Our latest adventure took us to Rockhound State Park. It's a desert park in the foothills of the Florida Mountains just a few miles south of Deming, NM. We were only about an hour away from home and probably about half an hour north of old Mexico. 

 

Rockhound is one of only two state parks in the US (the other being Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas) that encourages visitors to take rocks home. There are no diamonds here, but a variety of semiprecious stones and geodes are to be found. But not by us this time.

 

Sunrise

Squirrel hiding behind a rock

Some interesting rocks

Us

Views from around the campground

Hiking in Spring Canyon

Some of the cactuses

Autumn Leaves

We also drove down to the border with Mexico and then west along the border on Highway 9, almost to Arizona. Oddly enough the border wall has not been finished.  

But the drive along the border was very lonely and very beautiful. This is the approach to the village of Hachita. Depending on which source you choose to read, it has a population of somewhere between 45 and 75. But it is in decline. 

The ruins of Saint Catherine of Sienna Church in Hachita, NM

A few miles west of Hachita we encountered the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) again. Although the trail officially begins several miles south from this point, that trailhead is at the end of a very rough dirt road and most hikers who try to thru-hike the CDT begin here at the intersection with highway 9.

The view of the CDT to the south of Highway 9.

The view of the CDT to the north.

Highway 9 ends in the San Simon Valley intersecting with Highway 80 that leads south to Rodeo, NM or north to Lordsburg, NM. The mountains ahead of us in this picture are in Arizona: The Chiricahua Mountains. We visited them about two years ago, loved them, and look forward to getting back again after things return to normal.

Oh, and a couple of Cactus Wrens

And some sunsets

 

Last week we went to Elephant Butte Lake State Park. While we were camping there we also visited Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

Sunflowers gone to seed

Dried Seed Pods

Pond at Bosque del Apache

Great Blue Heron

American Kestrel

Sandhill Cranes

Mallard

Rio Grande wetlands at Elephant Butte Lake (with clusters of Snow Geese and Canada Geese)

Mule Deer at Bosque del Apache

Moonrise over the Fra Cristobal Mountains

Sunset to the west of our campsite at Elephant Butte Lake State Park

Sunset to the south of our campsite - over Elephant Butte Lake

Last week we returned to camp in the Gila National Forest. This was a very different visit. There were very few other people in the mountains. Bow hunting season had ended, but rifle season was not due to begin until October 10. So, there were no hunters at all. A few hunters had left their camp sites set up because they expected to be back for rifle season, but we saw only one other couple who were camping. Otherwise the woods were empty. 

 

Unfortunately, the wildlife was all still quite stressed by the hunting, so we saw very few animals. And the fall migration was clearly under way - a cold front had blown through 2 days earlier - and most of the birds had moved on too. 

 

There were long periods of time in which we did not see or hear anything but the forests and the wind. It was quite calm and lovely: like a meditation retreat. 

 

 

Sunset

Moon rise - just a few days before it was full

There were still a few flowers

Showy Goldeneye

Wright's Buckwheat

Alligator Juniper limb

But Autumn was beginning

We hiked along the Wolf Hollow Trail just north of the Gila Wilderness

But we did not see any of the wolves

We did see a Great Blue Heron

And we came upon a single bull elk - with very distorted antlers

And we had campfires each evening