Conchas Lake

Conchas Lake State Park is located about 35 miles northwest of Tucumcari which is also where you will find the closest large grocery store. There is a small store about 5 miles away for things like ice and soda. But not beer. So make sure to stock up on the necessities before your visit.

The lake was formed by a Corps of Engineers dam on the South Canadian River and is also fed by the smaller Conchas River. It should be called Canadian Lake State Park but that might confuse some folks. Freddy loved the idea and that is how he refers to it, he being a Royal Canadian Water Dog and all.

The dam is quite impressive.

The pup and I swam out into the lake to get a different perspective.

There are two camping areas, North and Central. North is the most developed, with hot showers and a playground.

Let's take a quick look at the Central Recreation Area first, adjacent to the dam.

It offers dry camping and you can also park your rig or pitch a tent along the shoreline. Shade shelters are available at most sites.

Anyway, the North Recreation Area is where most campers, umm, camp.

The marina seems to have disappeared. When I last visited in 2010 it was there.

Hmmm. We are not to far from Roswell. Maybe an Alien Marina Abduction?

There are three campgrounds here. We stayed in North.

And answered lots of questions.

This is the reservation area and several sites offer 50 amp service.

Just to the north is Bell Point.

The 33 sites all have electricity.

The fun crowd hung out at Cove Campground, next to the water.

They loved Freddy.

We swam out into the lake to get another look.

Yep. Water was warm. Very nice.

And the boat ramp is right there. Very convenient.

Now for the obligatory "scenic lake photos."

I always try to have something in the foreground of my sunset pics. Rocks can catch the fading glow and look warm.

This photo isn't bad but is boring.

Just as the sun went down a boat came by, which added a point of interest and motion to an otherwise static image.

Much better.

Clouds and reflections also add interest to otherwise mundane images.

To a photographer, nothing is worse than a clear blue sky.

And don't forget to keep an eye out for wildlife. They add a point of interest as well.

OK, Teacher Hat off, Honesty Hat on. I might have slightly mislead you about all the swimming Freddy and I did. It actually never happened.

This happened.

We were invited to take a cruise on the patrol boat. It was a first for Freddy and I had to lift him aboard. But he loved it.

We ran south for a bit and saw a pirate on the shore.

Then headed north to view some petroglyphs.

You can see where the lake has eroded some of them when it rises.

We really enjoyed our stay here. The staff was great and it was fun being a camp host for a week. Freddy received mucho love and petting.

Regards,
Greg and Freddy