Navajo Lake SP, NM - Apr 2008

We arrived at Navajo Lake State Park mid-week and to be honest we were a bit disappointed in the Pine River campground. While many of the sites had very nice views of the lake, the closeness of the sites and the really weird layout just left us cold. Most of the "good" (and that is a huge overstatement) sites were taken and were so close together that some slide-outs were practically touching their neighbors rig. The layout was also odd -- twisty roads with sites jutting off in every direction. Many sites had immediate neighbors on all three sides -- ick! So, while we might have had a lakeview, we wouldn't have had any privacy at all. We left and went to check out the other campgrounds.

Cottonwood Campground turned out to be more to our liking. It's located below the dam and right on the San Juan River. There were 45 sites nicely spaced around a large oval loop. We got a nice spot with lots of room and even a little grass for the dogs to enjoy. The cottonwoods weren't leafed out yet, so things still looked a bit naked.

There were loads of wild iris plants in the park, but over the two weeks we were there, not one single bloom erupted -- that is until our last day there when I got a shot of the first bloom of spring.

Being so close to the river (just steps away from our site) we had an abundance of wildlife -- especially birds -- so many that I dragged out my bird book to begin identifying some of the more unusual ones. The hummingbirds also came out in droves and we enjoyed watching as the territorial wars began as soon as the feeders went up.


I put a pan of seed out for the ground feeders and it attracted the usual finches and sparrows, but this Lazuli Bunting was a colorful visitor.


The squirrels also enjoyed the feeders. This chubby one had a nest right next to our site and I hoped that some of the seeds that were stuffed in her cheeks got taken back to her babies.

Another look at the view from our site -- across the river (not visible) to the bluffs beyond.


Just couldn't resist this picture of Scotty. He's such a good traveler and can flake out just about anywhere.