Heron Lake
Heron Lake State Park is in northern NM, not far from the Colorado border. Due to drought, it has less than 20% of the water that it should and it has been years since it has been at capacity. We had originally planed to spend a week here but after cutting our time short at Taos and looking at our next stops, we ended up staying here for 2 weeks, in a few different sites. We knew the lake was low and figured the park would be fairly quiet as the main attraction is a bit dry. We didn’t have any firm plans for anything here, except to just hang out and relax. We were surprised by how much there was to do in the area.
Exploring the dirt trails at the far end of the lake from camp. September 2025
Heron lake is a manmade lake that dams up Willow Creek. Just below the dam, the creek flows into Rio Chama. Rio Chama creates a rugged canyon running through the park as it passes through. We walked a trail that follows the rim with views into and across the canyon. There is a trail that takes you to the bottom and up to the other side of the canyon. One morning I took the dogs down to the bottom and across the steel bridge.
Rio Chama canyon in Heron Lake State Park.
Willow creek and the dam are to the right and Rio Chama is on the left.
We spent most our our visit in the Willow Loop campground, which does have electric and water at each site. One morning we started at 38 degrees and then it got up to 82 in the afternoon. The temperature swing is pretty dramatic here. The mornings were cool and dry but we would need to run the AC for a few hours every afternoon. The picture is from an overlook that we would pass on a short trail that starts in the camping loop. You can see the lake looks a bit pathetic. The buttes and sky still made a nice place to sit for a while and enjoy the view. I would take the dogs on this little trail a few times each day.
Sunset over Heron Lake
As we drove around the region we saw many cars that had pulled off the road and people were out collecting something from the tree line along the roads. We learned that they were collecting pinon pine nuts. Inside the pine cone, there are small nuts behind each scale. Peeling back the husk reveals a white nut that has a slightly sweet taste with a bit of moisture in it. They are very expensive if you want to buy them but they are free for the taking along roads and in the woods in this region. They are a bit tricky to get, though. If they are on the ground, it is most likely that some rodent has already scored the little treasure inside. Getting to them requires you to dig in between the scales to pop them out and that is quite a messy task as these pine cones have a ton of sap all over them. it literally drips off of them. There were several of the these trees along this trail, so I was able to harvest a few so we could taste them. There was a neighbor at camp that went out every day to collect nuts. It seems like an awful lot of effort for the payout.
You can see the nuts in there, and lots of sap.
Not worth the effort once curiosity was satisfied.
We took a day trip up into Colorado to look for fall color. On the way we went through the small town of Chama. As we passed through, the steam locomotive was getting ready to pull out of the station to head up the mountain. We drove up the road and stopped several times to get pictures of the train going past the mountains and aspens. We visited this area right about peak color for the aspens. They were incredibly bright and they shimmered in the breeze.
The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic RR.
So many aspens.
Another day trip we took was to the Abiquiu reservoir area and Georgia O’Keefe’s Ghost Ranch. The terrain is covered with lots of eroded sandstone of many colors, giving the land the appearance of being some place in Utah. We had planned to do some boondocking in this area but realized we needed to stick closer to electricity. It was definitely worth driving down for the day to see all the cool formations. While wandering down a back road, I caught a glimpse of a balanced rock down a dirt trail. We turned back and went down the trail to discover this area of bright white formations. Later, on a map, I saw the area is called Cerrito Blanco. It’s on National Forest land but is not managed in any way. It seems this beautiful spot has become something of a dumping ground for some locals. Even with that, it still is a wonderful place.
And we had it all to ourselves while we were here.
Shawna and the pups.
Good lighting for a selfie of us. In almost all pictures of me, I’m squinting.
While we were here for almost two weeks, I did not see a single heron. I didn’t see many water loving birds at all here. The lake is named after Kenneth Heron who had the idea to divert water from Colorado to these dry areas of New Mexico. What we did see were elk. Lots of elk. Probably hundreds of them. At the far end of the lake there is an area for primitive camping that is accessed by dirt roads. It is mostly for tents but some smaller campers and vans can get to these lakeside spots. While wandering down these dirt trails in the truck I would get out at times. At the edge of the lake I noticed so many tracks it was hard to tell just what animal made the tracks. As the tracks separated I could see that they were elk tracks.
Since Shawna is working during the week, we got up well before sunrise when we were out here in New Mexico. Shawna keeps her work day on Eastern time, so I was up well before the elk start moving in the morning. The next morning, I drove out to the end of the lake and went up on a small hill that overlooked the end of the lake. From where I was I could see dozens of elk leaving the lake and heading back towards the high hills and buttes that they call home during the day. The following morning I went down the trail but stayed close to the line that separates the state park and the land of the Jicarilla Apache, which is well posted. I found a spot that had lots of tracks and parked. I waited there as the elk started coming in from the lake. There was near constant bugling as there were so many of them. Once in a while I could hear the clacking of antlers as the males sparred. I did not get any decent pictures as it was still quite dark by the time they dissolved into the woods and hills but I did get some videos so we can hear the bugling.
Heron Lake may not look like much at first glance but this is quite the gem of a state park. We hope to be back one day.