Sugarite Canyon State Park

About Sugarite Canyon State Park

Sugarite Canyon State Park is located five miles northeast of Raton, New Mexico. The most popular feature of the park is Lake Maloya, and the most popular activity is undoubtedly fishing in Lake Maloya. The park also offers numerous other outdoor activities and opportunities including limited hunting, two campgrounds, Lake Alice, summer youth programs, interpretive programs, miles of hiking trails, the ruins of the historic Sugarite coal mining town and the mines, horseback riding, outstanding wildlife, exceptional geology, and special events. The park itself is 3,600 acres, which is rather small by Western public lands standards, but adjacent to the north are the Lake Dorothy and James M John Colorado State Wildlife Areas. Combined, the three properties total over 16,000 acres.

The park was devastated by the Track Fire in 2011, so the photos below are presented chronologically by year in order to show the regrowth process.

One disclaimer, although I know the general area where each photograph is taken, I do not collect GPS data for every file. Furthermore the property boundaries between the state park and two adjacent wildlife areas are not marked on the ground. Therefore it’s entirely possible that some photos on the Sugarite galleries may have actually been taken in one of the wildlife areas, and vice versa.

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