conchas lake state park | Small Home

Departing Lake Conchas SP

27 04 2015

Our ‘Big Yard’

After 3 relaxing nights at Lake Conchas, we’re packed up and headed north toward I-25 and Colorado. The unexpected spring storm that dropped snow along our route home resulted in about 24 hours of gray, rainy skies here near Tucumcari, NM. However, the delay along with chilly, soggy conditions gave us a great incentive for a full day’s work on Monday and a good reason to stay put for 3 nights in a row. Daily moving with packing up, hitching, and re-connection of utilities can eventually wear you down, so it was a real treat to spend some extra time here. And, even after a 65 mile round trip on Sunday to resupply a few groceries and petrol, we think this is a wonderful campground.

Our site B29 is positioned at one of the highest points in the campground has a great view, but possibly a bit more wind than other lower sites. Other sites along this outer ridge include B30, B27, B25, B24, B21 & B19. B21 is a nice long pull-through, others are large back-in sites. There are also some long back-in sites on the inside of the loop near the restrooms. Sites B18, B20, B22 are back-in sites that would be ideal for coaches that prefer great viewing out their front windshield. Some of these sites also have extra parking for a towed vehicle. Sites B15, B14, B12 are smaller, best left for truck campers or large tent requirements. All of the sites provide electric and water and there’s a dump station at the entrance to the campground. There are also complimentary showers in a centrally located bathhouse alongside about 5 overflow parking spots. Most of the gravel pads are relatively level (we used a single block) next to a concrete pad with the covered patio table. Some sites have large shade trees – so great for shade, possibly in the way for awnings. Each site also provides a fire ring and grill.

A complete photo album is available at CampSitePhotos.com, and individual site reservation is available after May 1^st at ReserveAmerica. We enjoyed Conchas Lake State Park and would like to return sometime.

Conchas Lake Dam

Conchas Lake State Park, NM

26 04 2015

Conchas Lake State Park

From Amarillo, we’re headed to Las Vegas, NM where we’ll join I-25 for the final leg north into Colorado. Somewhere across eastern New Mexico we check Las Vegas weather and find that a Winter Storm Watch has been issued for the area. Not anxious to get back to winter in New Mexico or Colorado, we opt to detour at Tucumcari, NM to Conchas Lake State Park.

As it turns out, the camping at Conchas is beautiful! We’re at the North Recreation Area, in the Bell Point campground. A mix of Lake Powell and Glendo State Park, we’re parked in site B29, a cliff side site offering great views across the lake. Huge red cliffs remind us of Powell, and the rocky overview area reminds us of our favorite sites at Glendo. These are electric and water sites, each with a unique casita covered picnic table, a grill and fire pit. And, surprisingly, there’s excellent T-Mobile service here. We’re achieving up to 3MB transfers while tethered to a phone. There are a couple of snowy, but watchable over-the-air TV channels from Albuquerque.

We’re about 7 hours from home, so once the wintry weather passes, we’ll be back on the road for at least one more overnight before arriving home.