December 15, new boondocking spots

Click the pics.

A nice view from the area I would like to boondock at the next time I'm at the City of Rocks. The main road slices through the middle of the picture. And I'm standing in the middle of the trail I would be walking up and down, and the Lance would be parked at the bottom next to the main road.

I actually wrote this blog post before I realized I was going to be leaving today, it's about a boondocking spot at the City of Rocks that I wanted to spend my last night in, but that didn't work out so I'll have to wait until I come back to the city of rocks again, maybe this Spring. But I didn't want to throw this blog post away so I'm gonna post it today and at the bottom of the post I'll talk about my current boondocking spot at Rockhound.




Back to the clear blue skies again, but with a little luck, there should be more clouds this weekend... I sure hope so; it makes picture-taking a lot more fun.

I just discovered a couple of new first-come-first-serve boondocking sites in the boulders, but instead of being next to the boulders, like most boondocking sites, they are actually "in" the boulders. I never noticed them before because they are called "walk-in" sites, not walk-up sites, which are actually first-come-first-serve sites... Yes, that isn't very clear, which explains why I never paid attention to them before.

These two boondocking sites are laid out so that you have to park at the main dirt road around the City of Rocks and then carry your camping gear about 100 yards up the hill to the campsite. This might be fun for young folks with a tent but is probably only very popular for very few.

But the reason I got interested is while poking around amongst the boulders, I stumbled upon these two boondocking sites and noticed what pretty places they were and the beautiful views they had of both the sunset and the sunrise. But I was confused about their designation of being "walk-in sites," do you have to "camp" at the top of the hill where the picnic table is, or can you camp at the bottom of the hill in the dirt area next to the main road as I would have to do in the Lance?

I talked to a volunteer who was picking up my trash, and I believe he said that I could camp at the bottom of the hill where the trash can for that boondocking site is located, which would be great for me the next time I'm here, which may be as early as next spring. And since it's not a popular boondocking site, there's a better chance it would be available.

Who knows more about a campground than the person picking up the trash? Even though I would feel slightly better if I had been told that by a Park Ranger.

                                       

if you zoom in on this picture you can see the sign says ''walk-in'' which means that you have to park next to the road, and walk to your boondocking site, and that makes perfect sense to anyone that sees the sign.

As opposed to ''walk up'' which means first come first serve to the New Mexico parks system.

This is where the camper will sit if I get to stay in this spot. The main road that goes all the way around the City of Rocks is on the right and the trail up to the picnic table is on the left where the trashcan is. So there's plenty of room for me to camp here.

I will have to walk up this hill to get to my picnic table area, which is under that first tree on the right. This looks like a great boondocking spot to me, now I can't wait to come back.

You can see the picnic table under the tree near the middle of the picture. I looked like a great place to take pictures from to me.

Saturday December 16
  A two-for-one blog post.

My new boondocking spot at Rockhound State Park in New Mexico

                                      

I arrived safely back at Rockhound State Park, where I expect to be till Monday morning when I'll get back on Highway 10 West and be on my way to somewhere in Arizona, where that will be I'm still not sure, but it will probably be whatever place I decide on to hunker down and hole up for the Christmas holidays.

I topped up my tank with diesel fuel on the way to Rockhound, at $3.50 a gallon, it's getting cheaper but its still nowhere near as low as it was during the previous administration.

I also stopped at Walmart in Deming and stocked up on some groceries. If I go to Tombstone when I leave here,  and I'm leaning in that direction, there's not much in the way of groceries available, or affordable unless I drive into Benson where there's a Walmart and a Safeway.

Theboondork.