Santa Rosa Lake State Park - New Mexico

Santa Rosa Lake State Park

Santa Rosa Lake State Park is a wonderful place to camp. It's not far off of Route 40, so if you're traveling across the country on 40, it's very convenient. We stayed there for three nights in May of 2010, and really enjoyed it. The campsites are large and well spaced. We stayed on the Rocky Point Electric Loop, which has 17 on-line reservable sites with water and electric for $14.00 a night. We stayed on A004, which had a nice brick and concrete shelter with a picnic table on it and a pretty view of the lake in the distance.

Here's a good video I found on YouTube showing all of the campsites:

During our three day stay, we enjoyed hiking in the park. There's a path right in the campground that goes down to the lake. Actually, it was fun just hanging out around the campsite. Mirra especially enjoyed the shelter.  We were there over Memorial Day, so she had her flag scarf on.

Santa Rosa Lake State Park is only 7 miles from the little town of Santa Rosa where the famous Blue Hole sinkhole is. The Blue Hole is 81 feet deep, and is crystal clear. There's a cave system that generates 3,000 gallons of water every minute and the water temperature is a consistant 61-64 degrees all year. This combination makes the Blue Hole is a very popular place for divers, although when we went there, there weren't any. There were plenty of kids jumping fearlessly into the water, though. I bravely ventured into the cold water, but came out after a few minutes. Brrrrr. Bob said there was no way he was going in, and that I was crazy (he's probably right about that!).

The town of Santa Rosa is right on Historic Route 66. We had dinner out at a the Silver Moon Cafe, which is on the famous route, and got a very good Mexican meal. We bought ourselves a Route 66 bumper sticker for our truck in the gift shop.

Silver Moon Cafe on Historic Route 66

 If you're looking for a good place to stop off of Route 40, or just looking for a great place to hang out for a few days, Santa Rosa Lake State Park is a great pick.