Leasburg Dam State Park

This park is about 25 miles north of Las Cruces, NM. Coming from the south, once you leave I-10, you wander through pecan groves until you get to Radium Springs.

It's easy to get lost when you get close: my GPS app tried to take me to the day-use area, which is closed and padlocked. I stopped at Fort Selden, just up the road from the day use area, and got directions, which were easy to follow. All on paved roads, but still, better signage would help, New Mexico!

The Visitor Center was closed, with signs advising that you check in with the Camp Host (site 9) if you have questions. The sites in my "neighborhood" (Cactus Patch) all have water and electricity. There's a common holding tank dump station right by the visitor center. I have yet to locate trash cans or a dumpster, but I haven't looked all that hard. It has gangbusters ATT and Verizon cell service.

The big question about this park is why it's here. It's on the way from Las Cruces to Hatch and then on north to Albuquerque. It's not all that attractive -- mostly flat scrub as far as the eye can see, although there is an interesting range of hills off to the east. The actual dam and the Rio Grande isn't visible from the park. It does have a really cool playground for kids, right by the visitor center, and lots of little trails and cactus gardens to explore. I reserved and pre-paid 2 nights here. Knowing what I now know, this place rates a one-night stopover. It makes Rockhound, where I was the last couple of days, look much more attractive. I said I wouldn't stay here again, not because there's anything really wrong, but because Rockhound and City of Rocks are much more attractive options in this part of New Mexico.

We hadn't originally planned to visit this park, however when we found ourselves in Las Cruces, NM in need of an affordable spot to overnight and perform some unexpected maintenance on our rig, this place fit the bill.

The park is small and has two campground loops: The Cactus Patch Loop & the Greasewood Loop. The sites in the Cactus Patch Loop are larger pull-throughs better suited to larger vehicles - which probably explains why this loop was full when we arrived. We ended up taking site #6 in the Greasewood Loop as it was the only open spot we could get into. The road comprising the Greasewood Loop features a number of turns that were much too tight for us to clear. This site worked out for us as it had a water & electrical hook-up and we needed both at the time. All of the developed sites have a fire-ring, shelter, and picnic table.

The park itself has a few short hiking trails interspersed throughout the campgrounds and surrounding acreage. It's not particularly scenic, but it did let us squeeze in a decently long walk for our dog.

On the positive side, the campground hosts were exceptionally friendly and helpful.

I can't really recommend this park as a neat place to visit in and of itself - it's best as av comfortable stop-over if you're visiting Las Cruces, or need an overnight along I-25.

We love Leasburg State Park. It's easy to get to, easy to find, close proximity to Hatch or Las Cruces for great New Mexico Mexican food. Although close to hwy, you don't notice it. Love the high desert vegetation, birds and other wildlife. Very peaceful. The pull-thru sites are spacious, level concrete pads. Ramada provides shade and has walls for wind block. All for $14. A similar site at an Arizona state park is $30 plus with no ramadas and concrete pads. The bathrooms/showers are clean. The rangers and camp hosts are knowledgeable, helpful and there when you need them. They host sky nights at their tiny observatory. There are short hiking trails that are well marked. We have never had a bad experience at this state park. We stay in late fall when it's cooler.

Wow! $14 a night with water and power! That seems to be the going rate at the New Mexico State Parks. This park is located near the Rio Grande just north of Las Cruces. It is in the desert with little shade so a park for the cooler months. There are pros and cons.

Pros: It’s a great price for hookups. The sites are clean and pretty level and on a concrete pad. There is a picnic table under a roof which is also on a concrete pad. Each site has a fire ring. The views are great with mountains to the west and the east. The sunsets and sunrises are often amazing. The camp hosts and rangers are very friendly and helpful and the place is kept clean. The showers are clean and provide good warm water. There is wifi in and around the visitor’s center.

Cons: There is only one bathroom with water and showers, and it is a longish walk through sandy and gravely trails or roads. It can get dusty. The water saving devices in the sinks make the water hard to turn on. There are railroad tracks near the campground the trains run at all hours.

On the whole this a good value in the Las Cruces area. We hiked in the Organ Mountains and had wonderful views and saw a great diversity of plant and animal life. Hiking here is a treat. We also took a trip the Hatch – “the chile capital of the world” which is well worth the trip for the local agricultural products. It’s a neat, funky little town with some nice little restaurants; however, don’t expect four star dining think down home cooking New Mexican style.

...but it’s easy to do out here. Sure, there’s a train and some highway and mysterious unseen aircraft but all of that noise blends into the rush of the desert wind. Signs along the highway warn of what to do in case of a dust storm. Most days in March it was just sunshine and breezy though. Good for keeping the gnats away.

Enjoy morning walks to a playground? Easy to do on a loop through ocotillos, creosotebush and a variety of small cacti. Want to crush a junior ranger badge? Just ask at the visitor’s center, they hand them out though there is no book / program so you’ll have to make up your own. In the Greasewood Campground There’s a little roundabout kind of thing that has a variety of desert plantlife that made our kids feel like they earned their badges. Nice rangers all the way though.

Also, ignore the campground full signs. They just leave them up, but the Greasewood loop is first come first served and has no hookup sites ($10) and water and electric ($14, booth woogy). The shelters that come with each site tripled our van’s living space. And the showers? Distant, perhaps, but hot!!

Also, ask about Sparky. That’s a thing worth doing when you’ve finished the trails and got your Rio Granding taken care of.

We came for the Hatch Chili Festive which was about 30 minutes north. We were in the cactus patch loop where all the sites are reservable and pull through. Did I say level? Oh yea, there is a perfectly level concrete pad to pull up onto. Once a month, a local guy set up in the park and plays his guitar and sings, followed by the opening of the observatory along with local stargazers bringing out their telescopes for all to observe. Alas, it was a cloudy night, so the stargazing didn’t happen. The sites are impeccably clean and come with a view of beautiful mountains all around along with a short hike or drive to the Rio.

This is a nice campground close to I-25, and next to Fort Selden Historic Site. Dry camping sites were $10, and water/electric sites $14. My site was level concrete, with a nice covered picnic table.

The park ranger patrolled the campground regularly, and he was very knowledgeable about the history of the area. After I had been talking to him, he showed up later at my campsite with some materials he had photocopied for me.

The railroad line from El Paso to Albuquerque ran right by the campground. It was not very busy, but train horns sounding a few hundred feet away were annoying during the night. There was also incessant dog barking coming from a neighboring property, day and night.

The Verizon signal was excellent, with 5 bars, -85 dB, 32 Mbps download and 15 Mbps up.

The dump station was on the left side of the road on the way out. If you need to dump coming in, you have to do a U-turn or circle round the campground before dumping, and then another U-turn or drive out of the campground and come back in again after dumping.

We came to Leasburg SP to stay a night or two so we could do a day trip to White Sands National Monument. It is a small campground and they were full when we arrived on November 6th (a Tuesday). The nice host apologized but said they didn't have a site for us so we turned around to head out. As we were leaving the Ranger stopped us and was able to offer us a night or two in their Group Area since no one was coming in. The only caveat was we had to be responsible for opening and closing the gate as we came or went. We agreed, as we had been driving all day and didn't want to search for another spot.
We stayed for 2 nights with electric and water and had the Area to ourselves. It was actually quite nice. The train tracks were very close to where we stayed so a few times a day and night we heard some loud noise and rumbling - but it was no biggie.
Cell signal was great- 4-5 bars of Verizon LTE
We found the Hosts and Rangers friendly and knowledgable and were grateful that they were willing to put us up!
We would definitely come back when in the area again.

This is a relatively small SP with both reservations sites and a first come/first serve area. Our large rig (40') would likely only fit into the reservation sites, and their website indicates that 40' is the campground limit, which seems about right. Nearly of the sites are pull-through and include a covered picnic table and outdoor grill along with water and electricity. The Reserve America website marks many of the sites incorrectly as 50 amp, so if that matters to you be sure to check the campsite detail page because only a few of these were actually 50 amp (most are 30/20 amp as 18 is). The sites are gravel and quite level, though a smaller rig would have had an easier time in our particular site (and we would have had an easier time getting into some of the others)... site 18 slopes off into brush on the exit and provided just enough space for us to pull-through then realize we would need to back in to get unhitched.
There are some short and easy to follow trails around along with the usual amenities, trash, some recycling, and a dump station (easy to access on exit next to the information center). The park was very quiet, full of rabbits, and the nice desert scenery one would expect. The volunteer that checked us in was helpful and the camp host was always around. They lock the gate for entry at sundown, but they provide campers with the access code.
The only other useful note about reserving sites in NM SP campsites in advance is that while their daily rates are quite reasonable... $8 disperse camping, $10 primitive, $14 water/electric, and $18 FHU (all of these are -$10 with a NM SP pass, which is $225 for out-of-state residents), there are booking fees on Reserve America.... $4 for 1 night, $8 for 3 nights, & $12 for 4 nights or more. First come/first serve sites can pay cash at the self-pay kiosks and you can pay onsite for a single night on a reservation site if it's available.

Stayed back in 2017, forgot to do write up. Easy access off i-25 about 15 miles north of Las Cruces - level concrete pad with electric and water - small but did the trick - ft seldon site right down street(not much to see but cool artifacts) verizon jetpack was strong enough to work - good campsite/stayover, clean facilities, just not a lot of activities so 4 stars