bottomless lakes state park
After a run, Tai Chi, and breakfast, we rolled out of Oasis. I stopped in the Do Drop In one more time for coffee and WiFi before heading south to Bottomless. Sure glad it was not windy during the drive. I would imagine that this 90-mile stretch can get gnarly with heavy winds. Passed over the Pecos twice more. That makes eight times so far on this trip. Still no Bill. Roswell has all the stores one would need. ‘Not of This World’ coffee shop at 209 N Main Street has wi-fi, sandwiches, and smoothies. That pretty much covers it. If you already had your morning coffee, go to the city library. It has faster wi-fi and plenty of nice widow nooks with power outlets.
The state park is 14 miles east of town.
The lakes were formed when underground water dissolved salt and gypsum deposits to form subterranean caverns. The roofs of these caverns eventually collapsed from their own weight forming sinkholes that then filled with water. Mirror Lake is two adjacent sinkholes. What’s strange is that there are fish in the south pond but the water in the north pond has too high a saline content to sustain fish.
The park has a 1¼ mile nature trail (Bluff Trail) connecting the lower lakes campground with Lea Lake campground. Three and a half miles up the road is a 3-mile mountain bike trail. It’s a nice change from Oasis where it was almost like running laps around a track since all the trail sections were so short. Nice sand running though.
There’s a nice one-hour loop with some nice views. Just north of Pasture Lake is an easy climb to the top of the bluff. Hike south towards Lea Lake. There’s no trail but it’s easy terrain. Hike down the gentle slope behind the shower house in the Lea Lake cg to get back down off the bluff. Walk around the lake and take the flat Bluff Trail back to the lower lakes cg. Or start at Lea Lake and go either clockwise or counter-clockwise. Either way is good.
When choosing a campsite, my first consideration is how it will work for Meadow and Onyx. I look for a site off a bit from other rigs and backs up to open land where M/O can go off and explore. Bottomless does not work for us. There is a public road only about 50 yards behind the camper so the felines pretty much stayed in except for an early 5:00 to 7:00 outing each morning. No walks at dusk. Guano. We’ll only stay a few days. For most campers, however, the campground would be fine. And more HOT showers! Hot damn!
On the first morning, I ran over to the disperse sites and also checked out the lakes (ponds). There is one disperse site that would work great for M/O and if I pass through here again, I’ll try to snag it. I like to stick to electric sites December through February though. There’s also another pretty good disperse site and a third that would be okay for Meadow and Onyx. I would have SO many more campsite choices without two felines but I would be missing out on WAY too much enjoyment.
I bicycled back to one of the disperse sites later that morning and stopped where there was a converted 1959 International school bus. WAY COOL! Dennis is from Oregon and has had the rig for over 20 years. As you can see, he did a fabulous job with the interior. He also made the rack on the back and does all the work on the inline six. The platform for his Honda is wide enough so one can sit in a chair up there. Over the back door is painted, ‘LET’ERRUST’. Siscily, you would love this bus! A couple more weeks in New Mexico and then Dennis and his feline are heading east to tour the country.
that makes the experience richer,
but rather the journey itself.
FOR INDEX OF POSTINGS GO TO JULY 2006
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