Arriving at City of Rocks state park I have to say it really makes a statement.
Located in the Chihuahuan desert region of southwestern New Mexico at an elevation of 5,200 feet. The “city” is a geologic formation made up of large, sculptured rock columns, or pinnacles, rising as high as 40 feet and separated by paths or lanes resembling city streets.
I was thrilled at my campsite location right beside these giant rocks. All the sites are named after astrological things, I was at Site “Gemini”. There are great trails in the park, a cactus garden and they even do star talks since it is a dark sky park.
I really enjoyed the great multi use trails during my stay here and the e-bike odometer rolled over 500 miles on the Hydra trail, pretty cool! If you are interested in the e-bike experience, stay tuned as I am working on a review of the Sondors MXS e-bike.
I took a bunch of photos during my stay, you can check them out in this album.
The nearby town of Silver City is known for mining and still hosts the Santa Rita mine, one of the largest working open pit copper mines in the world.
I visited Silver City on a weekday and it was pretty dead, but there are lots of cute shops and if you are a fan of antiquing this is your kind of town.
My next visit was to the amazing Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. A very well preserved cliff dwelling built by nomadic peoples in the 1200’s and occupied only for a short period of time before migrating further south and merging with the Pueblo peoples. It is believed they settled here during a period of historic draught and it would have been a great place to set up camp with the nearby Gila river and springs providing water and attracting game right to your front door.
The park service estimates that between 40-60 people lived here for about 15-20 years. The construction is very solid and you can see the walls of some rooms still standing today.
What a rare treat to be able to actually go in and explore these ruins today. You can see all my photos in this album. Only about 2 hours drive on some very scenic mountain roads from Silver City, this site is definitely worth a visit!
My next move was only a short 2 miles. I had seen the signs for the Faywood Hot springs on my way into City of Rocks and was happy to discover that they offered camping spots that included access to their hot springs. I booked 3 nights and enjoyed some more mineral soaks before heading out. Sorry no pics as its a clothing optional resort and I didn’t want to whip out the camera while enjoying the pools. 😝
As I head back westwards my next stops will be in Arizona which I am finding very difficult to book. Alas, it’s snowbird season most places are fully booked. I’ll be winging it and we’ll just have to see what turns up. I am glad that I have the Thousand Trails camping pass and I’ve added the Southwest zone to my pass so that I can hopefully use it for some nights in Arizona and California.
Hey Its Gregg! 