11/19 Oliver Lee State Park, Alamogordo, NM

I picked this place because I wanted to walk through White Sands National Monument again, and knew this would be a good place to stay.  However, I am really impressed at how beautiful this very "empty" desert is!  If you remember from my last couple of postings, I decided to drive the longer southern route through El Paso because of the winds and cold in the mountains, one of which is shown below.  Glad I saw it from a distance rather than trying to drive to it through the pass! 

Oliver Lee Memorial State Park is about 10 miles south of Alamogordo, the nearest town to White Sands, NM, and the military testing area there. Can you see the tiny white dots in the distance against this mountain?  That is the campground I am heading to. Also, notice how blue the sky is.

It is four miles off the main road, so no noise here at all.  One of quietest campground I have ever been to.

Here is my campsite.  Sites are strangely square, but my motorhome fits in easily with lots of room to walk around.  Could park a couple of cars, if I had one.  I parked facing the mountain, by the way, because the hookups were in the rear.  There are other campers around, but sites are very spread out, so you have a lot of privacy.

This is a canyon you can hike in, if you are up to it, which I am not.

And the view to the rear over the valley.  I really love campgrounds with long views.

"Riparian" refers to a water or river habitat.  It was a pretty short hike, so I started up this canyon trail.

This state park was originally part of a very large ranch.  The hills are very dry, but in this valley is a small stream that comes from a natural spring farther up the canyon.  It is so quiet around here, you could hear the water falling over small rocks.

This was as far as I could go without climbing over rocks and crossing the stream.  It was getting dark, so I headed back home.

Can you see the very small stream? 

For a short video of this stream in the desert and the noises the water makes, click here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34VdvGZTOfs&feature=youtu.be