Eagle Nest Lake — Attraction in New Mexico

Such a lovely place! We were confused about logistics - if you use the day use sites away from the main visitor center, do you still need to pay the day use fee if there are no pay stations? We only found a pay station at the main entrance. It seems like the day use fee for this state park will also apply for cimarron canyon, which is very convenient.

We took inflatable kayaks out across the lake to see the area near the dam - it was so beautiful and secluded there! We did hit choppy weather on the way back - it's a LARGE lake and pushing against the wind was hard!!!

Boat launch - motorized boats seem to use the southern launch. The cement/northern launch near the visitor center seems to be good for smaller and nonmotorized craft. The visitor center was not open during the time we were there and it was unclear what their normal hours are.

Fishing - multiple access points for fishing on the shore. I'm not an advanced fisher-person, but I suspect getting there early or late in the day is the key to success during the summer. We easily caught a 10 inch trout around 7:30 AM just casting from shore. Once it got warmer, we stopped getting any hits. Some parts of the shore have large pockets of water plants, making it hard to cast without dragging up stringy vegetation each time. Walk around and try new places to see if your...

Beautiful country! The people staying in the sites around me were all very friendly too. Maybe it was my Texas flag and the smell of Oak wood burning on my fire that warmed them up to me. It got cold on this late spring night in July. 38 degrees to be exact, but the smoke of the fire I lit was a great deterrent for all the mosquitos that swarmed around sunset. The chipmunks, rabbits, and other ground dwelling animals came out in the evening in large numbers as well. There were too many to count. I even fed a brave little chipmunk who worked up the courage to come to my picnic table. Great place to take the family and your boat and do...

It should be one of the wonders in New Mexico (one of the many) has a good boat ramp 0ver 60 ft wide two docks can't fish off docks.You can tie your boat till you go and park you vehicle the lake is pretty big 3488 acres. The fishing is good THE LAKE IS home to a variety of species ; trout(some big ones) was there this week had trout up to 3 1/2 lbs; salmon yellow perch and big northern pike in the upper 20 lb range a great place to take kids fishing and watch their eye light up nothing is greater to a parent or a grandparent . Give it a try you'll love it. There is a flock of pellecans that come from the gulf to stay for the...