More NM State Parks!

November 2 - 12, 2014: Photo Journal.

Recurring muscle spasms have kept me from updating my blog this month, but I’m feeling darn good the last few days.  As they say, “You can’t keep a good woman down – for more than a couple of weeks at a time anyway”.  I’m doing a quick catch up with a photo journal.  Enjoy.

November 2, 2014: White Sands Missile Range.

We leave Oliver Lee State Park.  A stop at White Sands Missile Range is a nice break between Alamagordo and Las Cruces. 

HOUND DOG

“Named for the Elvis Presley song, “You Ain’t Nothing but a Hound Dog”, the Hound Dog was Strategic Air Command’s first air-launched missile.  A forerunner of the cruise missile, this jet-propelled, supersonic missile was launched from a B-52 bomber and then flew to its target carrying a nuclear warhead.” ~ 94.039

 REDSTONE

“Redstone was the Army’s largest surface-to-surface ballistic missile.  Modified Redstone rockets launched America’s first satellite and first human into space.” ~ 94.084   

ORGAN MOUNTAINS … AND MISSILES

No photos are allowed at WSMR except at the missile park.  Therefore, the only way to photograph the beautiful Organ Mountains is to include them as the backdrop to missiles.  Sneaky, huh?  Do you think there’s a chance anyone else before me ever came up with this brilliant idea? 

November 2 – 5, 2014: Leasburg Dam State Park.

Our home for the next four nights is about 15 miles north of Las Cruces at Leasburg Dam State Park.  There are several hiking trails and the Rio Grande River is below our campsite.  I think we can keep busy for a few days.

Hiking along the river bed we meet up with a couple of young men heading for their favorite fishing hole.  This trail looks like a fairyland with all the overhanging tree limbs creating a tunnel effect.  Just up the hill, our campsite sits in an arid landscape.   

A rainbow appears after a light rain shower.  The fishing hole is an isolated pond from the springs farther up the river bed.

We take a trail down to the Leasburg Diversion Dam.  Absolutely no water is running in the Rio Grande River above the dam.  We’re told at the ranger station that water is released from dams farther to the north during the spring and summer.  When the flowing river arrives at Leasburg Dam, water is diverted to irrigate crops in the valley.  The water you see at the base of the dam is hot springs rising to the surface.

The hot springs meander down through the river bed.  You can see the dam face in the background.

View toward the south from the middle of the Rio Grande River bed.  The water temperature is like bath water.

 

One of the lovely sunsets at Leasburg we enjoyed before moving westward.

November 6 – 12, 2013: City of Rocks State Park. 

The Mini-Moose and Caboose hiding out at City of Rocks State Park.

We hike through the rock formations.  This is a great park!

The sun recedes in the late afternoon.

 Passageways through the formations create a kids’ paradise.

The Alaskan cold front that brought sub-zero temperatures into Colorado reaches into southwestern New Mexico.

We wake to 28 freezing degrees.  Our plan was to leave this morning and drive down to Rock Hound State Park south of Deming for a week, but not in this cold weather.  We decide to turn on our “heat-seeking device” and head for Arizona.  Jack watches the outside temperature gauge as we move westward, updating me as the temp ticks its way upward the farther west we drive.  

Adios Amigos and New Mexico.  Hello Arizona - our home for the next 2 or 3 months.   Ahhh!  Warmth at last.  Until next time – be safe.