Elephant Butte SP, NM - Mar 2008

Elephant Butte Lake State Park is located near the town of Truth or Consequences (click here to see the story behind the town's name) and is New Mexico's largest lake. Situated on a reservoir that dams the Rio Grande River, this park has several campgrounds and hundreds of campsites with many having outstanding lake views. The name "Elephant Butte" came from a peak (now an island in the lake) that has the shape of an elephant.

We arrived at the park's main gate on a Monday and were directed to the Lion's Beach area for our first few days at the park. This row of sites had nice lake views, but they were squeezed in together pretty closely. They also were very sandy! So, after our first windy night when the inside our RV collected a layer of grit on everything, we decided it was time to find somewhere else to spend the next three weeks.

We spent a day driving around and exploring all the other camping options within a 60 mile radius of the park. Most were nice parks, but older and with very closely spaced sites. Since we like lots of elbow room, we were getting discouraged until we stumbled upon the South Monticello campground. Amazingly, it was still within Elephant Butte State Park, but had very little publicity. Located about 10 miles north of the main section of the park, we were delighted to find a nearly new campground with large, roomy sites, stunning views and -- best of all -- hardly any campers.

Apparently, this campground is considered "out in the boonies" and we're guessing that few campers want to be so far away from the hub-bub of activity. We loved it and had our choice of dozens of lovely waterview sites.

With a dry climate and very low humidity the sky was seldom cloudy. That made for sunrises and sunsets that were mostly hum-drum, but on occasion, the clouds materialized and we had stunning color at the end of the day. This swirl of color is reflected in the RVs windows.

This was one of the best sunrises we had -- looking out over the lake to Kettle Butte with a beautiful sky filled with pastels and silhouettes. I love the how the flat-topped mesas and buttes add so much character to the skyline.

We sat outside almost every day while here and had a front row seat overlooking the lake. In addition, we parked the RV so we could open the bedroom blind in the morning and watch the sun come up across the lake.

Being able to camp in one spot for several weeks allows us to enjoy the scenery in changing light and varying weather conditions. On clear, sunny days the blue of the sky and water were intensified especially in the late afternoon when the sun would shine just right and the lake would turn so blue that it glowed like a sapphire.

Same view but this time on a stormy day. The gray sky would color the lake a deep, dark green.

Another brief, but colorful moment of the day -- the east face of the mountains would glow for about 10 minutes as the sun went down in the west.

We were lucky to be here during a full moon phase and got this great view of the moon up from behind the mountains in the east just as the sun was setting in the west.

The very next night, the moon came up just after dusk and looked HUGE as it crept up from behind the peaks.