City of Rocks

Campsites in City of Rocks State Park, NM



Sunset at the park




Path between the rocks

 We arrived at City of Rocks State Park between Deming and Silver City, NM on Halloween two days ago. We were going to travel to the Gila Cliff Dwellings at the National Monument but the monument was closed until December because of road closings.  The Gila National Forest is high in the mountans and we traveled over the continental divide around Silver City which is about 7,000 feet above sea level.

City of Rocks State Park is on a plain.  It is a small park that has wonderful hiking with lots of campsites up close and personal to huge boulders.  Being the wimps we are, we stayed in the electrical/water sites not as close to the rocks.  We visited Silver City where "Billy The Kid" lived as a teen. Silver City is known for mining in the past and strip mining in the present.  We climbed between and around the rocks at the park with Emma, our 18 month Peekapoo.  She does not like the southwest dry and pricky ground.  She was chewing out picky things in her paws.  I have clipped her paws which help but she is missing the green grass of the east.

We traveled to Roper State Park in Arizona today to meet up with the Trouts again.  We did not plan this but just crossed paths.  We are camped next to them so we went to dinner at a Mexican Restaurant. It is amazing how small this world is!  In City of Rocks we talked to a host couple who were about to move to their next position in southern Arizona.  They had applied to Organ Pipe after we had and not gotten chosen so they teasingly said we took their spots.  They will be in another place close by and said they would look us up when they visited Organ Pipe.  So new friends and old crossed paths with us in the last few days.