We Finally Slow Down for a Long Stay - Elephant Butte Lake State Park

February 1-10, 2019


Driving down out of the mountains from Davis Mountains State Park we gradually left the juniper covered hills and reached the desert east Texas that epitomizes most people's idea of what that part of Texas encompasses. We rejoined I-10 at the ghost town of Kent and began the westward trek towards El Paso and out of Texas. It always interesting to see the immense sprawling city of Juarez on the Mexican side of the concrete-channeled Rio Grande and the fences running along the river north and west of the city. Quickly you leave the sprawl behind as the road turns north and you cross into New Mexico under the big welcome sign spanning the interstate noting that New Mexico is “The Land of Enchantment”.

Mistletoe in a dormant oak

Feral boar crossing the road

At Las Cruces, I-10 proceeds west crossing the rest of New Mexico, Arizona and on into California. We headed north on I-25 until we reached the exit for Caballo Lake State Park on the New Mexico part of the Rio Grande. Not wanting to try to luck into a spot at Elephant Butte Lake State Park farther north, on a weekend, we opted for two nights at Caballo Lake.

Caballo Lake

Cholla fruit

Surprisingly, there was only one water/electric site left, so we took it. We were below the Percha Dam and down in the river valley, but not along the river which was barely flowing here. Saturday we drove north to Truth or Consequences to do laundry, get a good Mexican food lunch, and visit Walmart for groceries. After two nights I was ready to move on. I love the large expanses and huge skies of the southwest and I was getting little of either here. We hitched up and moved up the river to Elephant Butte Lake State Park outside of Truth or Consequences. We've spent more time in this park than an other in New Mexico during our travels. We knew we could get electric/water sites with nearby showers and a dump station, and campground wifi, or good connection for our hotspot and good phone connection. There was the long-range view across the lake, and beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

New Mexico highway

Beware of rattlesnakes at rest areas!

We arrived early enough in the morning to not get skunked on finding a site, but were disappointed to discover that the park had increased the number of reserved sites and had fewer first come-first serve sites. Our favorite campground , Quail Run had only one sloped site left. We drove over to Lion's Beach, (which used to be on the beach, but no longer), and found a few sites in the only non-reservable row. Luckily the end site was available, so we took it.

The receding Elephant Butte Lake

With 500,000 RV's being sold every year and Baby Boomers retiring and taking up RV travel, we are finding that it is getting more difficult to travel without reservations, our preferred form of travel. We are missing the spontaneity we have been able to enjoy since we started full-timing 6 ½ years ago!


Besides being a good place for a longer stop, we wanted to visit the two wildlife refuges further north of Elephant Butte Lake on I-25 up the Rio Grande to check on for possible volunteering next winter. On Sunday, as soon as we unhitched and got settled, we drove north to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Their ponds and marshes are a wintering-over area for many ducks and geese, but most notably sandhill cranes and snow geese. We were able to see thousands of them as we drove and stopped along the nature drive, among the ponds and fields where they plant grain crops to attract and feed the birds. We had a couple good conversations with volunteers about working there, but didn't get to talk to a ranger. With the shutdown over they are swamped with activities to catch up on refuge business.

Bosque del Apache

Ravens ignoring the snow geese

Snow Geese

Wednesday, after enduring two straight days of ever increasing winds, that limited our outdoor activity, we decided to drive to another wildlife refuge instead of sitting in the trailer all day. That day the winds were 30-40 mph with gusts over 50 mph. We knew we wouldn't be hiking the trails, but drove up and went to the visitor center. Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge is the largest in New Mexico and the eighth largest in the country. Four distinct ecosystems come together there. They have a program to reintroduce Mexican wolves onto the refuge. We had a good talk with a few volunteers. Again, rangers were scarce. This refuge has many fewer volunteers than the other we visited and fewer visitors. It has a more remote feel and is farther north with a colder winter climate. Lots to think about! Both refuges have their advantages for volunteers.

After five nights we packed up and drove to the Monticello campground at the north end of the lake. Or what used to be the north end. The lake has receded so drastically since we started coming here six years ago that the big island in the middle is now a peninsula, there are lots of sand spits, new islands, and the water color is lighter due to the shallow sand bottom. It is impossible to boat some areas of the lake, and the lake view is now gone from this campground. If you look hard, there is a small trickle that is what is left of the river flowing through the dry lake bed.

Monticello campsite

Our view to the south

The Monticello campground is remote and quiet with good separation between the sites. We haven't come here for six years since we assumed that there was still no connection of any sort. Now we have discovered that we have good cellphone and wifi hotspot signals here. If we had known, we would have relocated here sooner. Today is Saturday the 9^th, so we'll finish out our three nights and leave very early on Monday morning. We want to make the drive down to Rockhound State Park outside of Deming. It is one of our favorite parks anywhere, and more difficult to get into every year we have come to New Mexico. There are a few sites to reserve, but they are filled. We are hoping to luck into a first come-first serve site by arriving early.


Today Greg left for a bike ride. He'll ride down the closed boat ramp and head north along the old lake shore and go as far as he can. The wind just kicked up again. His last ride at Lion's Beach brought him back early. He rode along the beach and got sandblasted on his bare legs from the strong wind! As he opened the tailgate of the truck today, which had been left open for a while yesterday evening, something came blasting out. It turned out to be a large roadrunner who had accidentally been closed in and spent the very cold night in the bed of the truck! Just when we get a bit jaded and think we've seen it all out here, something new surprises us!