City of Rocks

After I left Hueco Tanks State Park in El Paso, I climbed up and up and over the Organ Mountains and into New Mexico. Destination: City of Rocks State Park.

I first discovered City of Rocks State Park last year. I was on my way west to help administer the National Assessment of Educational Progress in Tucson.

After spending the night in a Cracker Barrel parking lot in El Paso, I thought that I might spend the night in Deming. I drove through the town, but nothing grabbed my attention. I headed back to I-10 and figured that something would show up.

Just a mile or so down the road, I saw the sign for City of Rocks, and I thought it sounded interesting. I really loved my stay last year. This year, I decided to plan on stopping there. I turned off I-10 and headed north on US 180.

My excitement built as I turned toward the park and saw the rocks ahead of me. Last year, I stayed at a one of the full-hookup sites. I just happened to pull in when someone was pulling out. I thought it would be cool to have one of the sites that were tucked around in the rocks. Well, this year, I got one of those sites!

My site is tucked up in this group of rock.

Of course, with such a cool site, I had to forego hookups. But, I had a tank full of water, plenty of propane and my batteries were charged. Who needs hookups?

This was my view of the sunset out my door. Such splendor!

I had a great time hiking among the rocks.

I met a guy walking toward me and we got to chatting. This is one of his favorite parks. He told me that he was hiking toward the big rock, and he pointed to his destination.

“A big rock?” I asked him.

“On the cliff,” he told me.

I guess that is a big rock. I wished him a good hike and told him to wave to me when he got there.

But, back to my hike through the rocks.

It’s interesting to see the erosion taking place. The rocks lose layers, due to the heating and freezing cycles.

Here is a large flake. It is very tough. I couldn’t rub any bits off of it. When I dropped it on the rocks, it sounded almost like a ceramic tile hitting a floor. It kind of rang.

Of course, the lichens also help break down the rocks.

I found this hueco on the top of the formation. I suppose it would be full of water if there had been any rain.

In spite of a minimal amount of soil and rain, trees grow among the rocks.

Cactuses grow there, too.

Man, I love these rocks!

Sunset is so delightful. The light warms up the rocks.

Heading back to my campsite, I was impressed by the plume of dust kicked up by the truck. It sure is dry in the desert!

The next day, I walked around and just enjoyed looking.

The crows posed nicely for their photo.

I like those yellow fruits on the cactus.

And, look at the impressions on the leaves.

I think this is a yucca. I am fascinated by the spiky leaves.

While strolling about, I met a guy named Rick from New Hampshire. He spends the winter in the southwest in a little camper van. He loves this park, too, and offered to show the petroglyphs to me and another woman who passed by while walking her dog.

If you look at the right side of the rock, you will see a small cross. He said that was called a “Spanish Cross” and was put there by the Spanish explorers who were looking for gold and silver.

This one is Kokopelli, and it is tucked into a small hole. He had to pull a rock out that they keep there to protect it.

The last one was in kind of a cave – a sheltered area where the rocks leaned together.

Now, I don’t know if these are authentic petroglyphs. When I have seen petroglyphs in other places, there have been masses of them. Here, there were only three, and they all seemed to be created by different cultures. But, you never know. And Rick enjoyed showing them to us.

The one downside of my time at City of Rocks is that the water pump in my trailer failed. But, I had several gallons of water with me, so I made do. It’s not a problem when I’m hooked up to city water. My next campground would have water and electricity at the site, so it wouldn’t be a problem. I’d figure out a way to get it fixed.

Then it was time to get hitched up and move out.

Hasta luego, City of Rocks!