we weren’t exactly rushing through New Mexico since we had about two weeks to drive 700 miles, we wanted to maintain a leisurely yet steady pace north.

Our first and only planned stop in New Mexico was Brantley Lake State Park north of Carlsbad. Visitors frequent this area to explore Carlsbad Caverns National Park and catch a glimpse of the mineral formations in the famous caves. Our loose plan after spending a few weeks in Colorado was to return to New Mexico during the summer months assuming we liked our initial trip through the state, so we didn’t visit the caverns this time considering the possibility of seeing the caverns later this year should we desire to drive back to Carlsbad.

We arrived early in the afternoon to find the Visitor Center closed and the camp host not currently present. Since we knew our reserved site number, we simply proceeded into the appropriate loop and settled in for a few days. New Mexico state parks are unique – at least in our experience – in that each park maintains some sites as first-come first-served, so visitors don’t always need reservations and can take a chance in finding a vacant spot. Brantley Lake has two developed camping loops with water and electric sites, one of which is first-come first-serve, while the other is for reservations only. As like most other New Mexico parks, Brantley also has designated primitive and/or developed sites with no hook-ups available located in different areas of the park. Neither of the hook-up loops were filled when we arrived, but began to grow increasingly occupied as the weekend approached. A large group of tent campers arrived Wednesday evening and occupied eight to ten reserved sites, which was a good example of how quickly site availability can change.

Brantley Lake was a good introduction to New Mexico, with rocky and almost otherworldly landscapes, a sprawling lake, fiery sunsets, and sparkling clear views of the night sky. We explored the short trail system around the lake and wandered into one of the primitive camping areas to see what other parking options would be available for a return visit. The facilities were adequate, with flush toilets (not exactly clean) and showers (although they are of the mildly annoying timed-button variety, but that’s a very minor complaint). One issue for long-term visitors is the lack of laundry facilities in the campgrounds, so having clean clothes might take a bit of advance planning when traveling between destinations. While the lake is open to boating and fishing, it is contaminated with DDT, so fishing is strictly a catch-and-release affair. I did not fish here. After our stay at Brantley, we decided we’d like to spend more time exploring New Mexico after our spin through Colorado.

The park service offers an annual camping pass, which allows unlimited camping at every state park in New Mexico with campgrounds ($180 for residents, $225 for out-of-state). The normal cost for a developed camp site is $10 per night, with an additional $4 for electricity and water, and another $4 if you’d prefer a full hook-up site with sewer. When reserving a site in advance, New Mexico charges an additional $12 reservation fee. As with most things in life, fees and costs tend to multiply so the Annual Camping Pass can be quite a money-saving option if you plan to spend a significant amount of time in New Mexico state parks. The only stipulation with the ACP is that visitors can spend up to 14 nights in one park in a 20-day period, after which they must leave the park before returning – but you could legitimately camp in New Mexico with your pass for the entire 365 nights in a year and only move between two parks.

After briefly considering the annual camping pass earlier this year, we opted instead to make traditional reservations at Brantley Lake and then decide if we wanted to spend more time in New Mexico. So here’s a little simple math for our money-conscious readers: $225 for the out-of-state ACP equals 23 nights at a developed site with no reservations and no hook-ups. That might be a lot of camping for the average person, but barely a drop in the bucket for a full-time RVer or maybe retirees who simply enjoy camping and/or RVing.

With 31 parks that offer camping spread throughout the state, we decided that we’d have a good chance of spending at least 23 nights in various parks over the summer months. Upon arriving at Bottomless Lakes State Park outside of Roswell, we spoke with the park office staff and purchased an annual camping pass. I was concerned about finding a site available on a Thursday afternoon, but we had plenty of water and electric sites to choose from when we arrived, not to mention many developed no hook-up sites in smaller loops around the park.

Bottomless Lakes is a beautiful park, located along the base of red rock walls and home to at least eight lakes of varying size and depth. With aquatic plant life contributing a deep greenish blue hue to the water, the lakes become tranquil pools of emerald against the rocky red cliffs. Legends tell of cowboys deeming the lakes “bottomless” because they dropped a length of rope into the pools and it never touched the bottom. Even though the lakes are now confirmed to be 17 to 90 feet deep, the name persists.

Located in the lower elevations of New Mexico, this park receives plenty of sun and high temperatures in the spring through fall. The sites are mostly exposed, so if you’re concerned about the heat, you might want to reserve an electric site to use an RV air conditioner (assuming you don’t have a large solar set-up capable of powering your AC for a limited time). This is one of the few New Mexico parks to offer WiFi, which worked surprisingly well during our visit even with the campground nearly full to capacity over the weekend. If we travel this far south later this year, we’d definitely return to Bottomless Lakes. On our way to the park, we stopped in the little town of Artesia for lunch at the local brewery and were pleasantly surprised with the quaint Main Street area of downtown, lined with various shops and a small community park area.

We drove through Roswell after leaving Bottomless Lakes, but failed to spot any UFOs or extraterrestrials other than the cartoonish figures on business signs and storefronts around town. We might stop in to do a little exploring on foot if we return, but most visitors report being underwhelmed with the town so this isn’t high on our list. We considered trying Hyde Memorial Park outside of Santa Fe as our next stop, but a quick search online didn’t return favorable reviews so we opted for Villanueva Park instead as we continued the trek north. We were aware of the steep roads in and out of Villanueva, but we didn’t have any issues navigating the twisting cliff-side road to the park. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this park for larger rigs because of the drive, including a very sharp turn onto B29E after passing through the village of Villanueva, but that’s just something to be aware of should you decide to visit. This is a small park, with only a few non-reservable hook-up sites, so we opted for the developed sites located at the top of the cliffs overlooking the valley below.

After a steep, twisting drive into the upper campsites, we found a spot large and level enough for our RV in an otherwise empty camping area. We didn’t have any cell reception here on our Republic Wireless phones or the Verizon hotspot, which we assumed to be the case before we arrived. But we were only staying the night, and after seeing the area we were certainly glad we chose to visit. The park is stunning, especially from the higher elevations of the cliff camping sites. The Pecos River runs through the park, having carved a valley over millions of years creating a hidden oasis nestled between the cliffs. As one of the smaller New Mexico state parks, Villanueva might fill quickly in the summer, but if we’re able to return and find available camping, we’d definitely plan a longer stay here (after notifying our families that we’ll be out of touch during our stay – no need to worry Mom!).

We didn’t take much time to see Santa Fe, other than a quick stop to resupply on our way through, but this is a place we’d like to see on our return trip. After leaving Villanueva and Santa Fe behind, we turned westward and headed for Heron Lake State Park outside of Los Ojos. Larger than the previous three parks, Heron Lake features multiple camping areas and a variety of sites. While the camping areas at Brantley Lake and Bottomless Lakes were clearly organized, the sites at Heron Lake are mixed between reservation and first-come, first-served, as well as hook-ups or no hook-ups. The sign posted at the visitor center when we arrived indicated all sites were currently first-come, first-serve and we found a non-reservation water and electric site without much trouble.

The park was fairly empty during our entire stay, but if it would be crowded on a future visit, it might take some effort to find a space suitable for your RV depending on size. We enjoyed a nine-mile out-and-back hike along a multi-use trail on one day of our visit, which offered great views of the lake and a chance to explore the other camping loops. If you’re concerned about not fitting into a space with your RV, I’d recommend reservations here during the busy season, but the various campgrounds offer plenty of parking options for smaller RVs and tent campers – even if it might take a bit of driving around before finding a site that works for you.

Our last stop in New Mexico before driving into Colorado turned out to be Navajo Lake State Park. You can reach Navajo Lake from Heron Lake one of two ways – taking NM 95 back out to US 64 and looping around through Chama and Amargo, or taking the shorter route of NM 95S to County Highways J8, 322, and J15, before turning onto US 64. Having since driven the second option, I would absolutely recommend choosing the longer route and avoiding J8/322/95S. Had I known the county highways were deeply rutted dirt roads leading through the Jicarilla Apache Nation reservation, we would’ve stuck to the major highways. The drive was certainly beautiful, but also nerve-wracking as I constantly worried about getting stuck somewhere and having to painstakingly backtrack, or mistakenly trespassing on land we shouldn’t be traveling through. Even when 95S/J8/322 transitioned from dirt to paved, the road was in poor shape and we constantly braked and swerved to avoid potholes. That’s a generous description for the giant, tire-eating, alignment-wrecking pits scattered across the road surface.

We eventually arrived at Navajo Lake, slightly shaken and covered in red New Mexico dirt, yet undamaged and happy to explore another new park. After visiting four New Mexico state parks at this point, we learned that some mark the reserved sites with red squares on the site number posts, some actually change the markers from red to green letting you know a site is available for one night only, and others don’t bother with changing the colored markers at all. The Navajo Lake staff not only marked the sites accurately, they also had printed reservation slips on each site as appropriate. This is probably the most-visited park in the state, lying along Navajo Lake which shares a border with Colorado to the north and features an extensive marina with boat rentals, fishing charters, a restaurant, and slips for houseboats. We’ve only seen fleets of houseboats at Raystown Lake in Pennsylvania, the marina areas around the Florida Keys, and now at Navajo Lake in New Mexico. Ashley always longingly looks at live-aboard boats as we walk past, and while I’m not sold on full-time boat life I do understand the appeal.

The camping areas at Navajo Lake are kind of cramped – the sites are located at the top of the cliff overlooking the lake, and the loops are twisty and not well marked. We wove in and out of a couple loops before finding a reservation-only site which was available for one night. The attraction is certainly the lake, and if you’re looking forward to time on the water, it’s easy to overlook a small campsite. While this was yet another beautiful area of New Mexico, we likely won’t return in the summer months simply to avoid the crowd and not struggle to find a vacant site. But we’re keeping our summer travel plans open, so who knows – we may end up visiting Navajo Lake again after all. This is definitely a spot worth visiting if you’re into boating and fishing, since the lake is known for Northern pike, salmon, bass, perch, catfish, bluegill, and crappie, and the San Juan River flowing out of the Navajo Dam is renowned as one of the best trout fly-fishing locations in the country. One last comment on this park – the drive in crosses the Navajo Dam, which provides a great view of the lake. But if you have a problem with heights, you may want to turn over the driving responsibilities to someone else. The road over the dam is steep on both sides and doesn’t have a guardrail. Certainly not a difficult drive or anything, but it might catch someone by surprise.

Our first trip through New Mexico was eye-opening and certainly changed our naive assumptions of a desert state largely covered by rocks and sand. From the low-lying brushy areas in the southeast, to the mountainous lake regions in the north, we were surprised at the variety of environments and climates throughout the state. We didn’t see any of the southwest corner at this point, which we might visit later depending on the weather and our future travel desires. We’re going to put our Annual Camping Pass to good use over the next few months and try to travel with a flexible plan, without reservations and switching between electric and primitive sites when possible. If you’re spending the summer hopping around New Mexico state parks, feel free to drop us a line!