Wed Apr 23 Franklin Mts to Rockhound St Park, NM

 Wednesday, April 23

59 degrees this morning at 7:30 - great sleeping weather last night.

We go back to check out the bird blind this morning - it is very busy!  And quite noisy.  Beth has loaded an app called "Merlin" which records bird sounds and identifies the bird.  It identified a burrowing owl, which I really wanted to see but couldn't find.  Mostly quail, doves, finches, wrens and sparrows.

We decide to take the trail to Aztec Cave which is about 2 miles RT.  

 The trail is relatively easy for 3/4 of the way, but the last bit is very steep with lots of loose gravel and rocks - quite a scramble! But we make it to the caves, which are just rather shallow empty caves. They have nothing to do with the Aztecs - just someone's misnomer.

 We find an alternate route back which is longer but a little easier.

It is 76 degrees when we leave the park around 11:30 and we get back on I-10 into New Mexico.  We make reservations for RockHound State Park, which is south of I-10.  There are signs along the freeway telling you what to do in a dust storm and it is pretty windy.  The land here is always very dry but a local tells us he's lived here 30 years and has never seen it this bad.  A real drought.   We spot quite a few dust devils in fields and see even more after we get on smaller roads. 

We arrive at the state park just after the visitor's center closes (open 10-2:00) but we meet Butch, the friendly campground host who shows us to site #12. 

The sites are large with nicely shaded picnic tables - no electric and Greg is impressed that the area is neatly raked.  Here, as in most of the SW, there is a burn ban. Butch, from Minnesota, has been a host here with his wife for 5 years.  He comments on the drought, saying that even some of the cacti are beginning to die!

The ones nearer the visitors center look happy enough so must get some added moisture. The ocotillo, below, even has leaves (it drops them when not enough water).

 There is a nice, relatively new bathhouse with terrific showers.  To conserve water, more and more places have showers where you have to push a button to get a minute or two of water.  (Of course you can do multiple pushes, but the idea is to get wet then lather up with water off, then rinse.) 

We wonder the grounds where you are allowed to pick up rocks and Greg finds a nice, rather large purplish rock for our yard. I pick up what looks to me like a small geode but will wait till we see Kevin and Anita and have them slice it open.

Greg cooks steaks on the grill along with zucchini for dinner - yum!  Again, it cools off nicely for a good night's sleep.