Top Weekend Getaways
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| With its placid waters and well-appointed marina, Heron Lake is an ideal destination for those experiencing water-lust. |
Water-lust Excursion
Destination: El Vado and Heron lakes
What to bring: binoculars, inner tube, foam can cozy
Some New Mexicans may be content to spend their summers baking in an horno, but for others, watery escapes beckon. Follow the birds north toward Colorado and you’ll discover the place where the feathered and finned splash away the dog days of summer: in the cool, evergreen haven of Heron and El Vado lakes, both near the small town of Tierra Amarilla, 90 miles north of Santa Fe off U.S. 84.
These back-to-back reservoirs, nestled among tall pines, juniper, and sculpted sandstone formations, attract plenty of furry visitors, too, from mule deer and rabbits to their stalkers—black bear, coyote, and bobcat. Kokanee salmon and lake trout multiply in the quiet coves at 5,900-surface-acre Heron (a “no wake” lake), while 3,200-surface-acre El Vado is stocked annually with two-inch rainbow fry. A scenic five-mile hiking trail connects the two lakes.
Where fish abound, so do birds, and even casual observers may spy, circling overhead, bald eagles, red-tail hawks, water ouzels, and some of the area’s 19 pairs of nesting osprey. Together, the lakes have more than 200 camping sites offer a range of comforts and degrees of solitude. Check out El Vado’s secluded Piñon Beach campground for an active wetland worth watching from your camper window.
If you’re traveling light, the Stone House Lodge, between the lakes, offers rustic, fully equipped accommodations for two to 20 people overlooking El Vado Lake. The grounds include a café, general store, and gas station, plus motorboats and fishing poles for rent.
Sailors will appreciate the marina at Heron Lake, which hosts weekend races (including Hobie Cat). Paddlers can find a few hours of exploration on the arm of the lake going up Willow Creek; longer trips are possible on the west side.
If still-water navigation seems too tame, the Río Chama has earned recognition as a wild and scenic river below the lakes, running 31 miles of Class I to Class III whitewater through sandstone canyons and wooded wilderness until the takeout at Big Eddy, north of Abiquiú. Multiple outfitters offer trips down the river, leaving from Chama.
Indeed, whether you whoop it up on the rapids or whistle away the days in an inner tube, Chama, a pretty railroad town 30 miles north of El Vado, makes for a gentle splashdown back into civilization. Across from the historic depot of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, Carlatte’s serves creative lunches and hearty breakfasts; for dinner, try the High Country Restaurant and Saloon, where the trout and steak come highly recommended. The tables fill early on weekend nights, so if you’re stuck waiting, grab a drink at the saloon next door—welcome lubrication for the journey back to dry land.
If You Go: El Vado Lake State Park, Tierra Amarilla, (575) 588-7247, www.emnrd.state.nm.us/PRD/elvado.htm; Heron Lake State Park, Los Ojos, (575) 588-7470, www.emnrd.state.nm.us/PRD/heron.htm; Stone House Lodge, Los Ojos, (575) 588-7274, www.stonehouselodge.com; Wild & Scenic Chama River, Bureau of Land Management Taos Field Office, (575) 758-8851,www.blm.gov; Carlatte’s, 425 Terrace Ave., Chama, (575) 756-2555; High Country Restaurant & Saloon, U.S. 84/64 at N.M. 17, Chama, (575) 756-2384—Keiko Ohnuma
