The park is located outside Eagle Nest, approximately 30 miles (48 km) east of Taos. It was established on July 3, 2004.[1] Its main attraction is a 2,400-acre (9.7 km2) lake which is popular for fishing and boating in the summer, and ice fishing and snowmobiling in the winter.
The lake itself is a man-made reservoir created when the Cimarron River was impounded by the Eagle Nest Dam in 1918. Before this, the St Louis, Rocky Mountain and Pacific Railroad did some grading work in 1907 on an unfinished extension from its terminus at Ute ParktoTaos, including boring a tunnel here.[2]
Eagle Nest Lake is at an elevation of 8,300 feet (2,500 m), making it an alpine lake, and it is situated in a glacial valley on the slopes of Wheeler Peak, New Mexico's highest mountain. The surrounding mountains are rich in wildlife such as elk, deer, turkeys and bears.