NM -- Oliver Lee State Park, 14-18 Feb 2020

Oliver Lee State Park is named for Oliver Lee who moved to the area from Texas in 1885.  He was a rancher, cowboy, and gunslinger.  He notoriously was involved a range war and was chased down by Pat Garret. Later in life he was a senator and one of the founders of the city of Alamogordo. 

The location of the ranch that is now a State Park is situated on an alluvial fan below the Sacramento Mountains.

The State Park is about 16 miles southeast of Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Campground 

The campground is a large loop with pull-through and back-in sites.  Some of them have tent pads as well.  There are only a few reservable water and electric sites.

We arrived on the Friday before Presidents’ Day weekend around 1pm.  When we arrived there were about eight empty sites.  By the end of the night, they were all full and the campground stayed full through the weekend.

Our campsite was a large square open area with a fire ring.  We backed the trailer in at an angle to give us a good view up to the ridge.

We did not have any hook-ups but we managed just fine with our solar and one tank of water for four days.  The water spigot was not too far from our site so we filled out fresh water tank before we parked.

We had two bars 4G Verizon phone and a decent data signal.  Satellite would have not been a problem if we had connected.  We could live without it for four days.

Unfortunately, we had a tent camper across the road from us the first two nights.  They were in and out of their car till late at night and we had to listen to the slam, slam of the car door.  Otherwise, even with the campground being full, it was very peaceful.  We enjoyed our walks around the large loop a few times a day.

We were in site #31 which we liked but if we were to come back to spend more time, we’d like to try and get a reservable site with water and electric:  Site #2, #3, or #4.  We liked #3 the best!

Nearby Towns 

Alamogordo is 16 miles northwest of Oliver Lee.  The city that has a population of just over 30,000 and sits at 4,336 feet.

Alamogordo sits in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert bordered by the Sacramento Mountains to the east and Holloman Air Force Base to the west.  Alamogordo is known for its connection with the Trinity test, the first explosion of an atomic bomb.

The small city has basic services and shopping. 

Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city, is about 225 miles to the north.  It sits at a higher elevation of 5,312 feet.  With a metro population of just over a million people, you could find any service or shopping you would need there.

Adventures

Heart of the Desert Pistachios 

“Heart of the Desert Pistachios are the home-grown product of Eagle Ranch in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Our pistachios are harvested, processed, packaged right on the farm – guaranteeing the freshness and value of our pistachios are second-to-none.”

"Our award winning pistachios come in nine unique flavors. For the “pistachio purist” we have the traditional salted & roasted, or unsalted & roasted pistachios. For the more adventurous, we have flavored pistachios in red chile, red chile & lime, extra hot red chile, Hatch green chile kernels, garlic & green chile, and garlic & onion.”

We had wanted a tour of the ranch but they are only offered Monday through Friday and we visited on a Saturday. However, the friendly lady in the wine bar set up a video for us to watch.

We learned pistachios are harvested in September by shaking the trees.  They also grow grapes for wine and have 24,000 vines that they make seven different varieties of award wining wine from.

We bought some pistachios and a few other knickknacks.

White Sands National Park

White Sands was just designated a national park in December 2019.  Previously it had been a National Monument.

“Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert, creating the world's largest gypsum dunefield. White Sands National Park preserves a major portion of this unique dunefield, along with the plants and animals that live here.”

The incredibly white dunes can be seen for miles away as you approach from any direction!

We were shocked at how crowded the parking lot was at the Visitor Center.  We found a spot to park behind it. I quickly snuck in and got my last sticker and stamp to go in my National Parks Passport book.

Then we headed into the park on the main road. The further into the park we drove, the more the road was covered with sand.  We imagine that they have to plow it as we’ve seen in similar locations.  People were driving on the white sand similar to how they would drive on snow.

Shawn and I were amused as the car in front of us pulled very slowly into a parking area almost like they expected to go slip-sliding.  It did look like snow covered ice!

We parked near the amphitheater and area 19.  We headed up into the gypsum dunes.  Because of recent rains the sand was hard packed and was easy to walk on.

I knelt to feel the sand and it was cold to the touch.  It also stuck to my hand like fine styrofoam peanuts.

We could see a number of barefoot and boot prints in the sand.  After a quarter of a mile into the dunes they disappeared.  We felt like we were walking on sand that had never been walked on by humans before.

We did a large counter clockwise loop.  We took pictures of distant Sierra Blanca Peak, 11,981ft high, with the dunes in the foreground.  They are striking images.

We were amazed at the formations that the plants made with the sand.  The yuccas have to compete to stay on top of sand and the dune.  If they get stranded without sand in their roots they will die.

We took a break on top of one of the larger dunes.  We were only a few miles from the parking area but we were completely by ourselves.

As we headed back, we could tell when we were close to the parking area as the yells and laughter of people playing in the sand reached us.  Children and adults alike were sledding down the steeper dunes.  We saw a few toddlers with their buckets and shovels.

It was fitting that such a special place was the last National Park that we would visit during our nine years of full-time RV traveling. 

After visiting the dunes, we drove through Holloman AFB.  Shawn's Dad was stationed here back when Shawn was a toddler.

Riparian Trail 

There is a trailhead behind the Visitor Center at Oliver Lee.  You have the choice to do the lower Riparian trail or Dog Canyon Trail.  

The Riparian trail is only about a half mile long and meanders around the nearly ephemeral creek running out of Dog Canyon.  During spring runoff and monsoon there is good water flow otherwise, it is a slow lazy hit and miss trickle.  During dry times it is possible to scramble up the creek bed a few miles.

When we combined the Riparian with a full walk around the campground, we were able to do about a mile and a half.

Dog Canyon Trail 

Two days later we took a right at the trailhead behind the Visitor Center to hike up the more challenging Dog Canyon Trail.  “The Dog Canyon Trail provides a rigorous day hike up the western escarpment of the Sacramento Mountains.  This steep trail rises 3,100 feet in 5.5 miles and is open to hikers year-round.”

“The trail provides great views of the Tularosa Basin and White Sands to the west.  The trail winds through three vegetation zones: Chihuahuan desert scrub and grassland, pinon-juniper woodland, and ponderosa pine forest.”

Shawn was feeling good and I was so happy to have my mountain man join me.  I'd been missing him.  Our goal was just to go up to where he felt comfortable.  Out and back trails are good for that.

The trail did not mess around and immediately climbed up.  It was just the aerobic workout sort of trail that Shawn and I love!  The trail is available right from the campground and has plenty of elevation gain to give us a good workout.  And the spectacular views were a bonus.

We stopped from time to time to admire the views over the basin out to the dunes to the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument.  We also admired the groves of yuccas, the New Mexico state flower.  They would be impressive during the summer and full bloom.

We hiked up to the two mile point and took a nice long break.  We could see the trail continuing to climb the escarpment.  It was a great turn around point.

We had only seen one other couple on our way up the trail but we saw quite a few folks on the way down.  It is such a great hike to do if you are staying in the campground!

Next… 

After Oliver Lee, we spent a few days each in Socorro and Bernalillo, both in New Mexico.

We are in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Our nine year traveling odyssey has ended.  However, we are thrilled to have a home base in a great community and we will continue to make occasional trips exploring the southwest.

We'll have the blogs out for our final stop in the next week or so. In addition, we will also have a finale blog that summarizes our nine years of travel. 

Parting Shots

  

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