City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM

FRI., FEB. 10 thru SAT., FEB. 11, 2023

On Friday we left Kartchner Caverns State Park. We headed east on I-10 crossing into New Mexico passing several large pecan orchards and an incredibly long train being pulled by 4 engines. We landed in the town of Deming at Lo-Hi RV Ranch. We’re here for two nights. There’s a cactus garden at the campground, and I loved the labyrinth that someone went to a great deal of effort to create. The labyrinth is surprisingly large. It eventually takes you to the middle where there’s two seats and a table. Judgment Day???

As we were checking in at the campground there was a couple from Kittery Point, Maine checking in at the same time. They were traveling out west for the winter and headed to Tucson next. There’s also an RV from NH parked in front of us. We haven’t seen them to find out where they are from!

 

On Saturday, Feb. 11th, 2023, Gary & I visited City of Rocks State Park in Faywood, NM. Gotta love the name! Temps were a chilly 25 degrees to start but warmed up to the low 50s. The volcanic rocks that form this park were produced 35 million years ago from a volcanic eruption that was 1,000 times greater than the 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruption. Wow. 

The rocks appear like a city of skyscrapers but instead it’s a “City of Rocks.” As a friend who visited here previously explained to me, “the rocks just pop up out of nowhere in the middle of miles and miles of flat terrain” and she’s exactly right. 

The state park allows you to camp in amongst the rock formations. We considered camping here originally but in the end decided not to. It’s really meant for smaller rigs and the roads are a bit dicey, but fun to hike here! We TRIED to follow the trail map but kept ending up in someone’s camping site! Eventually we found the right path and hiked about 2 miles amongst the rocks. Very cool spot!