Bonito Lake is an alpine reservoir located high in the Sierra Blanca mountains northwest of Ruidoso, New Mexico.

Because of the high altitude, the lake's temperature is cold year round, and is home to an abundance of rainbow trout.

From that dam they extended a wooden pipeline 132 miles (212 km) to Pastura, New Mexico to provide water for the steam trains of the era.

[1] The remnants of the original dam and pieces of the wooden pipeline are still visible to hikers along the trail in South Fork Canyon.

[citation needed] Bonito Lake lies within the estimated radioactive fallout zone of the 1945 Trinity (test); it was a water source for towns like Carrizozo, Alamogordo, and Ruidoso.

[7] On September 26, 2017 the Alamogordo city commissioners approved an $8.6 million contract to drain, dredge, and restore the lake.