Monday morning we took our time packing the rv as we were going to have a leisurely drive to Elephant Butte Lake State Park, New Mexico.
Our drive took us south along US 70 to Las Cruces, then north on I-25 to Truth or Consequences. Elephant Butte Lake State Park is east of T or C. The lake was formed when the Rio Grande River was dammed in the early 1900s. It is called Elephant Butte because of a rock formation in the lake, not due to the bones of early relatives of elephants who used to roam the area.
The gate attendant told us he wasn't sure if there were any sites, so as we drove through the campground we took the first available one. We have a distant view of the lake through our front window.
We hiked the 1.6 mile trail before dinner. It was different from most of our recent hikes because it was loose sand, not hard packed with rocks.
The area looks like a beach town complete with vacation houses (adobe with flat roofs), sandy beaches, and rv/boat storage areas. It is definitely not something you would expect to find in a desert area.
We were expecting more large trees like cottonwoods, but the only trees are mesquite and juniper. The pictures in the visitor center show larger trees when the dam was being built. No one has been able to tell us what happened to them. (We found out that they need spring flooding to survive and the area hasn't had any. There were some planted by rangers in another area & they didn't look healthy.)
Tuesday we are going to explore the area, take some pictures, and do some geocaching.
Our drive took us south along US 70 to Las Cruces, then north on I-25 to Truth or Consequences. Elephant Butte Lake State Park is east of T or C. The lake was formed when the Rio Grande River was dammed in the early 1900s. It is called Elephant Butte because of a rock formation in the lake, not due to the bones of early relatives of elephants who used to roam the area.
The gate attendant told us he wasn't sure if there were any sites, so as we drove through the campground we took the first available one. We have a distant view of the lake through our front window.
We hiked the 1.6 mile trail before dinner. It was different from most of our recent hikes because it was loose sand, not hard packed with rocks.
The area looks like a beach town complete with vacation houses (adobe with flat roofs), sandy beaches, and rv/boat storage areas. It is definitely not something you would expect to find in a desert area.We were expecting more large trees like cottonwoods, but the only trees are mesquite and juniper. The pictures in the visitor center show larger trees when the dam was being built. No one has been able to tell us what happened to them. (We found out that they need spring flooding to survive and the area hasn't had any. There were some planted by rangers in another area & they didn't look healthy.)
Tuesday we are going to explore the area, take some pictures, and do some geocaching.
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