City of Rocks State Park, NM

November 6th

WARNING ... THIS BLOG CONTAINS LOTS OF ROCK PICTURES ... 4 days of Ray wandering around taking better and better ones. Hard to pick. lol

With jacks up shortly before 9am, we drove to the propane distributiuon and waited for the propane guy to come and fill up the motorhome ... we were almost out and the gauge said RED. With it being so cold this year at night we have gone through 26 gallons ... not pounds of propane since we left the island. Funnily enough, the KOA is the only place in Lordsburg where you can get propane tanks filled. Handy for us but certainly not inexpensive. However, much cheaper than in Canada.

Shortly after, we were on the road to Deming where I did a little shopping at Walmart before heading back on the road to the City of Rocks State Park. We arrived just before noon. Good thing as we managed to score the last Electric and Water Site. With the forecast being cloudy with sunny periods for the next few days our solar would not have kept up and it would be a generator scene. Especially since it is cold at night and the furnace would take down the batteries overnight. Lovely sites for $14/night (only $4 more than off the grid). The rock formations here are really cool. Stay tuned for Ray's pictures over the next few days.

"City of Rocks State Park is a geological wonder that rests beneath some of the darkest night skies in the country where the stars truly "light-up" the night sky. Born some 33 million years ago from a volcanic eruptions 1,000 times greater than Mount St. Helens, mother nature has slowly chiseled her into the rock "city" you see today."

View out our front window.

At 4 pm a huge thundercloud formed and my storm tracker on my phone started beeping. We had a huge episode for 15 minutes of thunder and lightning ending with hail before the hard rain began. All over now but we are on alert until 9:30pm tonight. Freya not impressed. Had to put her thunder jacket on and after 10 minutes of trying to climb on my lap only to get down seconds later she has finally settled... not happy but calmer. Ray took off in the car to catch pictures of the storm over the rock formations and funky campsites. He was unable to get a picture of the hail as his camera was getting too wet. Film at 11   lol

Here is your news at 11 ....

Here it comes!

There she blows!

I think this guy will wait it out in his car. lol

Yup dumping the rain.

Another really cute campsite.

Quite the storm and more to come up until 9:30 tonight.

After such a "noisy" evening it was totally quiet all night long. What a peaceful place.

Thursday morning, cool and cloudy when we woke up at 6 am but by 7:30 am the clouds were starting to break up. Fingers crossed the day gets brighter. Not too much on the agenda today other than Ray driving around some of the cool campsites and taking pictures. The ground is quite wet still from the rainstorms last night. The desert sure smells nice. Thankfully we are in this site with lots of gravel so no mud. The sites around the rocks are all sandy red dirt so I am sure it would be quite muddy and Freya would bring it all in.

Mom, I'm talking to you ... Mom ... FEED ME! Freya is very persistent and closes up my computer with her nose until I pay attention to here. lol

Ray went out to take some pictures a couple of times today while I was busy puttering in the kitchen making a batch of dog food for Freya etc. We sat outside for a while in the afternoon before the wind resumed and the sun went behind more black clouds. Pretty nice relaxing day. After Ray took Freya on an hour's photography walk she was pooped.

Dad, are you coming? I am sure I saw another rabbit up there!

Grinding holes with rain water in them.

Heart Rock

 According to other google images of this particular rock, it goes by "Hard Rock", "Porn Rock", or "Toilet Rock". lol What do you think it should be called?

With a campsite at its base.

Table Mountain in the distance.

The sun came out just before it set so Ray was out the door in the car for some sunset shots. lol Since our dinner, Corned Beef, was in the InstantPot he had lots of time.

A small arch forming and the moon showing it's appearance.

Another lovely day.

Friday morning woke up to clouds again. :( Oh well today we will stop in at the Visitor's Centre and walk around the rocks some more. The sun is forecast to come out this afternoon so we shall see. We have decided to stay 2 extra days as our next stop up at Lake Roberts has limited spots as well and it would be better to arrive Sunday morning for when weekend people pack up and go home or today, but we are not ready to leave yet. lol

I headed into Deming at 9:30 pm for a few things and Ray headed out with Freya for more pictures of rocks. lol Once I was back and unloaded the car it was time to sit out in the sunshine. Apparently Ray and Freya and a wonderful walk around the campsite while I was gone. Freya was able to chase a few rabbits. There appears to be tons of them around, both jackrabbits and the smaller cottontail type.

When the temps started cooling down at 4:30 back inside we went. Homemade burgers with all the fixin's for dinner including caramelized onions, mushrooms and bacon. Yumm.

A beautiful sunset tonight.

Fire in the Sky

Saturday morning Ray finally was able to go out and get some sunrise shots. Just enough cloud in the sky to get the pinks. Hopefully the sun shines on "his rocks" for the "golden light". He drove up to the top of the View Point.

Good Morning!

View of the entire City of Rocks from the Viewpoint.

The Visitor's Centre

Later on in the morning I went for a walk around the rocks with Ray and Freya. So cool. There were also a group of kids climbing/biking and running around. What a place for kids. The next two pics were from the first day we were here.

Tons of nooks and crannies to explore.

One of my favourite sites.

Later on in the afternoon we decided to have a fire as the wind was finally down. Every afternoon the wind would come up about 3 pm and get quite cool to be outside.

A very pastel sky tonight.

We have had a fabulous 4 days here.  Tomorrow we head off to Lake Roberts to camp and then from there will drive up to one of Ray's bucket list places, the Gila Cliff Dwellings.