For fifteen years, if you wanted to walk the loop around Goodwin Lake, you pulled into a lot at 3201 N. Prince Street, parked in the shadow of North Plains Mall, and started your walk with the mall's roofline in view for the first half mile. That's over now. The Prince Street lot is closed for good, and on August 5, 2026, the city cut the ribbon on a new entrance a few blocks away on Iris Arbor Drive, complete with a parking lot and a playground that didn't exist before.
The trail itself hasn't changed. It's still the same 1.125-mile paved loop around the same playa lake, still flat, still lined with more than 40 acres of natural grassland. What changed is how you get there, and that shift is worth understanding if you live anywhere near north Clovis, because it quietly repositions one of the city's most-used walking spots from a mall-adjacent afterthought into a neighborhood park with its own address.
What Actually Changed
The city announced back in February that construction would force the closure of the old Prince Street access point, and told residents to start using the new lot on Iris Arbor Drive instead. That construction is now finished. The August 5 ribbon cutting made it official: Iris Arbor Drive is the only way in.
Here's what's different in practical terms:
| Old entrance (closed) | New entrance (open) | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 3201 N. Prince St. | Iris Arbor Drive lot |
| Adjacent to | North Plains Mall | Residential streets |
| Amenities | Trailhead only | Trailhead, parking lot, playground |
| Status | Permanently closed | Open as of Aug. 5, 2026 |
If you've been avoiding the trail because you weren't sure whether the old lot was still usable, it isn't. If you've never walked it because parking near the mall felt like a hassle, that friction is gone too.
Same Loop, Different Neighborhood
When the trail first opened in 2011, one of the things locals noted was that even though residential areas were visible throughout the walk, and the mall itself was visible in the distance around the half-mile mark, the loop still felt somewhat removed from the noise of that busy stretch of Prince Street. That was true when the front door faced the mall. It's even truer now that the front door faces a quiet residential street instead.
This matters more than it might seem. A trailhead tucked behind a shopping center reads as an errand-adjacent stop, something you might do on the way to somewhere else. A trailhead on a residential street with its own parking lot and a playground reads as a neighborhood amenity, the kind of place you plan a walk around rather than squeeze one into. The physical loop is identical. The way it functions in daily life for the people who live nearby is not.
If you're new to the trail entirely, here's what to expect: park at the Iris Arbor Drive lot, use the marked trailhead, and follow the paved 8-foot-wide path around the lake. It's an easy walk, roughly 20 to 30 minutes at a relaxed pace for the full loop, with no meaningful elevation change. Dogs are welcome on leash. Bring water even for a short walk, since there's little shade around the open grassland.
The Lake Isn't Just Scenery
Goodwin Lake is a playa, a natural depression that collects rainwater and slowly recharges the Ogallala Aquifer, the same regional groundwater system that much of eastern New Mexico depends on. That's part of why the 32-acre parcel was set aside in the first place. It was originally designated city land for drainage, not recreation, and the walking trail came later as a way to make good use of land that was already serving a quiet but essential function underground.
The Nature Conservancy has used the site for educational programs with area schools, teaching kids about the playa ecosystem and the birds that pass through it. That combination, working infrastructure that also happens to be a decent birding spot, is part of what gives the trail its particular character. You're not walking through a manicured city park built for looks. You're walking around a piece of land doing double duty, and the wildlife shows up because the water does.
Not the Only Trail Getting Attention This Year
Goodwin Lake isn't an isolated project. Earlier this year, the state's Outdoor Recreation Division awarded Trails+ grants to several eastern New Mexico cities, and Clovis was among them. The city received $90,000 to improve Ned Houk Park, funding a new central entrance sign, wayfinding markers, and trailhead signage meant to make that larger park easier to navigate. Texico received a smaller grant for a similar ADA-compliant walking trail project at KK Runnels Memorial Park, and Tucumcari's award is funding early infrastructure for a planned skate park and pump track.
None of those projects changes what's happening at Goodwin Lake specifically, but they point to the same thing: this is a year where Clovis and its neighboring towns are quietly reinvesting in outdoor infrastructure that residents actually use. If you're the kind of person who tracks these things because you like knowing where your tax dollars land, this is one place they landed in a way you can walk through.
If You're Planning a Walk This Month
A few practical notes for anyone heading out to Goodwin Lake in the next few weeks:
- Use the Iris Arbor Drive entrance. The Prince Street lot is closed permanently, not temporarily, so don't circle back looking for it.
- Bring the kids if you've got them. The new playground at the trailhead means a walk doesn't have to be just a walk anymore.
- Go early or later in the day. August afternoons in Clovis run hot, and there's minimal shade along the loop.
- Leash your dog. It's required, and with the new playground drawing more families to the trailhead area, it matters more than it used to.
- If birding interests you, the playa draws migratory species at various points in the year, and the open grassland makes for easy sightlines.
The loop itself will feel familiar to anyone who's walked it before. The approach won't. That's a small thing on paper and a real thing in practice, especially if you live within an easy drive of Iris Arbor Drive and have been putting off a visit because the old setup never quite worked for your schedule.
For a broader look at how Clovis residents spend their weekends and where the town's outdoor spaces fit into everyday life, our guide to outdoor adventures and open spaces around Clovis covers some of the other spots worth knowing, and our month-by-month breakdown of seasonal life in Clovis can help you plan around the weather before you head out.
Whether you've walked Goodwin Lake a hundred times or you're finally giving it a try now that the entrance makes sense, it's one more small sign of a town that keeps investing in the everyday spaces its own residents actually use. If you're curious what that kind of neighborhood investment means for property values nearby, or you're weighing a move to be closer to spaces like this one, reach out to Katharine Fly at Sagebrush Real Estate to schedule a free consultation. We know this town because we walk it too.
