City of Rocks SP, NM - May 2006

On Tuesday, we had planned to travel about 250 miles to the KOA in Las Cruces, but we got an early start leaving the Davis Mountains and when we reached Las Cruces it was just after noon so we decided to continue moving on and head for the City of Rocks State Park just north of Deming, New Mexico.

I had read that this was an interesting park and it was. Kind of unusual, but never-the-less enjoyable in a weird sort of way. The boulders were created by a volcanic eruption that literally blew massive chunks of rock away from the center. Over time the rocks eroded into weird and unusual shapes. These two large monoliths holding up a small (well not so small actually) boulder is just one of many cool formations in the park. That little boulder wedged at the top was probably 10' long. The window through the tall rocks looked back into another cluster of rocks -- where the one in front looked like a tall, flower vase.

The Visitor's Center was also an interesting building. Set behind a curved rock wall it had a long, sheltered aisle for an entrance and this shaded walkway separated the center (on the left) from the bathrooms (on the right.) Looking out the end of the walkway is the very long, very straight road leading up to the park. When we arrived at the park, we were on the other side and could only see the rock wall in front and had no idea there was any sort of structure behind it.

The park had two types of campsites -- the ten that had hookups were terraced in a row with views out to the desert on one side and up to the rocks on the other. The non-hookup sites were all nestled and tucked into the nooks and crannies of these massive boulders. The park designers did a fabulous job of laying out the sites to take advantage of the "rooms" created by the niches in the rocks. It was fun to walk around and see all the hidden campsites tucked away in and around the boulders. Had it not been so warm, I would have liked to camp in one of them.

Since it was hot, we opted to park in one of the electric sites so we could run the a/c. All the campsites had celestial names and it was just our luck that we landed in Uranus (no comments from the peanut gallery -- hee hee!) The sites were level with a fair amount of room between them and all of them had shaded patio tables on cement pads. Each one was nicely landscaped with native plants and all had good views. The campground and facilities were immaculate -- a tribute to the campground hosts who must have spent a lot of time keeping it clean and neat.

This ia a good example of some of the landscaping in the campground area. These native plants made for a colorful image -- the red ocotillo blooms and green yuccas (the one on the left that looks like it has a very large asparagus spear growing out of it) -- all of that combined with the nearly full moon in the deep blue of the afternoon sky. What a nice setting and a good chance to take a colorful photo.

Just before sunset, it began cooling off and we went for a long walk all around the campground to stretch our legs and look at the unique formations. Just as we got beyond our cluster of campsites, we nearly stepped on this huge snake as he was warming himself in the road. Luckily, we didn't have the dogs with us as we didn't even see him until we were right upon him. We both leapt backwards and you can bet our adrenalin was pumping as we watched him slither into the bushes. Later, after our walk, a little research concluded that he was a harmless Gopher snake, but that didn't make the encounter any less frightening.

The park had a very nice botanical garden -- filled with an assortment of cacti and succulents native to the Chiuhuahuan desert. We enjoyed the beautiful red plumes of the ocotillo that were in full bloom. We didn't get to the gardens until after sunset, so didn't get a good look around. What we did see were lots and lots of bunnies -- the cute cottontail kind -- they were scampering everywhere.

Another one of the rock formations at the park. The sun setting behind them made for a most unusual image. Look closely -- there is a campsite right at the base of the rocks with a rock-terraced wall for the picnic table and trash can. This site was called "Gemini" -- the twins holding hands.

A seal balancing a ball on it's nose with his friend, a walrus, on the left looking on -- ok, that's what I saw. What do you see in this formation?