Rockhound State Park - NM 1/21/18

The sun rose this morning revealing this beautiful sight

and a pickup covered with frost! I knew from checking the weather forecasts I would have about a 500 mile stretch were temps would fall below freezing each night so I suspended my 2 hour a day drive limit to get thru that section as quick as possible. Unfortunately I did not read the forecast thoroughly and failed to notice the High Wind Warning. With gusts over 50 mph in that same stretch of highway, I decided I better sit it out here another day. The winds came up during the last hour of yesterday’s drive. Not enough to make driving dangerous but enough that I could feel it buffet my 5^th wheel. There was an entertaining element to yesterday’s days winds in that it sent tumbleweeds rolling across the interstate! If they were unfortunate enough to cross paths with a semi, they were quickly turned to mulch!

Here are some details about Rockhound SP I failed to include in yesterday post. The park is about 11 miles from the interstate. The road is paved up to the campground entrance at which point it becomes gravel. There are 39 sites total in which all but 6 have full hookups.  It is $14 per night for hookups and $10 without. There is a 14 day camping limit. The sites are well spaced and cell reception is good as cell towers are located on the cliffs overlooking the campground. They have potable water and a dump for waste water. There are flush toilets and showers available at no extra cost.  This area is known for rock hounding, thus the name of the campground. The host says the easiest finds are long gone but there are still some good finds if you look hard enough. There are various types of Jasper and geodes. There are a number of trails to hike that lead to old rock hounding hot spots. Yesterday I hiked the botanical garden trail which wandered by a dry creek bed where I saw most of the birds from yesterday’s list.