Elephant Butte - New Mexico Travel

Relax at Elephant Butte Lake, enjoy a boat ride or take a nature walk along the shore.

Join our New Mexico travel tours and relax as our knowledgeable guides take you for a boat ride on peaceful Elephant Butte Lake.  Constructed primarily for irrigation purposes, Elephant Butte Lake heads a large system of dams and irrigation canals that extends 200 miles.  The lake holds over 2 million acre feet of water and has over 200 miles of shoreline.  The dam was completed in 1916, and a power generating station was added in the late 1930s.  The area was named for the large cinder cone that is now an island just behind the dam.  Considered to have one of the highest attendances of any state park on a given weekend, the lake is known to host between 80-100 thousand visitors on summer weekends and holidays such as the 4^th of July.  Our quiet hotel is located close to the lake and has wonderful nature trail access.  Choose to stay at the hotel and relax, or join the tour for a boat ride on the lake.

On your New Mexico travel adventure you will stay in the comfortable and quiet Elephant Butte Inn.  An on-site restaurant provides excellent food and friendly service for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Many of the comfortable rooms look out over the lake, giving you a chance to relax and enjoy the view.  There are many possible activities that you can arrange in this quiet desert town, including buffalo viewing and horseback riding.  Of course this hotel provides our gateway to Truth or Consequences where hot mineral baths and an interesting history museum provide insight into the fascinating past of this region.   

Take time to walk the guided nature trail and get a real feel for this desert countryside.  The famous El Camino Real passed by near here and it is difficult to imagine how traders survived the harsh migration through this desert landscape.  This long and rugged "Royal Road" linked Mexico City and Santa Fe with a 1600 mile long trail and was an essential trade route for the Spanish.  The El Camino Real greatly influenced settlement patterns and distribution of cultures - on this portion of the New Mexico tour you will visit the El Camino Real Heritage Center a short way from Elephant Butte to learn about this fascinating history.  At Elephant Butte Lake enjoy the nature walk which provides a solitary experience perfect for a quiet afternoon.  A brochure about desert plants is available from your tour guide, there are various number signs along the trail which correspond to interesting explanations in the brochure.