Elephant Butte Lake State Park

Elephant Butte Lake State Park

Southwest region of New Mexico The largest and most popular lake in New Mexico, Elephant Butte Lake State Park provides a setting for every imaginable water sport. A wide variety of water sports are available at the lake, with fishing being one of the most popular. The mild climate of the area make this park a popular year-round destination.The visitor center offers regional interpretive exhibits. The mild climate of the area makes this park a popular year-round destination.

The name "Elephant Butte" was derived from the eroded core of an ancient volcano, now an island in the reservoir, in the shape of an elephant. Elephant Butte Reservoir, created by a dam constructed in 1916 across the Rio Grande, is 40 miles long with more than 200 miles of shoreline. Although constructed to provide for irrigation and flood control, the lake is New Mexico’s premier water recreation facility.

Over 100 million years ago, the area was part of a vast shallow ocean. Once the sea receded, the area was the favorite hunting ground of the tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur. Evidence of the Rex, the largest land-dwelling predator of all time, and other species of dinosaur have been discovered in area rock formations.

Elephant Butte Lake State Park
P.O. Box 13
Elephant Butte, NM 87935
Phone (575) 744-5923
www.emnrd.state.nm.us/PRD/elephant.htm