Elephant Butte Lake State Park is the largest state park in New Mexico. It is also home to New Mexico’s largest lake. Activities available in the park include fishing, kayaking, camping, and hiking.
Located about 81 miles north of Las Cruces, Elephant Butte Lake State Park was exactly what we needed after months in RV parks and resorts. A campground with wide-open spaces and outdoor activities.
From our site in Quail Run, one of the five campground loops in the park, we had a great view of the lake and Lion’s Beach. After arriving in the early afternoon and setting up our camper, we got on our bikes to explore the area.
Lion’s Beach
We peddled across the street, down the sand-covered hill, and onto Lion’s Beach. Our shoes came off, and we walked into the water.
Looking around, we saw several people relaxing on inflatables, bobbing up and down on the gentle waves. But no one else was in the water.
It was late April, and the lake was a bit colder than we expected. But that didn’t stop us from wading a little before getting back on our bikes.
Elephant Butte Lake Campground Loops
Leaving the beach, we began our search for a place to launch our kayaks. While exploring the area near the campgrounds, we saw this sand sculpture of a mother elephant and her baby.
While writing this post, I searched for information regarding the sculpture. Unfortunately, I was not able to locate the name of the artist or any additional information regarding its creation. The little wooden signs around the base appeared to be names given to the elephant and her baby. One read “Mrs. Ellie Phant,” and the other read “Eleanor R.”
Let us know if you have any information regarding this sand castle.
photo credit: Photography by Andreas
There are several restrooms and vault toilets in the campground loops. There is only one dump station, and we were happy to see that it was located between our loop, Quail Run, and nearby Desert Cove.
Each of the sites has a covered pavilion with a picnic table and a fire pit. The sites are large enough for big rigs and some, like ours, have bushes or small trees.
Here’s our Class A in Site 38. We really liked the privacy the front and side bushes provided.
Finishing our ride around the campground loops and the boat launch near Marina Del Sur, we returned to our site to prepare dinner. And then, we did something we hadn’t done in months. We set our chairs in front of our motorhome and watched the stars come out in the dark sky overlooking the lake.
Kayaking in Elephant Butte Reservoir
The following morning, we drove our truck to the Damsite Marina to launch our kayak and paddle near Elephant Butte Island.
A kayaker we met while riding our bikes the day before recommended that we launch from the Dam Site due to the high afternoon winds near Marina Del Sur. Even with our small trolling motor, we could have some issues.
We were grateful for his advice.
We drove our truck to the shoreline on the left side of the dock in the above picture. After inflating the kayak and loading our gear, Andy moved the truck to the parking area, and we were off!
Elephant Butte Reservoir was formed in 1916 when a dam was built across the Rio Grande to provide irrigation and flood control for the area.
The reservoir, or lake as it is commonly known, is 40 miles long, with over 200 miles of shoreline.
One thing that stood out in our pre-booking research on Elephant Butte Lake was the water level. Some comments online indicated that the lake was drying up.
A little additional research of our own showed that’s not really true. According to a recent article published on Las Cruces.com, the dam’s spillway was only used twice. The first time was in 1941, and the second time in 1985, when the lake reached its record high. The lake stayed at higher water levels into the mid-1990s. Even though the water has been receding since then, the lake is currently 30 to 60 feet deep.
That was plenty of water for our kayak!
We paddled past the marina, heading for the far shoreline where a large blue heron was perched. A little way up, we saw this small deer resting in the shade. This photo album has several pictures of the waterfowl we saw while kayaking.
We spent several hours paddling along the shore, watching the fishing boats zip from spot to spot.
They should have been following the diving ducks.
The ducks, which we think were the lesser scaups, would paddle on the water’s surface, then suddenly dive head first into the lake after a fish, and pop back out of the water at least 50 feet away. They were too fast to photograph because we had no idea when and where they would pop into and out of the water. But it was fun to watch and see who would spot the ducks first.
When it was time to stretch our legs, we paddled into a cove and walked around a bit.
It was interesting walking on the land that had been underwater 20 years ago. Most of the shore was crumbled rock bed. Rock that had been exposed before the dam was created.
It was a cloudless day, and the early afternoon sun was starting to heat up. After returning to our kayak, we began our slow return to the marina, paddling near the opposite shoreline and towards the island.
Elephant Butte Island
Some sources say that a large stegomastodon skeleton was found in this area before the lake was formed and that the park was named Elephant Butte after this pre-historic ancestor of the modern-day elephant. But, further research disproved that claim.
The park was named for the large volcanic formation that rises from the water. If you approach it from the ‘trunk’ side, you can make out the shape of a resting elephant. Especially if you’re looking for it.
When we were paddling towards the marina, we attempted to go around the island, wanting to see it from all sides. However, the island is currently a peninsula due to the low water levels. So, we just paddled along the “island’s” shoreline until we could make out the elephant.
One of us saw it.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get a picture before we floated past the ‘optimum viewing spot’ and towards our take-out area near the parking lot.
When the kayak was packed away in the bed of the truck, we headed to our campsite and our little dog, Sadie. She was happy to see us and take a ‘sniff’ stroll around our loop.
Elephant Butte Lake Dam
After dark, the dam is illuminated with colorful red, white, and blue lights. We wanted to walk across, but it’s been closed to all traffic for years.
The one exception is the First Day Hike, held each year on New Year’s Day. The road is opened, and visitors are encouraged to walk across the dam for their first hike of the year. Since we couldn’t walk across, we just enjoyed the view.
Truth or Consequences
The next day was very windy, and the blowing sand in the park changed our hiking plans. We had heard that Truth or Consequences, New Mexico was a popular snowbird destination, and since it was only 7 miles from our site in the Qual Run Campground, we decided to check it out.
We had a nice lunch at a local restaurant, Tony’s Mexican Restaurant, beer at a local brewery, Truth or Consequences Brewery, and took a quick sightseeing tour of the city. It was still windy, and we had to hang on to our hats, but at least there wasn’t sand stinging our skin.
Check out our Walking tour of Downtown Truth or Consequences.
The next morning, we broke camp and left Elephant Butte Lake State Park. We drove north on I-25 to Rio Rancho, New Mexico, and Andy’s last travel nurse assignment.
Peggy Staver, the author of this blog, is a freelance copywriter specializing in outdoor recreation and hospitality. You can contact her at PSCopywriting.com. The majority of photos are taken by Photography by Andreas.
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