Mesilla Valley Bosque

Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park is a 900-acre day-use park encompassing about 300 acres of riverside forest (bosque) along the Rio Grande and another 600 acres of adjacent Chihuahuan Desert.

Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park is a new state park: the visitor center was just completed in December, 2008. To this point, the park is primarily a premier environmental learning participant in the Outdoor Classroom Program of the New Mexico Public Education Department.

This is a place where teachers and students go to learn about the Rio Grande Bosque and Chihuahuan Desert ecosystems. For other visitors, Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park is a place to walk, sit and enjoy some peace and quiet in the outdoors.

To get there: exit Interstate 10 at Exit 140 (Avenida de Mesilla) and go south to Calle del Norte in Mesilla. Go west on Calle del Norte for 1.9 miles and cross the Rio Grande. The park entrance is on the left, immediately on the other side of the river.

Between September 1 and March 31, the gate is open from 8 am to 5 pm, seven days a week. From April 1 to August 31, the gate is open from 8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday, and from 7 am to 7 pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park is closed for Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Admission Fees: Day-use: $5 per vehicle; Pedestrians and bicyclists get in free. Youth School Groups: $0.50 per person.