We had a banner day today. Woke up to rain for the first time in 5 weeks since we've been back on the mainland. Saw a nice rainbow as the squalls passed by. Enjoyed the pungent aroma of moist Creosote bush, fantastic, following the rain showers. All of this followed 2 days at a little gem of a state park, Rockhound State Park, near Deming, NM. First night in, we visited one of the two wineries in town and ended up buying bottles of Gewurtztraminer and Moscato after our tasting. Got our oil changed while in town, and enjoyed three nice hikes around the campground and the South Canyon section of the park.
There are semi-precious stones scattered on the hills surrounding the park, geodes, thunder eggs, jasper, perlites...
Our campsite had gorgeous views of the hills in back, and the basin and sunsets to our west.
Today, on our way North from Rockhound, we stopped at the White Sands National Monument where evaporated gypsum has been deposited by the Southwest winds:
Sliding is an option here.
Pretty cool place.
We ended up this afternoon at this gem of a park, where we are one of 3 campers. We're surrounded by over 21,000 documented petroglyphs and there are some cool trails, and we even visited a beautiful little church chapel from 1911 about 3 miles down the road.
Awesome stuff, Dave! Just reading through the most recent posts now. California to Hawaii, back and now going west to east?! Awesome. I spent the bulk of my time between Florida and West Texas when i was in New Orleans. I really liked SE New Mexico, Las cruces area. Also, if you go I-10 east, I recommend the Kisatchie natlforest in Pineville/alexandria Louisiana. They have some of the last old growth Longleaf Pine and a sweet wilderness area.
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