Mesa Campground, Lake Roberts, NM

 

We spent a few nights at Lake Roberts, a 41 mile drive northeast of Silver City. It’s only about 25 miles had we taken Hwy 15, but is not recommended for trailers over 20’ and is a narrow, twisty, steep road in spots, so we took the easier although longer way around and up Hwy 35. It was a scenic drive, passing by mines, through the little town of Mimbres, then into the Gila National Forest.

There are 2 campgrounds, Mesa and Upper End, run by the US Forest Service. We chose Mesa since they have some sites with water and electric and it was getting into the 80’s. We knew we would be spending a day at the Cliff Dwellings, and didn’t want to risk locking up Quincy and Elliot in the heat while we were gone. It is $10 to dry camp, $15 for hookups, or half that with the Senior Pass. Unfortunately the electric sites don’t have any views of the lake, so Jim and I decided to move across the road to one of the non-hookup sites after we got back from sightseeing. The view was just too good to pass up, and we knew we’d be hanging around the next day and could leave everything open.

 

The only drawback to this area is there is absolutely no cell or internet service, but even Jim admitted it was kind of a relief not to have the computer compelling him to waste time.

There are two nice hiking trails from the picnic area down the road, with access trails from the campground. They are only a couple miles each but interesting trails. The Purgatory Chasm Trail takes you into a small slot canyon and along a dry river bed. It’s nothing like the slot canyons in Arizona or Utah, but still a pretty hike with a bit of rock scrambling, which is always fun.

Debbie getting ready to enter the slot.

We didn’t get too far and had to find our way out when we came to this pool.

  

Lots of nice big rocks.

 

The other trail goes around the lake and crosses the small dam, with views of the water along the entire trail.

 

What made it most entertaining was watching all the bullfrogs hop into the water as we approached them along the edge of the lake. Some of them were huge, and they all made the funniest sounds as they leapt into the water after hearing us coming.

 

 

We also saw ducks, coots, and hundreds of blue and orange dragonflies.

 

This is a great place to explore the Gila National Forest and also just to come and relax. One of us sure has that relaxing down to a science.