Seattle to New Mexico (and on to Texas): City of Rocks State Park, NM

I distinguish the CoR SP as a New Mexico State Park because Idaho has one too. :-)

The City of Rocks State Park is truly a geologic monument; it is formed by large sculptured rock columns (pinnacles) or boulders rising as high as 40 ft and separated by paths or lanes resembling city streets. About 34.9 million years ago a large volcano erupted, forming the rocks in an instant (geologically speaking); then erosion over millions of years slowly formed the sculptured columns that now provide a natural playground for children and adults alike. City of Rocks State Park was established in May 1952 to preserve this geologic wonder. (Read more here: http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/tour/state/city_of_rocks/home.html)

What a magnificent, extraordinary, FUN place this is - I remember it as a kid and its just as fun as an adult. The formations are amazing and allow your imagination to just run wild - you can be in a city or an alien landscape and you are able to climb on and amongst the rock formations.

The campground there is very nice as well - the tent or undeveloped sites are set within the rock formations and most are well spaced for privacy. Many are large enough for an RV but most are best used by tents. There are nine electrical/water sites for larger RV's - while the location of these sites aren't as 'cool' as the tent sites, you do have a great view of the rocks and looking east to Table Mountain. These sites are surprisingly well spaced too and nicely landscaped. There are modernized, HC accessible vault toilets located throughout the campground and near the visitor's center there is a bath house with flush toilets and showers. There is no sewer hookup or dump station at this park.

OK - enough of the boring stuff...

One of the great things about this park is its accessibility - especially for motorized wheelchairs. You can take the campground road and see many sites. There are trails within and around the park that are wide enough for wheelchairs, however, right now they are 'paved' with pea gravel that is slowly being removed at the behest of campers, hikers and bikers. Once this obstacle is removed and the trails are back to their hard-packed dirt they will be even better for wheelchair use. Mom has a Hoverround and with a little push every so often was able to go on many trails and even up on the tuff rock 'streets' within the formation.

Here's a little history of the area: Until 1200 A.D., Mimbres Indians roamed this area, leaving arrowheads and pottery shards as evidence of their culture. The park also lies within the traditional homelands of the Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache. Spanish explorers and settlers arrived in 1500 and mule trains loaded with copper from the nearby Santa Rita mine passed nearby on their way to Chihuahua from 1804 to 1834. After the Mexican War of 1846-48, the Mormon Battalion blazed a trail south of the park to link newly acquired New Mexico and Arizona with the eastern United States.

Hope you enjoy the photos (remember you can click on any image to enlarge):