Limestone Campground

This state park is easy to get to and is a relaxing spot. Great place to dump, refill your tanks and recharge your batteries after boondocking one of the nearby national forest. There are three sites that have full hookups, and two of them are first come first serve. They do have a dump station on site, so you can keep some money in your pocket by dumping on arrival and exit and getting on of the normal water/electric only sites that are cheap. If you are looking to swim, this is not the place. The water looked nice but swimming is not allowed in the lake. There are a few hiking trails, nothing spectacular about them except the abundance of jackrabbits. If you are a road cyclist the roads once you exit the park are pretty rough, you'll notice that on the drive in, but you can get some nice interval time in on the stretch of road between the camp ground and the entrance. Don't forget to ride all the way to the water and climb the boat launch ramp! Showers were clean and there was a nice little playground if you have little ones.

I can't say anything BAD about Brantley Lake State Park, except it was a little out of the way and it's a looooong road into the park. It has a great playground for the kids and each site has a covered table and bbq. We only stayed two nights, to visit the caverns, so we didn't really spend much time at the campground. However, the mosquitos! I'm assuming the proximately to the lake brings them out, but they were pretty intense after dusk! I should also note that the lake is not hugely impressive. I think I got my hopes up that a lake would mean a tree... but no such luck.

Came here for Carlsbad Caverns and it did not disappoint. There's not a lot of options for camping nearby. I read horrible things about White's RV park which is the closest to the Caverns. Chose to stay here and make the drive.

The drive into the campground is long but roads are in good condition. This is New Mexico in the Spring so it was windy and there's nothing to block the wind here so it does affect outdoor time.
The lake was pretty and clean and had a few short hiking trails. I saw deer and lots of bunnies and jack rabbits. The bathrooms were not great. Cold metal toilets which didn't flush well, average cleanliness for a state park. The showers were decent and fairly clean.
Unlike some other reviewers, I did not have any issues with bugs of any sort so that must be a seasonal thing.

The price cannot be beat even though it was only 30 amp and non sewer. They do have some sewer sites here but the NM reservation system is kinda wacked as they have very few sites available for reservation. Being the paranoid camper that I am, I don't like showing up and hoping for the best.

Other than the Caverns, there's really no reason to stay in Carlsbad. The town itself is not very nice and there's nothing else to do here but the Caverns were amazing and worth the stop over.

Site accessibility (Easy in/out, roads good, looong drive in) - 4
Campground location (1 hr to the Caverns) - 3
Nearby amenities (Shopping fairly close by in Carlsbad) - 3
Site Privacy (Decent sized sites) - 4
Campground amenities (Bathrooms were dirty, dump onsite) - 3
Dog friendly (Dogs allowed everywhere but trails were minimal) - 3
Activities (Short hiking trails around camp. The lake was pretty) - 3
Cost ($14/night for 30/W/E) - 4
Staff friendliness (Rangers patrolled and they were very nice) - 3
Connectivity (Good signal w/out a booster for both ATT and Verizon. ABC and other random OTA) - 3
Total rating = 3.3

We stayed here late March 2017. One thing to note up front is to pay attention when booking, not all sites have sewer. Not a big deal for us, but I didn't notice when I booked it. Our rate reflects a non-sewer site.

They have covered patios at most if not all of the sites in the RV loop. The bathrooms were ok. The showers were not good and were a fight to keep on (you have to keep pushing the button every few seconds) and the water pressure is a trickle but it was hot enough. I wouldn't plan to use the showers if I were staying again.

We stayed here with some friends who had booked this already so I didn't do any research on other options in the area but I did see a few other parks.

Side note, YelloBrix cafe in Carlsbad has pretty good food. It's slightly pricey, but good, fresh ingredients and good service.

Cell coverage was good. I didn't note signal strengths but I have both AT&T & Verizon and don't remember having any trouble with either.

We stayed here in late May and there was some wind, thundershowers and lots of sunshine. There were few campers in the park but a few over nighters came in every day. The spots were clean and well kept, no fire rings but barbecue stands were at all sites. All sites had a ramada and a small wall for a wind break. The views were spectacular! We drove to Carlsbad Caverns, about an hour, using the truck route 524, around Carlsbad, little traffic.

The sites all have 30a electric and water, two sites have sewer in the reserved section. About half the campground is reservable with a reservation fee, the other half is first come, first serve. Most of the sites are fairly level and there are several large enough for a 40' RV. There is a dump site just prior to the camp ground.

The ranger is very friendly, and there is a host present, but he was off duty the entire three days we were there.

There is a 6 mile drive from Hwy 285 into the campground on paved roads.

Drove in late at night and luckily found a spot. The location is nice, the view is vast dessert terrain with a decently sized lake. The skies out here are something else compared to what I usually see in the midwest. There are two pay drops, one at the entrance and one at the actual site (I only mention this because I was worried I would have to drive a few miles in to find a spot and go all the way back to pay). The site is very well kept, bathrooms were spotless and they include showers. Each spot has electrical hook ups and a water spicket, as well as a picnic table under a shelter and a grill.

Great quite park. Miles from the main road. Site 24 has a 50 foot pad and easily accommodated our 40ft 5th wheel, semi truck toter, and a full size passenger van. No laundry. No staff in the office during the off season.

Arrived mid afternoon on a Sunday in March. All the trash cans were overflowing and that’s to be expected on a Sunday, but they weren’t emptied until Tuesday morning and in the meantime trash blew all over the campground. No one attempted to pick any of it up. The bathrooms were pretty dirty as well and the interior walls needed a paint job. Didn’t see the camp host once, but saw a Corvette parked outside their rig. This is the fifth NM State Park I’ve stayed since the first of March and thankfully it is not the norm!

We used the New Mexico State Park reservation system, only because I am the type to plan trips thoroughly. We have stayed there three times now. Once just my little family of four in a tent years ago. Once with a large group of international and local college students as the faculty mentors. and most recently as just the 3 of us, one of which who is 9yrs old.

The bathrooms are eh, pretty much on par for most state parks. Serviceable but nothing spectacular. There is a shower stall large enough to handle a wheel chair or to easy bath a small child in. This is a nice feature. I am always interested in decent bathrooms. these were clean enough.

There are some trails not a lot but some. Few trees made it fun for our 9yr old to scramble around and not have to hang close to us. We had fun counting the number of rabbits we could find. Let's just say that was a lot! We did a little birding in the early morning! The lake is really pretty. Water is always a nice surprise out here! There is also a good playground area that is great shape and covered!

The area can be very breezy! this can be both good and bad!. There are covered picnic tables and paved RV pads. The sites are good sized. and fairly separate from each other. It is a 30 amp electric hook up with water but no sewer. The water pressure was consistent too! However the dump station is easy to find and use.

They have two payment boxes also fairly easy to find even in the dark! The rangers we interacted with were friendly and quite nice. One even handled a million and one questions for our 9yr old.

This is not the most straightforward place to get to. However, the roads are in good condition and it is easy to navigate even in the dark. We forgot the GPS and refuse to use the phone one. this is a windy area to drive in with nothing to block the wind. Not a an issue for our small pop up, but might be for someone with something larger.

The wind kept the bugs away for all our trips here. Even when we came in august! But I always have bug spray just in case.

We stayed at this park for a week in late March/early April 2018 in Site 17. The park is far away from any road noise situated on Brantley Lake. The sites are very roomy and spread out. We had water and 50 amp but no sewer, a nice picnic table shelter with a wind blocking wall. The bathrooms and showers were clean and included a handicap shower. We had a very nice view of the lake, bunnies, quail, doves and road runners were around. There are well marked hiking trails. It is a clean and well kept up park and very quiet! We didn’t even notice any barking dogs. The campers were extremely nice. When we arrived there was nobody at the visitor center and we were a little confused about checking in. We finally ran into a ranger who told us to just go ahead to our reserved site.