This first picture is taken near the entrance gate, elevated way above the campground. My trailer is the farthest away, out on the tip of the "peninsula."
While there, I parked near another rig, and met new friends Bob and Donna. Their motor home is fixed up rather well for solar power. Bob constructed an elevated platform for most of his panels, such that they lie just above his air conditioners.
Then, when he wants to raise them, all he has to do is to flip a switch inside his rig, and Voila! They rise from the dead! Powered by DC actuators (from DCActuators.com). No more climbing on the roof! And I'm absolutely green with envy!!
The weather was warm while I was there, and we had a few rainstorms. One of these storms gave us a particularly nice sunset.
And another yielded a nice rainbow over my rig. But I still haven't found that pot of gold.
During my stay there, I frequently walked along the approach road to the park, picking up trash and litter. I ended up hauling 7 large bags filled with crushed aluminum beer and soda cans, glass bottles, plus assorted paper and plastic trash to the park's trash bins.
But I also was observing the wildflowers, and trying to identify the ones I didn't already know. I took a picture of one small clump of Mexican Hat flowers, in which both types were blooming - the more common yellow petalled variety, plus one that has russet, rather than yellow, petals.
I decided to relocated to Sugarite Canyon State Park, just a few miles east of Raton, NM on the 5th of July. And the name is pronounced "Sugar-eet" - never did find out why. But at 6,664 feet elevation, it was pleasantly cooler there. There used to be a coal mining town in the canyon back in the late 1800's to the mid-1940's, with a population approaching 1000!
Besides the two campgrounds, one with hookups, the other without, there are miles of trails for hiking, and two nice lakes. One morning, I got a nice picture of Lake Alice. The lakes are used as water supply for the town of Raton.
I camped at the higher Soda Pocket Campground, the one without any hookups - but plenty of bear boxes, most important for tent campers and those in canvas-sided RVs, where they can store their tasty foodstuff, secure from the roaming bears - of which I never saw one.
One day I climbed a short trail leading to a viewpoint above the campground and got a picture of the campground (my rig is the rightmost RV), and of Little Horse Mesa, beyond.
So of course, on another day, I hiked over and took the relatively short but strenuous hike up onto Little Horse Mesa, to get a picture back toward the campground, and out the canyon to the land forms beyond.
Another day, I took a hiking tour of the old town site, which has several old foundations of buildings, and some few sidewalls. I found the remains of one old outdoor oven, which must have been either wood or coal fired. It was built by a man for his wife, and she used it to bake breads for sale in the community.
About the middle of July, I relocated to Storrie Lake State Park, just outside Las Vegas, NM to visit long-time friends, Wayde and Resa, whom I first met about 15 years ago at the Elks Lodge CG in Colorado Springs. After a great reunion with them, I stocked up on both food and fuel and headed northwest to check out Eagle Nest Lake State Park just outside Eagle Nest, NM, up in the Sangre de Christo Mountains. Alas, the campground was full, so I drove a few miles east, down into the Cimarron Canyon to the Cimarron Canyon State Park. This park lies in a narrow forested canyon stretching about 8 miles along the Cimarron River, and is a popular both with campers and with trout fishermen/women. It has 3 campgrounds, and the first two I came to were both too full and too shady for purposes of solar charging. I was very fortunate at the third campground, Ponderosa, to find a spot that had perfect daylong full solar exposure, yet I was just a few steps from the stream, from which people were hauling stringers full of good sized trout.
Nearby was an area known as the Palisades Sill.
The Palisades cliffs.
Periodically, I'd drive the winding road 12 miles to Eagle Nest Lake State Park to see if there were any vacancies there, and I finally found one one the 15th of July. So I hastened back to Ponderosa CG, hitched up and slowly worked my way back up the canyon to Eagle Nest Lake where I remained for about a week, enjoying the weather, the views and the daily morning walks.
Big puffy white clouds.
Nearby was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park, which was the first major Viet Nam memorial in the U.S. It was created/financed by Victor "Doc" Westphall and his wife, Jeanne, after their son, 1Lt David Westphall and 15 comrades had been killed in Viet Nam. It is a very beautiful and powerful memorial to all who served in that conflict. I took just one photograph, that of an Army Huey. Further information is available at https://www.vietnamveteransmemorial.org/
In that same area, I came across a large expanse of penstemmon in bloom.
Several days later, I relocated to Heron Lake State Park, near Los Ojos, NM about 95 miles NNW of Santa Fe. I found a nice quiet site to camp in, where I was near trees for cool shade during the day, but had full day solar for my panels.
The whole country seems to be having unusual weather with lots of rain storms, and we were no exception. One day I got a picture of storm clouds and reflected light from distant clear skies.
While touring around one day, I took a picture showing how rough the land form is hereabouts.
I took daily walks while here, and one day I was fortunate enough to spy an osprey on its nest. Actually, it's two of them.
And on another day, I spied a tree full of vultures waiting for dinner.
The last day of July, I relocated to one of my very favorite campgrounds, Cimaronna CG, about 26 miles NW of Pagosa Springs, CO
My favorite campsite in my favorite campground.
During my daily walks, I found a bumble bee at work on a beautiful thistle blossom at about 0630. It was still rather chilly.
And a harebell, which stood about 8 inches tall.
I left Cimarrona about a week later to go to Durango as my new truck was due for an oil change. But en route, I passed the always striking Chimney Rock National Monument about 20 miles west of Pagosa Springs. Sometime I need to actually stop there to investigate it.
After getting my truck serviced in Durango, I drove most all day to Buena Vista, CO where I RON'd (Remained Over Night) at a truck stop, the drove the next day to Colorado Springs where I'm staying at the Elks RV Area for a while, enjoying the rains...
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