Cimarron Canyon State Park

State Park Along Eight Miles Of The Cimarron River Inside The 33,000 Acre Colin Neblett Wildlife Area, The Largest State Wildlife Area In New Mexico; The Palisades Sill Rises 400 Feet In Columns Directly Above The Highway · Eagle Nest, New Mexico

US 64 runs east from Eagle Nest down a narrow canyon cut by the Cimarron River, and for eight miles the state park is essentially the canyon floor: the river, a string of campgrounds among the ponderosa, and walls that close in hard on both sides. The feature everyone photographs is the Palisades Sill, a band of igneous rock that intruded between older layers and has weathered into columns standing four hundred feet straight up from the roadside, which look like organ pipes and are climbed by people with permits. The river is a small, cold, heavily stocked trout stream with special regulations on parts of it. The whole park sits inside the Colin Neblett Wildlife Area, 33,000 acres and the largest in the state, which is why access off the highway corridor is much more restricted here than in an ordinary state park, and closes further during hunting seasons. Come in the morning if you want the sill lit rather than in shadow: the canyon is narrow and deep and the columns face the wrong way for afternoon light.

28869 US Highway 64, Eagle Nest, Eagle Nest, New Mexico, 87718, United States

The park and the highway through it are open all year, day and night, with a day-use fee at the developed areas. Campgrounds operate roughly from spring to autumn, part reservable, with services off in winter. US 64 through the canyon is plowed but ices in winter. Access away from the highway corridor is restricted because the park sits inside a state wildlife area - much of the surrounding land is closed to general entry, and it closes further in hunting seasons.

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