Eagle Nest, New Mexico
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Cimarron census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87718. It stands on Willow Creek. The Survey maps it on the Eagle Nest quadrangle. 315 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 8,238 feet above sea level.
On record in Eagle Nest
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
Eagle Nest Damlisted 1979
Population over time
2 figuresEagle Nest grew from 290 to 315 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 290 | |
| 2020 | 315 | +25 (+9%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 11 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1954 USGS Raton quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Raton quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1963 USGS Eagle Nest quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1982 USGS Wheeler Peak quadrangle1:100000
- 1995 USGS Eagle Nest quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
46 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 46 fires within 5 miles of Eagle Nest between 1993 and 2020, burning about 137 acres in total. 30 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Natural | 30 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | GORMAN |
| 13 September 2019 | Natural | under an acre | Cimarron District | 20-20480249X |
| 26 August 2010 | Natural | under an acre | Cimarron District | TOLBY |
| 26 August 2003 | Natural | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | BLACKJACK |
| 22 August 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | GORMAN |
| 16 August 2020 | Natural | under an acre | Cimarron District | CABIN TOP |
| 8 July 2013 | Natural | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | BALDY TREE |
| 6 July 2012 | Natural | under an acre | Cimarron District | HORSESHOE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 27 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 27 workings within 5 miles of Eagle Nest: 14 unknowns, 10 past producers, 3 occurrences. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Gold, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Silver, Copper, Gold. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ajax Mine | Gold, Copper, Silver | Past Producer | 1895, 1940 | |
| Elizabethtown - Baldy District | Lead, Silver, Gold, Copper, Nickel, Tungsten, Uranium | Past Producer | 1866 | |
| Iron Mountains Prospects | Gold, Copper, Iron | Past Producer | Contact Metasomatic | |
| Klondike Mine | Silver, Copper, Gold | Occurrence | Gold, Malachite | |
| Legal Tender Mine | Gold, Lead, Silver | Past Producer | 1937 | |
| Legal Tender Mine | Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Pay Ore | Copper, Gold | Unknown | ||
| Red Bandana Mine | Silver, Gold, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | 1875, 1942 | |
| Ajax Mine | Gold, Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Iron Mountain Prospect | Gold, Iron | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
7 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Eagle Nest in 7 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 5 hail, 1 lightning, 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 death and 4 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | Eagle Nest | 1 killed, 3 hurt, $50,000 | New Mexico Department of Transportation closed US Highway 64 as heavy rain caused debris, boulders and a mud slide to cover several miles of the road. Philmont Scout Ranch also reported major flash flooding on the Ponil Creek basin that ran through a boy scout camp site in the nearby mountains. The flooding washed away 4 boys, killing 1. |
| July 1998 | Lightning | Eagle Nest | 1 hurt | A 38 year old man was injured slightly when struck by lightning while working outside at Eagle Nest. |
| June 2025 | Hail | Eagle Nest | - | Penny size hail was observed in Eagle Nest from a strong thunderstorm. |
| August 2018 | Hail | Eagle Nest | - | Hail up to the size of golf balls reported near Eagle Nest Lake. |
| August 2012 | Hail | Eagle Nest | - | Nickel size hail reported in Eagle Nest. |
| July 2005 | Hail | Eagle Nest | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Eagle Nest | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia City | 2.1 miles | 13 | |
| Idlewild | 2.2 miles | 11 | |
| Perryville (historical) | 2.3 miles | 13 | |
| Val Verde Ski Area | 3.1 miles | 11 | |
| Lakeview Pines | 3.8 miles | 11 | |
| Elizabethtown | 4.6 miles | 11 | |
| Deep Tunnel (historical) | 6.6 miles | 15 | |
| Moreno (historical) | 6.9 miles | 10 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Eagle Nest | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2164992 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 905936. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.




