Campground Review: Jal Lake Park Jal, NM

I recently ran across another campground that I almost hesitated to review because I wanted to keep it to myself, but I'd feel guilty so I'll review it anyway and let the cat out of the bag.  In the very southeast corner of New Mexico is the small town of Jal (Pop. 2121).  The town of Jal created a small man-made lake and built a really nice little park around it.  According to the city web site the lake, when viewed from the air, actually spells out the town's name!

"Jal...Small town Big Heart"

I guess the small island in the middle of the lake contributes the "a" in Jal to overhead viewers.

The small island in the center of Jal Lake that is accessed via a bridge.

Here's the Jal Lake Park data sheet:

Hookups:                                             20, 30, 50 A, water                                                 

Fire ring:                                              No                                                                              

Water Access:                                     Yes (no swimming)                                                    

Fresh Water:                                        Yes                                                     

Trash Service:                                      Yes                                         

Toilets:                                                Yes (vault)                                         

Showers:                                             No                                                                  

Dump station:                                      Yes                                         

WiFi:                                                   No                                                      

Level sites:                                          Yes                                                     

Laundry:                                              No                                                                  

Store:                                                  No                                                                  

Pool:                                                   No                              

Shade:                                                 No                                          

Verizon reception:                                4G, 4 of 5 bars                                                           

Internet reception                                 4 bars

Cost:                                                  Free for up to 3 days

Jal Lake Park's RV area is a paved parking lot on the north edge of the park with six very spacious campsites.

The Mini's site included a covered picnic table and grill.

The park has a couple really nice features, one is a walking sidewalk that goes all the way around the lake.  If you're a walking nut like me who gets their "steps" in every day it's really useful, and a huge improvement compared to walking in the street.

A lap equaled 3/4's of a mile.

There's a covered workout area with various body weight resistance stations.

The covered exercise area.  I'd do a lap then one exercise station then a lap.

There's a large flock of ducks that calls the park home and they're almost tame, they sleep by the walking path and seldom even move when you walk by.

Some of the flock.

Jal Lake Park is a little gem of a free campground, even if you can only stay three days.  I'm in Texas now but on my way out to Arizona after Thanksgiving you can bet I'll spend a couple days in Jal before continuing on my way.

Thanks for reading!