Bottomless Lakes State Park

The FIRST State Park Established In New Mexico, In 1933; Nine Water Filled Sinkholes In Gypsum Karst Along The Pecos River Escarpment, Formed Where Underground Caverns Collapsed · Roswell, New Mexico

The lakes are not bottomless - the deepest is about ninety feet - but they looked it to nineteenth-century cowboys whose lariats failed to touch the floor, and the name stuck. There are nine of them strung along a low red escarpment east of Roswell, each one a sinkhole formed where groundwater dissolved the gypsum and salt underneath and the roof of the resulting cavern fell in. They hold different mixtures of fresh and mineral water and so look different colours, from clear blue-green to a dark algal jade. New Mexico made this its first state park in 1933, which is the other reason to come: it is the origin of the whole state park system. Lea Lake, the largest and deepest, is the only one open to swimming and has a beach, a campground and paddle boats in summer. The others are for looking at, fishing and walking around, and each holds a different mixture of fresh and mineral water, which is why no two of them are quite the same colour. Bitter Lake refuge is fifteen minutes away in the same karst.

545A Bottomless Lakes Road, Roswell, Roswell, New Mexico, 88201, United States

Open all year, day and night, with a day-use fee collected at a self-service station or by staff. The visitor centre keeps daytime hours and closes on some holidays. Lea Lake, the only lake open to swimming, has a designated swimming season roughly from late May to early September with a small concession and paddle boat hire in that window; outside it the beach is open but unsupervised. Campgrounds run year round.

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