Caballo Lake and Percha Dam State Parks: Geronimo Trail Scenic Byway, New Mexico

SIDE TRIP 1 to Caballo Lake State Park and Percha Dam State Park is an easy drive south beyond Caballo along the Rio Grande. Rather than taking a right turn toward the mountains and Interpretive Zone 2 on Highway 152 across from Caballo Lake, continue straight along Highway 187. The primary road on this Side Trip is a state-maintained highway with two 12-foot-wide paved driving lanes and intermittent shoulders. Safety conditions are good for the posted speed limits.
18-mile-long CABALLO LAKE holds 346,000 acre-feet of water with a surface area of 11,500 acres impounded in a Chihuahuan Desert setting. Created in 1938 with the construction of a 96-foot-tall, 4,558-foot-long, earth-filled dam, it's New Mexico's second-largest lake (behind Elephant Butte Lake, which is also on the Geronimo Trail Scenic Byway). The dam was built to retain water released from Elephant Butte Lake during electrical generation, to aid in flood control, to release water as required for irrigation of about 160,000 acres on farms along the Rio Grande Valley from Caballo south into Texas, and to fulfill 1906 treaty obligations with the Republic of Mexico. Caballo Lake State Park along the western shore offers family-oriented and mostly handicap-accessible services: tent and RV camping with showers and toilet facilities - 60 with electrical hookups; a dump station; information center; picnicking; swimming, boating (boats must bear New Mexico registration), and year-round fishing for bass, crappie, catfish and walleye; playground; and nature trails. The park is also home to southern New Mexico's windsurfing enthusiasts (April through October particularly, near the dam). The campground below the dam is popular with people who like to fish active rivers. Birdwatchers find the Caballo Lake area rewarding. PERCHA DAM STATE PARK, just south of Caballo Lake State Park, is among New Mexico's smallest and least-used parks... though word is getting out about this hidden treasure. A quiet and serene getaway under the shade of tall cottonwoods, Russian olives, green ash and salt cedars, the park hugs the Rio Grande in a rich riparian area that seems a bit out of place in the southern New Mexico Desert. Handicap-accessible campsites with showers and toilet facilities, are offered (only 6 campsites have electrical hookups - and RVers take note that there is no dump station), as well as scenic vistas, picnicking, hiking, and fishing. Swimming is prohibited in the irrigation canal because of the force with which the Rio Grande waters flow over the Dam. Nearby businesses (outside the park) include restaurants, produce vendors, miscellaneous shops, and RV parks.
	Please note that there is no gasoline available on the Geronimo Trail Scenic Byway west of Truth or Consequences / Williamsburg and Elephant Butte. This is the majority of the Trail, which runs through some very remote countryside. Fill your tank before you leave! Gasoline is available on Side Trip 5; or, if you choose to follow the Alternate Loop, gas is available at Silver City. Please also note that bridges between Caballo and Hillsboro bear twelve-foot, six-inch height restrictions; and the Forest Service advises not only that trailers over twenty feet are unsafe on Forest Development Road 150, but that low-clearance / non-four-wheel-drive vehicles travel that section of the Trail at their own risk.
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Next stop on the E-Tour: Interpretive Zone 2...
	Enjoy the nature, history, and culture of southwest New Mexico - but don't disturb the natural, historical, and cultural sites. Do not remove, destroy, or deface anything on any site; strict laws protect artifacts on State, Federal, Indian, and private lands. Buying, selling, trading, or transporting these stolen items is also illegal. Please report looting and vandalism to federal land management authorities or the local sheriff. Hide all traces of your travels as the Apache hid their passing so these wildlands may remain unspoiled, the historical sites may remain true to their history, and the developed sites may remain clean and pleasant. Thank you.