Heron Lake State Park

Rio Chama below Heron Lake Dam

Heron Lake offers about 5,900 acres of water surface while Heron Lake State Park contains 4,100 acres of land. In contrast to nearby El Vado Lake State Park, Heron Lake is a designated "no-wake lake," meaning boats are required to move at slow speeds. So Heron Lake sees more sailboats, canoes, kayaks and windsurfers. The fishing is excellent, especially in the winter. Heron Lake State Park has several campgrounds scattered around the lake and is connected to El Vado Lake State Park by a 5.5-mile hiking trail along the Rio Chama, complete with a suspension footbridge across the river.

Heron Lake State Park offers a visitor center, group picnic shelter and 250 developed campsites, 54 of which offer electric hookups. Each campground has restrooms and showers, the park also offers a centrally located RV dump station. The marina offers a "mast-up" sailboat storage facility. In addition to the camping and water sports, Heron Lake State Park offers picnicking, wildlife watching, winter sports and miles of hiking trails.

The entry gate at Heron Lake State Park is open 24 hours a day, every day. To get there: the park is off New Mexico Highway 95, about 11 miles west of Tierra Amarilla via US Highways 64/84 and NM 95.

RV camping at Heron Lake State Park
RV camping at Heron Lake State Park
Photos courtesy of New Mexico State Parks  
Dulce area map

Related Pages

Map courtesy of National Geographic Topo!