City Of Rocks State Park

As we approached this state park, we found ourselves feeling like we were entering a strange land far far away.  While the park is only a few miles off the main road, it feels like you are in the middle of nowhere.

As you approach, you start seeing these giant rocks all clumped together. The “city” is truly a geological wonder formed by large rocks that are sculptured over time by erosion. They form paths that take the shape of streets through these giant formations. The rocks climb to over 40 feet in some areas. Towering over the motorcoach. Making everything next to them look miniature. They were formed about 34.9 million years ago when a very large volcano erupted and threw these rocks where they lay today. It’s interesting to note how they are all clumped together and not just thrown around the area sporadically. It feels as if someone actually placed them there on purpose, to bring tourists into the area.

Mmmmmmm…Maybe I’m on to something. This is a state park after all. They do charge $5 bucks to enter.

The park offers camping, with some electric sites if you want to spend more time here.  We were just passing through, so we found a spot to pull over and got out to explore.

There’s lots of nooks and crannies to explore at this park.  That’s for sure.  It’s also easy enough to get lost.  Yes, I speak from experience.  These rocks tower over you, so you have no sense of where anything is.  You think you may be heading in the right direction, then you come to a clearing and find out you are on the other side of where you wanted to be.

Oh well, it was fun.

As you can see, we had a beautiful day to explore this “city”.  We could have stayed for the night, but we wanted to move on.  This is an easy enough stop over to do as you are passing through the area.  It would only take you about an hour of good exploring to feel like you’ve “been there, done that”.

As you can see from the above picture, the rain wears some interesting channels in the rocks.  I imagine in the spring time this area can come alive with plant life.  While we were here at the end of February (yes, I’m a little behind in blogging), there were trees and some greenery around.

There’s no way you can come here and not climb the rocks and feel like a kid again.  It’s very easy to do as the surface of the rocks is very rough, so your shoes grip very easily.  As you can see from David being a kid again and climbing all over the place.  Their are some hiking trails in this area too, but not to many.  One actually leads to an observatory (the first observatory placed in a NM state park) so you can appreciate the nighttime sky.  I bet it’s beautiful as there are no lights out here to obstruct the view.

Alas, we did not do that trail.  We were more interested in these gentle giants.

By the way, if you end up driving around the loop like we did (which is an easy in and out for all you big rigs) be prepared to get dirty. The dirt on our toad was unbelievable.

So, if you are traveling through Deming, NM on I-10, consider taking a side trip north to Silver City, with City of Rocks State Park between the two. We loved it in Silver City and will be back in a heart beat. As far as City of Rocks State Park, I wouldn’t go out of my way to go there. Considering the cost of gas now a days. But if you are going past there, on your way to Silver City, definitely make the side trip. Only a few miles off the main road, it’s worth it to see at least once.

I’m glad we stopped.