Mesalands Scenic Byway
New Mexico Scenic & Historic Byway 379 mi in New Mexico.
About the Mesalands Scenic Byway
South of San Jon, NM 469 climbs to the top of the mesalands, and the entrance to the Caprock Amphitheatre and Ralph Stanfield Memorial Nature Trail. The story of this area's ancient history is told at Mesalands Dinosaur Museum in Tucumcari . Ute Lake , Santa Rosa Lake , and Conchas Dam state parks are all located on this byway. They offer fishing, camping, and picnicking. Santa Rosa , known as the City of Natural Lakes, is famous for scuba diving in the middle of the desert. Blue Hole, a natural, 80-foot-deep pool, is a mecca for divers. Santa Rosa is also home to Janes-Wallace Dam Lake, Park Lake , and Perch Lake.
New Mexico Tourism Department's own description, in its words. Byway page on newmexico.org.
Camping along the byway
- on the roadSumner Lake State Park · State park · 50 sites · reservable
- 0.5 mi offSouth Area Campground · Army Corps of Engineers
- 0.6 mi offSouth Area Campground · Army Corps of Engineers · 20 sites · reservable
- 1.5 mi offRocky Point Campground · Army Corps of Engineers
- 1.6 mi offConchas Lake State Park · State park · 74 sites · reservable
- 1.7 mi offSanta Rosa Lake State Park · State park · 92 sites · reservable
- 2.3 mi offUte Lake State Park · State park · 155 sites · reservable
Public campgrounds within 5 miles of the road as the crow flies, nearest the road first (this stretch is in several separate pieces); each one's page has its facts, season and weather by month.
About this page's facts
The line is the Federal Highway Administration's scenic byways layer (HEPGIS, a snapshot of 2022-06-24, a US government work), cut at the state line and simplified for the map; the length is the line's. The designation is the program's own: the national tiers from FHWA's America's Byways roster, the rest from the layer's designation field. Road conditions, closures and seasonal gates change: check the agency's own page and the state's road conditions before you go.