View Bottomless Lakes State Park New Mexico

Lakes in New Mexico

Lakes in East New Mexico . I didn’t know there were lakes in east New Mexico until I started planning our route. As you may have noticed the route has been stopping near water whenever possible. Mostly we are following the Pecos River north.

History of the area includes stories about Kit Carson, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

Lake Sumner,

For the first part of this week, we were at Lake Sumner, which was named after Fort Sumner. Fort Sumner (1862-1868) is currently is a large field and a pile of rocks.

Fort Sumner was established to control the Navajo and Apache Indians. Settlers claimed problems with the tribes during their efforts to establish ranches. Kit Carson led attacks against the Navajo by destroying their food sources. The Navajos were then vulnerable to attack by other native tribes (and the Army). The Navajos surrendered to Carson and brutally forced off their traditional lands only to return a few years later after congress realized that settlers didn’t really want Navajo land. All of this was a regrettable chapter in history.

Fort Stanton Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area
Fort Stanton Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area

Fort Sumner is the opposite of Fort Stanton built-in 1855 (located between Roswell and Valley of Fires) and also used to push out the native Apache population. Fort Stanton lived on as a tuberculosis hospital and is nearly intact as originally built. If you want to see more than a pile of rocks, Fort Stanton is the place.

Santa Rosa Lake

We are now at Santa Rosa Lake State Park also on the Pecos River and about 40 miles north of Sumner Lake. The area has bigger trees than areas further south but it would be a stretch to call it a forest. The first picture is one of the “Bottomless Lakes“.

Blue Hole Santa Rosa New Mexico
Blue Hole Santa Rosa New Mexico

Here is a link to the google map for Lakes in eastern New Mexico.

Link to our 2019 Route.

Link to our route El Paso to Colorado

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