City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico

We have camped here at Dreamcatchers 4 times and we knew about the state park but never went for whatever reason I can't remember.  So, we drove north of Deming about 30 miles to the state park to visit it and see what everyone talks about.

Not a big park, about 7 1/2 miles of hiking trails

Very different than what we expected to see.  Formed from a volcanic eruption over 35 million years ago, the park now is an informational place as well as hiking trails and camp sites for folks.  The hiking trail we opted for, we kinda made our own trail as we meandered in and around the huge monoliths of stone (pumice).  Being very careful because rattlesnakes are out and about and thankfully we did not encounter any.

Could see the camper tucked into the rocks

Some of the formations looked like animals, some were kinda eerie.  Amazing to see the trees and greenery growing in cracks all along the way.  At one point I scared up about 6 quails from a shadowy place, literally scared the bejayzes out of me as they whooped away.

Weird looking

Drove around the park (loop road) and saw where all the camping is done, either dry camping which is no hookups at all, to electric and water hookups which many folks were utilizing.  Some of the sites were pretty neat, tucked into the rocks which formed a nice shady area for most of the day.  The park is also known for its star gazing and programs are offered to come learn about the sky.

Looks like an ear growing out of the tree on the right

Little slot canyons 

At an observation post looking back, very weird

Nice place, wasn't the wow we were told we would experience.  But our problem is that we have seen so much of the United States and all the different extremes such as badlands, mountains, oceans, beaches, rivers, etc. that because we have exposed ourselves to so much, we did not find the wow factor.  For others that have not seen a lot of the US, this would have been a wow.