Camping at Avalon Lake
Make sure to bring a tire patch kit when you come here because there are a lot of nails laying around due to people burning pallets. It’s not uncommon to see someone here with a flat tire. There’s also a fair amount of trash on the ground.
The current dam was built by the US Bureau of Reclamation, and the reservoir itself is also owned by the Bureau. The Carlsbad Irrigation District operates the dam and oversees allotment of water to the numerous canals that feed farmlands throughout the area. The District is supposed to maintain the recreation lands along the banks, but doesn’t seem to have the manpower to do so.
The area has enough room to support three or four dozen full sized RVs stretching around the lake to the east, and north up to railroad bridge. The District owns all the land surrounding the lake including about 2 miles of riverbank up the Pecos River. But most of this land is unreachable to the public.
Avalon Lake campground is approached from Avalon Rd at Canal Street. Much of this land is BLM (shaded in yellow in the map above), and is open for camping too.
