Eagle Nest Lake State Park — Attraction in Eagle Nest

I would have given this a 5 star until a couple weeks ago when one of the park rangers ran my girlfriend and I off. We reside in angelfire and have been fishing the lake from mid spring and all through summer. My fishing license has been checked all summer long, at least every few times I'm up there and by the same rangers, so that gets a little irritating after the same guy checks it 3 times. My main issue was the A-hole who gave me grief about my parking pass. I purchased what I though was an annual permit after fishing the lake quite a few times and spending about 45 bucks total on the day pass. Put 40 bucks in the envelope, filled out the info, and stuck it in my windshield. Did that in spring and hadn't had any problems until about a week ago. Came up to my truck to find a little ticket thing on my windshield saying my writing was not readable and I need to see the office to purchase a day pass. Went to the park office to be approached by 2 rangers in a truck. I asked if the put that on my windshield shield? He said yes, you need to purchase a day pass, your pass is not an annual pass (he said he could read it fine). I explained that's incorrect I put 40 dollars in the envelope as did my girlfriend for her car ($80 total). He said that's to bad. A day pass hangs from your mirror and you have to get it from the office. He said our money was obsolete and we could purchase a pass if we wanted to stay there. He added that it says on the board where you buy your pass that it says you have to see the front office for an annual pass. I told him that it did not say that when I bought my ticket, and we WILL NOT BE BACK considering our money is obsolete. We left and on my way out I checked the large board to see if I missed something. Sure enough there it was after getting as close as I could. Sure enough in TINY PRINT was a strip of paper taped on the board made from a label maker stating you need to see the office for an annual pass. Only readable if you have your face in the sign. We will be fishing the surrounding area's for now on if that's how the park conducts business and treats paying customers. I looked at my ticket to report the rangers name. Throughout the ticket the rangers handwriting is VERY legible until you see where he is supposed to put his name. It looked like a first graders handwriting. Could not read his name to save my life. Interesting huh? He was taller from what I could tell. Very skinny, short blonde hair and maybe blue eyes. Younger guy. He was accompanied but an older gentleman in the passenger seat that I could not identify without guessing. Anyway, we wont be back. The tackle shops in town are worth the stop and time hands down. Make sure you read the fine print. I'll post a picture of the board with this review. Pretty dang sure the label made strip of paper wasn't there when I bought my pass and if it was, IT NEEDS TO BE BIGGER because now our 80 bucks is...

We caught a fair number of trout and perch. Beautiful lake with stunning views of the mountains. My only complaint was with the park ranger who was less than friendly. We were putting in our canoe when he rapidly approached. As I was showing him our life vests, he sternly warned me that we had to wear them. That's great, we complied, but he found it necessary to lecture us and make sure we knew that he could fine us $500 and even threatened that we could be jailed for a year. He then described the physical nature of what happened to a drowning victim recently. When I asked him a specific question about our fishing tackle, he said I would have to ask Game and Fish, and that if we were doing anything wrong out there, they watch people with 60 power spotting scopes from shore . Not real friendly. C'mon Ranger Rick, we pay your salary. Lighten up. Helpful pointers go a lot farther than threats of incarceration. We had a great time anyway and we recommend Eagles Nest Lake, but if you go there, READ EVERYTHING THEY POST, READ ALL THE LAWS AND COMPLY. Just to let you know, they posted a notice that you should file a FLOAT PLAN before taking you vessel onto the lake! Never heard that one before. It's a tiny lake, so what...

I hadn't been to Eagles Nest Lake in quite a bit, decades. My sons and I went to the first Lake access point and it was covered in dead fish and stunk like death. Then when we tried to find the boat ramps so we could go out on our kayak, the ranger station was close despite the fact that there were hundreds of people coming into town that day on the week before Fourth of July. There is a total lack of signage to lead to the boat ramps and the maps do not show them. This is a poorly-run state park. Was not impressed at all and resented the amount of gas I spent to get us there. Hey highway Crew, we counted close to two hundred dead prairie dogs on our last five miles approach to Eagles Nest. Two or three decades ago it was a serious delight to come to Eagle's Nest. I do not recommend this destination at all and my reviews get hundreds of thousands of views. The people were...