Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Elephant Butte Lake State Park, NM

 

This is now the fourth or fifth time we’ve stayed here at the South Monticello Campground, which is the northernmost campground in the state park. For some reason it remains one of our favorite places. All sites have electric and water, and great views of the lake and surrounding mountains. Over the 4 years we’ve been coming here, the lake level has been gradually falling due to the drought. We are in site 22, which used to be very close to the lake.

DSCN3817

Our view of what’s left of the lake.

DSCN3819

Same site in January 2009.

P1080160

The lake was full of water back then.

P1080161

Yesterday was our anniversary, so we celebrated by going to Truth or Consequences. Debbie treated us to a great lunch at Cafe Groovy Gritz , a new restaurant in town. Our favorite place for pizza here, Cafe Bella Luca, is closed on Tuesday, so we’ll have to make another trip there later this week.

After lunch Jim wanted to try out the off-road capability of the Subaru, so we took a ride by the dam looking for roads. Didn’t find anything there but it was a nice drive.

All the green areas used to be under water.

October 2012

The Elephant Butte, where the park and lake get their names. You really have to use your imagination to see the sleeping elephant..

DSCN3809

We then remembered there was a dirt road along the Rio Grande where we had hiked before. It’s hard to tell by the photo, but this hill was steep and rocky. We were impressed by the way the Forester handled the hill and rocks, and how comfortable it was going down the rough, washboard road. We think we made a good choice!

DSCN3814

13 comments:

  1. Happy Anniversary guys! Glad the new car is working out fine for you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy Anniversary! You are such a great couple. I'm happy for you that the Forester performed so well.

    I'm looking forward to being at Elephant Butte, but it's too bad the water is so low. Your photo from 2009 sure looks better than the site/lake photo today. It was the same at Storrie Lake. Bluewater Lake is down, too, but not that bad, and still very pretty.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Anniversary from Lovely Ouray!
    The Sue Bee looks good. I hope to see more of those rough and tumble back road photos. Looks like you are having a great time.
    Our countdown clock has started :))
    Box Canyon Mark

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad you're enjoying the new wheels. Looks like an interesting campsite. My husband and I are so used to wanting forested sites all the time, and I'm starting to believe we need to rethink that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jill, it's hard to find many forests in the desert! We used to be the same way when we lived back east, but have come to love the wide open spaces out west.

    ReplyDelete
  6. head on over to the Apache Kid Wilderness. Take hwy 107 toward Magdelena and take a left at any of the forest roads. They are fun.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy Anniversary!

    Maybe we will get to that campground some day.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Congrats Jim on being with that girl for this long! I am sure it has been "interesting". Carla has a new thought about being home, "We don't live here, we work here". She is ready for the road, and it only took a week! Sounds like Mr. Leach was a big help with the new vehicle. Have fun spinning tires!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Happy Anniversary you two! Wish we could have join you in ABQ for the balloonfest and LD gathering. We're now part of the tribe! Hope we can meet up somewhere down the road. Maureen & Eric

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy Anniversary!!!

    Looks like you are going to have a great time with your Forestor!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wish we had known sooner that you are in Elephant Butte, we would have come by to say "howdy!" We were at Groovy Grita Sat night!!! We leave tomorrow for Mimbres! One place you would love to visit is the ghost town of Chloride.. about 35 miles west of Elephant Butte! Look it up on our blog! Great little campground FHU and wonderful 4x4 ride through Chloride Canyon! Enjoy your stay here!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wish we had known sooner that you are in Elephant Butte, we would have come by to say "howdy!" We were at Groovy Grita Sat night!!! We leave tomorrow for Mimbres! One place you would love to visit is the ghost town of Chloride.. about 35 miles west of Elephant Butte! Look it up on our blog! Great little campground FHU and wonderful 4x4 ride through Chloride Canyon! Enjoy your stay here!

    ReplyDelete