$8 - $18 / night

Camper submitted image from Brantley Lake State Park Campground - 1

Camper submitted image from Brantley Lake State Park Campground - 2

Nature

Camper submitted image from Brantley Lake State Park Campground - 3

Roads

Camper submitted image from Brantley Lake State Park Campground - 4

Buildings

Camper submitted image from Brantley Lake State Park Campground - 5

Facilities

Established Camping

Brantley Lake State Park Campground

28 Reviews

About

State Park

Located twelve miles North of Carlsbad, NM, the park offers boating, kayaking, canoeing, fishing, hiking trails, exceptional bird watching, developed and primitive campsites and restrooms with showers. Whether you’re picnicking for the day, or camping in your RV for a week, you’ll be sure to find adventure at Brantley Lake State Park!

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Location

Brantley Lake State Park Campground is located in New Mexico

Directions

Located 12 miles north of Carlsbad, NM via US Hwy 285, turn right (east) on County Road 30 ( Capitan Reef Road). Go 4.5 miles and then turn left into the park. Campground is 2 miles past the visitor center.

Coordinates

32.5639066 N
104.380601 W

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Access

Drive-In
Park next to your site
Walk-In
Park in a lot, walk to your site.
Boat-In
Sites accessible by watercraft.

Stay Connected

WiFi
Good
Verizon
Good
AT&T
Good
T-Mobile
Good

Site Types

Tent Sites
RV Sites
Standard (Tent/RV)
Group

Features

For Campers

ADA Access
Trash
Picnic Table
Firewood Available
Phone Service
Reservable
Showers
Drinking Water
Electric Hookups
Toilets
Alcohol
Pets
Fires

For Vehicles

Sanitary Dump
Sewer Hookups
Water Hookups
Pull-Through Sites
Big Rig Friendly

$8 - $18

/ night

For information regarding reservations, contact this campground directly.

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Contact

General Info

Reservations

Robert G.

Guide

Reviewed Apr. 1, 2024

Nice Trails

Dump station OOC until summer '24, but surprisingly pleasant campground otherwise.

Month of VisitApril

rob D.

Guide

Reviewed Feb. 18, 2024

Nice State Campground

Nice campground for an overnight. Probably wouldn't stay more than a day or so. Not much to do and see.

Pros - Clean bathrooms and showers, hot showers, wheelchair accessible showers and bathrooms, electrical and water at each site, each site has a nice pavilion with wind block, picnic table and grill. Nice playground for the kids, Dumpsters available. There are some pull through sites. Sites are asphalt. Both reserveable and first come sites 2 primitive camp areas. Nice lake.

Cons - Very windy, not much to do at the campground. Gave me time to read a good book.

Site33

Month of VisitMarch

(6) View All

John R.

Legend

Reviewed Jan. 5, 2024

Where is the lake?

Nice desert shaped park. When there is water I am sure it's wonderful. Without it's a good stop.

Site23

Month of VisitFebruary

(8) View All

Emerson F.

Guide

Reviewed Dec. 12, 2023

Great Park

Great NM state park. No real complaints other than the heat was not working in the bathhouse, making showers a little on the cold side this time of year. Staff were helpful and friendly. Each site had a small shelter for shade, otherwise no shade available. It was extremely windy during my visit. Verizon and to mobile worked fine, even better with a cell booster. Beautiful views, especially during sunrise/sunset. Easy drive to both Carlsbad Caverns NP as well as Guadalupe Mountain NP. Would stay again.

Site22

Month of VisitJanuary

Teresa T.

Ranger

Reviewed Nov. 24, 2023

Standard lakeside camping

I stayed with electric services but kind of wish I'd done the remote.camping down by the water which was pretty neat. Nothing exceptional as a lakeside campground but well cared for and clean.

Site28

Month of VisitDecember

Dustin C.

Traveler

Reviewed Jul. 11, 2023

Brantley Lake State Park

We arrived after dark on Saturday 7/8/2023. Parked at one of the first come first serve sites. Site 45. Park is well maintained and very peaceful. Most sites are water and electric only, but there is a dump station just a short distance away within the park. There is a shower and restroom facility on site as well. You are not allowed to dump grey water and when we were here grilling and fires were not permitted. $14 per night for sites with electric and water. I'm not sure what the full hookup sites cost. Lots of lizards and tarantulas can be spotted. It is definitely hot, but with the reflective bubble wrap in your windows it is not bad. This is a great spot if you are visiting Carlsbad Caverns and Roswell.

Site45

Month of VisitAugust

(5) View All

Greg B.

Traveler

Reviewed Apr. 15, 2023

Windy

Small quiet campground. Sites were close together. The dump station was not open. $84 for 3 nights for my class c with a toad. High winds for 2 out of 3 days.

Site13

Month of VisitMay

Sharilyn K.

Guide

Reviewed Apr. 7, 2023

Lovely views

Nice campground. Dump station closed for two weeks, but alternative at one of the camp host sites. Great place for bike riding, walking, water sports

Site32

Month of VisitMay

(5) View All

Brandon S.

Traveler

Reviewed Apr. 6, 2023

Quiet campground, nice spots

Nice campground, pretty quiet unless you're next to the playground. Facilities are clean, showers were hot, so there is nothing to complain about there. Dump station was not open, must have had an issue.

Campground is not near the water, day use area is only a couple minutes away. Use the map to choose a site where you can see the water, otherwise its a pretty boring area.

A few minutes drive from Carlsbad, maybe 45 minutes to an hour from the caverns and a lot nicer than anything you'll find closer to the park.

Site7

Month of VisitMay

Karen Y.

Scout

Reviewed Apr. 4, 2023

Brantley Lake SP

Stopped here to get out of the wind. On our way to Carlsbad Caverns. Wind gusts were relentless. Looks like several other campers are here doing the same thing. Nice campground $14 FCFS electric/water. On a lake this is white capping today.

Site42

Month of VisitMay

Matthew S.

Scout

Reviewed Mar. 25, 2023

Beautiful, and blustery

Gorgeous views, well maintained campground, not crowded.

Month of VisitApril

Noah E.

Legend

Reviewed Jan. 27, 2023

Great camping in a state park

This campground is in a state park. There is potable water, dump station, electric and water hookups, and clean showers! The sites are nice with a picnic table and covered patio area. Spaces are not too cramed together, so you have a bit of privacy. The site overlooks the lake and has walking trails around the area. There is a playground for kids near the bathrooms.

Bathrooms were clean! They have three showers each in the men's and women's restrooms, as well as two private showers with a toilet and sink.

There is a self pay station or pay online. Self-pay is cash or check only. $14-18 dollars depending on what hookups you need. Staff was helpful and friendly. Overall, it was a wonderful and quiet stay near Carlsbad.

Month of VisitFebruary

(6) View All

Diane S.

Traveler

Reviewed Nov. 22, 2022

Would be perfect except...

For the methane and H2S games that waft through the camp. This morning the air was unbreathable. We read water quality reports and the lake fish should not be eaten due to ddt Nice camp if you only stay a couple of days to see the caves. We were at Sitting bull falls and experienced a 5.4 fracking quakes.

Site#17

Month of VisitDecember

Tammy S.

Traveler

Reviewed Nov. 4, 2022

Great park

Park is very clean and very quite. Sites are spread out and bathrooms are very clean. Will be back for sure.

Site38 and 42

Month of VisitDecember

Jillian B.

Guide

Reviewed Oct. 26, 2022

Nice campground

Nice campground on small lake. Each site has a covered patio with a picnic table and privacy wall on one side. No campfires allowed currently. Our site has water and electric and cost $18 for the night. Really easy to reserve online. Bathhouse with three showers and flush toilets. Service is great on Vz and Att able to stream, and work the whole day with video calls.

Site20

Month of VisitNovember

Christie C.

Traveler

Reviewed Jan. 3, 2021

Gates closed

It was closed due to Covid. We visited January 2, 2020.

Joseph W.

Ranger

Reviewed Jan. 1, 2020

Super Quite/ Amazing Stars

Just stayed at Brantley Lake state park and loved it. With my NM state park pass my stay was only $4 per night with 30amp and water. This site is about 4 miles off the highway which makes it super quite. Dump station available, two dumpsters in the loop. Great cell service (Verizon) also got like 30 over the air channels.

Matthew G.

Guide

Reviewed Aug. 27, 2019

👍

We just needed a place to stop for the night and this was a great camp ground. Very very nice and clean facilities.

Erin S.

Legend

Reviewed Jul. 31, 2019

A fairly secluded and windy desert campground

We stayed here for 4 nights in late November/early December. It is a bit of a drive to get out to the campground from the highway, as you have to circle around the dam the get to the campground. The campground loops are situated up on a hill overlooking the countryside. There is a nice playground underneath a shade cover next to the central bathhouse, which is large and clean. There are trails that go down to the lake boat ramp and a trail that goes between the visitor center/entry booth. This campground was our basecamp to Carlsbad Caverns, which was about an hour drive, if I remember correctly. We enjoyed our stay here, but the wind made us a little worried. There were two days where during the day the wind blew consistently over 25 mph and gusted to 40. Shook the trailer enough that our stabilizer blocks blew away and flagpoles broke. I would stay here again during the winter but I would watch the wind forecast.

Month of VisitJanuary

Amaya L.

Traveler

Reviewed Jul. 12, 2019

Great Spot

Good spot. Nice and flat and very spacious. Not much around. Not really any trees either. We went in November so it was veryyy cold.

Mandy E.

Traveler

Reviewed Jun. 29, 2019

Great little place.

Not much to do in the surrounding area, but the park has nice sites with covered picnic tables at every site. Electric and water hookups. Bathrooms are decent and it has hot showers.

J E.

Guide

Reviewed Jun. 12, 2019

Nice enough for a desert in New Mexico

This is an oasis in the middle of a, well, not an oasis. The sites are nice enough with shelters and fire rings. The main downside is the extreme sulfur smell coming off the fracking wells in the distance. They release Hydrogen Sulfide (which is pretty toxic) in the evenings and night and this smell permeates everything. Imagine living near these!

Month of VisitApril

Steve & Ashley G.

Legend

Reviewed May. 28, 2019

Reservoir RV Site

We stayed at Brantley Lake last summer driving back to Austin TX. We came in late and drove to our site well after dark. The park facilities are very nice with extensive shower and restroom facilities. The site has good hookups for water and electric. The low rating is based on the location. The site is desolate in a very remote area with few if any activities for guests. This area gets very hot in the summer with daytime temps over 100 degrees. If you need one night stay over or something close to the town this camp could be an option but keep your expectations grounded.

HOLLY

Guide

Reviewed Feb. 22, 2019

Right on the lake

Sites are roomy, pets allowed, good wifi with booster. Walk down to the lake at sunset, so beautiful!

Ken M.

Guide

Reviewed Dec. 3, 2018

The smell of oilfields

Nice campground, a little compact. It has several speed bumps which can be hard when pulling. Saw roadrunners, hares, and a large wildcat.

Month of VisitDecember

(5) View All

Kelly M.

Ranger

Reviewed Sep. 30, 2018

perfectly good place to crash on the way to/from the Caverns

f backcountry hike-in spots aren't your thing, this is a place to crash on your way to/from Carlsbad Caverns (which are EPIC- GO THERE). This place itself- anh. Maybe, technically, this park qualifies as an oasis, but don't get your hopes up too high. The place is not exactly scenic. On first glance it all looks pretty barren, but the water clearly supports a lot of life- tons of birds, rabbits, and plants you won't really see in the surrounding landscape. So there's that. We'll call it very subtle beauty. Ultimately, sunrise/set made it all worth it. After driving around the area for a while, and growing weary of all the depressing drilling operations that overwhelm the sounding area, this place offers some reprieve- like breath of fresh air but for the eyeballs. In short, I guess this place is noteworthy in part because of what it is NOT- another expansive oil field.

Desire B.

Traveler

Reviewed Aug. 8, 2018

Rocky, but great place to fish and camp

It’s a beautiful view at night !!! It’s a little rocky but the fishing and water make up for it, I went with my brother and our families( 2-4yr olds and a 1-yr) all had fun in the water and on the shore. Boats allowed and decent bathrooms/showers

SitePrimitive

Month of VisitSeptember