Elephant Butte Lake Photo by Sherry Fletcher
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Located on the southwestern shore of Elephant Butte Reservoir, Elephant Butte offers residents and visitors mild sunny winters, hot summers moderated by afternoon thunderstorms or lake breezes, and practically perfect weather in the spring and fall.
Elephant Butte State Park is the state’s largest park, with camping, boating, and fishing on the 43 mile long reservoir. Three marinas, numerous marine service and storage facilities along with restaurants, a golf course and lodging facilities serve the many folks who use the lake.
Special events and holidays rev up the tempo a bit, when up to 100,000 visitors venture in for the fun. Fireworks displays on Easter and Independence Day attract viewers from land and sea. Brightly lit boats provide a Parade of Lights between Christmas and New Year’s. The Balloon Regatta, a combination boat and balloon event, provides ballooning fun without a big city crowd. Numerous fishing tournaments, golf tournaments, sailing regattas, power boat and jet ski races provide competition along with recreation.
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Elephant Butte Lake
at sunset
Photo by Sherry Fletcher.
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“Hi, how’s the weather? It’s snowing? Oh, too bad. We just got back from the lake!”
That’s my usual telephone conversation with relatives from the north on winter weekends. In its quieter months, Elephant Butte Reservoir, New Mexico’s largest lake, offers solitude and clarity that summer users will never know. The bright, clear sun, the mirrored lake surface, the warm, still air, describe many days throughout the winter months.
Add an occasional fish-splash and lots of bird sightings. Winter at the lake features great blue herons, sandhill cranes, a returning osprey, seagulls, grebes, cormorants, and pelicans. Golden eagles live in McRae Canyon, feasting on fish when people go home. Lots of ducks and other waterfowl are startled to find anything on the water besides themselves.
And we are on the water. We pack a portable lunch to eat on the boat. Sometimes we have turkey and dressing and cranberries on the sailboat. No wind, so we motor to a secluded cove. Of course, all coves are secluded in December. On a high hill behind the cove, we watch a golden eagle perch on a cactus.
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