El Vado Lake State Park Campground

I was looking for a state park fairly close to Chama so I could ride the train and I decided on El Vado Lake SP. Sites vary from dry camping to water and electric hookups (dump station on site). I chose a dry camping site right on the cliff above the lake that offered excellent views.

Bathroom offered clean shower facilities within walking distance of my site and not that far from all sites.

Incredibly quiet, but that is what you get when you are in the middle of nowhere.

Nice (and fairly long) hiking trail that connects El Vado with Heron Lake State Park. Very remote and sometimes hard to determine where the trail is, but that is half the fun, right?

Poor 3G Verizon cell service with a booster. Close by Heron Lake State Park offered better service, with unboosted 4G Verizon available (hit or miss depending on where in the park you were).

GPS said through Cuba and Regina is a good route but 25 miles of rough road and then dirt road and crossing the narrow dam is not fun. Length limit on the dam is 30 feet.

Using GPS, we came through Cuba and barely made it over the dam with our truck and 5th wheel due to tight turns and weight restrictions on the dam. Then our reserved site # 3 wasn't large enough to park although the NM State Park site said showed plenty of room. Suggest calling the park to confirm site dimensions. I hear the fishing is great although the lake is low. Some smoke haze from Colorado fires but not bad.

We love this park. Dark skies. Quiet even during the summer. Lake levels can vary widly and the water is always murky, but people live to fish here. Hwy 112 is a little rough and narrow for our 40' MH as is the last 4 miles of St. Park road but take your time and it is worth it. Do NOT take the road from Cuba! We got very poor almost unusable Verizon service, occational text, no voice. This park has two other primative CGs and they are very nice but not for big rigs. Overall the park could use some TLC on the roads and site maintenance. If it rains it can get very muddy where you walk.

Traveled south from Eagles Nest Lake to El Vado, allowing us to avoid taking the road over the dam. Due to spring showers, the work on the dam was halted for the two weeks we stayed as the lake levels were too high.
The shower house and potable water were turned on / open two hours a day. Showers were clean but cold.
If you needed water, the host and/or ranger was happy to provide. They are currently trucking in water, so they are limiting for a few hours a day.

Limited AT&T service, no Verizon service, we used starlink for work and had no issues

There was lot's of wildlife and hiking nearby (mostly outside of state park). Decent grocery store and laundromat in Chama about 40 minutes away, and the Chevron station can refill propane.

Ranger and camp host some of the nicest people and are super helpful should you have any questions. Definitely made our stay so much better!