Located about 15 miles southeast of Roswell, Bottomless Lakes State Park is one of the most unique places to go camping in New Mexico. Instead of a single lake, the park is made up of a chain of eight lakes that are actually deep sinkholes, ranging from 17 to 90 feet deep. While they aren’t truly bottomless, these crystal-clear cenotes are unlike anywhere else we’ve visited in the Southwest.
We spent about a week camping at Lea Lake Campground in October 2025 while visiting Roswell. Our main reason for staying here was to explore all of the city’s famous UFO and alien attractions, but we ended up enjoying the state park just as much. If you’re looking for camping near Roswell, New Mexico, Bottomless Lakes State Park is one of the closest campgrounds to town while still offering a peaceful escape surrounded by nature.
Whether you’re planning a trip to Roswell’s quirky alien museums, want to explore the park’s unique sinkhole lakes, or are simply searching for a great spot for New Mexico camping, Bottomless Lakes State Park makes an excellent home base.
In this review, we’ll share what it’s like to camp at Lea Lake Campground, the amenities you can expect, and whether we think Bottomless Lakes State Park is worth adding to your New Mexico itinerary.
About Bottomless Lakes State Park
Despite the name, the lakes at Bottomless Lakes State Park aren’t actually bottomless! This unique New Mexico state park is made up of a series of deep sinkhole lakes formed thousands of years ago when underground limestone caves collapsed. Today, it’s one of the most popular outdoor recreation areas near Roswell, offering everything from camping and hiking to swimming, boating, and even scuba diving.
Camping at Bottomless Lakes State Park
If you’re planning to camp, Lea Lake Campground is the park’s main campground. It has 32 developed campsites, including 6 full hook-up sites and 26 sites with water and electric hookups. Campers also have access to a dump station and restrooms with hot showers.Camping is $30/night for New Mexico residents and $35/night for non-residents.
There’s also a more primitive camping area near the lower lakes with 10 developed campsites & vault toilets.
Whether you’re staying overnight or just visiting for the day, there’s plenty to do throughout the park.
Things to Do at Bottomless Lakes State Park
- Swim at Lea Lake’s sandy beach
- Go non-motorized boating
- Try scuba diving in the clear spring-fed water
- Fish at Devil’s Inkwell and Pasture Lake (fishing is not allowed at Lea Lake or the Lea Lake day-use area)
- Hike one of the park’s scenic trails
- Rent pedal boats, paddle boats, and life jackets from Memorial Day through Labor Day
Bottomless Lakes State Park has 4.53 miles of trails to explore:
- Skidmarks Mountain Bike Trail: 3.13 miles
- Bluff Trail: 0.86 miles
- Wetlands Trail: 0.54 miles
If you’re visiting for the day, the Lea Lake recreation area includes:
- Sandy swimming beach
- Playground
- Sand volleyball court
- Restrooms
- Outdoor showers
- Group shelter
- 24 picnic shelters
- Historic pavilion
- Visitor center
- Wildlife viewing blinds
Whether you’re looking for a relaxing beach day, a family campground, or a unique place to scuba dive in the New Mexico desert, Bottomless Lakes State Park packs a surprising amount of recreation into one park.
Our Review of Bottomless Lakes State Park Campground
We spent about a week camping at Lea Lake Campground in October 2025 while exploring Roswell and southeastern New Mexico. Overall, we’d call it a solid state park campground. It wasn’t one of those campgrounds that completely wowed us, but we’d definitely stay here again.
One of the biggest highlights of the park is the series of cenote-like sinkhole lakes. They’re unlike anywhere else we’ve camped and are well worth exploring, even if you’re just staying for a night or two. Although we visited in October and didn’t go swimming, we walked down to Lea Lake several times. The beach area is surprisingly large and has plenty of covered picnic tables, making it look like a great place to spend a summer afternoon. There’s also a nice playground and a walking path nearby, so families have plenty to do without ever leaving the campground.
Our campsite was roomy and included water and electric hookups. One feature we especially appreciated was the covered picnic table. Each site has its own small pavilion over the concrete patio, which makes a huge difference when you’re camping in the New Mexico desert.
Since our site didn’t have sewer hookups, we used the nearby dump station with our portable waste tank. It was conveniently located, making it easy to empty without much hassle. The campground shower house looked clean, but we ended up not using it. The individual shower stalls only had curtains instead of locking doors, which is a personal pet peeve of mine.
Overall, the campground was quiet, peaceful, and well maintained. While it may not be the most memorable state park campground we’ve stayed at, it’s a comfortable base for exploring Bottomless Lakes State Park and the Roswell area. It was an easy and low traffic drive into town, so it was a good place to anchor up.
Things to Do in Roswell, New Mexico
I was a big X-Files fan as a kid, and read every UFO/alien book I could find. So, of course, I’ve always wanted to go to Roswell! During our stay at Bottomless Lakes, we visited:
- International UFO Museum and Research Center
- Roswell UFO Spacewalk
- UFO-shaped McDonald’s
- Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge
- Pecos Flavors Winery & Bistro
- Had fun spotting aliens everywhere around town!
