City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM

Camped at Site 12, City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM, March 6, 2008
City of Rocks State Park is a uniquely interesting park in a weathered and sculpted pile of volcanic rocks about 30 miles northwest of Deming NM.
This is a park for those who don't mind roughing it a bit. There is a limited number of sites with water and electric hookups near the visitors center and the rest of the (and most interesting) sites offer dry camping amongst the astonishing rock formations. Come prepared - there is no dump station at the park either. I come with a full water tank and empty waste tanks and enough supplies on hand for a couple of weeks of dry camping.
The City of Rocks State Park website says:
Formed of volcanic ash welded together 30 million years ago, then sculpted by wind and water into rows of monolithic blocks, these incredible rock formations give City of Rocks its name. New hiking trails and a new public night sky observatory add to this unique destination.
Rock Residence
Rock formations like those at the park exist in only 6 other places in the world. Imaginative visitors may see the rock formations as a small city with houses, chimneys, courtyards and streets.
Ancient Paths
Until 1200 A.D., Mimbres Indians roamed this area, leaving arrowheads and pottery shards as evidence of their culture. Spanish conquistadors carved crosses into the rocks.
An article about this fascinating park and its geology
City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Verizon cell phone service - fairly good signal - best on west side of the park
- Verizon EVDO service - faster than many places I've camped
- Go to City of Rocks State Park website
- Locate City of Rocks State Park on my Night Camps map
- Check the weather here
Nights I've camped here
- Thursday, March 6, 2008 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Friday, March 7, 2008 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Saturday, March 8, 2008 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Sunday, March 9, 2008 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Monday, March 10, 2008 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Monday, February 16, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Thursday, February 19, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Friday, February 20, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Saturday, February 21, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Sunday, February 22, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Monday, February 23, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Friday, March 13, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Saturday, March 14, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Sunday, March 15, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Monday, March 16, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Wednesday, March 18, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Thursday, March 19, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Friday, March 20, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Saturday, March 21, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Wednesday, January 6, 2010 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Thursday, March 1, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Friday, March 2, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Saturday, March 3, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Sunday, March 4, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Monday, March 5, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Tuesday, March 6, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Wednesday, March 7, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Thursday, March 8, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Friday, March 9, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Saturday, March 10, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Sunday, March 11, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Monday, March 12, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Thursday, March 22, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Friday, March 23, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Saturday, March 24, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Sunday, March 25, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
- Monday, March 26, 2012 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM
Interior of a Settled Korak Yurt
The interior of a Korak _yurt_--that is, of one of the wooden _yurts_ of the _settled_ Koraks--presents a strange and not very inviting appearance to one who has never become accustomed by long habit to its dirt, smoke, and frigid atmosphere. It receives its only light, and that of a cheerless, gloomy character, through the round hole, about twenty feet above the floor, which serves as window, door, and chimney, and which is reached by a round log with holes in it, that stands perpendicularly in the centre. The beams, rafters, and logs which compose the _yurt_ are all of a glossy blackness, from the smoke in which they are constantly enveloped. A wooden platform, raised about a foot from the earth, extends out from the walls on three sides to a width of six feet, leaving an open spot eight or ten feet in diameter in the centre for the fire and a huge copper kettle of melting snow. On the platform are pitched three or four square skin _pologs_, which serve as sleeping apartments for the inmates and as refuges from the smoke, which sometimes becomes almost unendurable. A little circle of flat stones on the ground, in the centre of the _yurt_, forms the fireplace, over which is usually simmering a kettle of fish or reindeer meat, which, with dried salmon, seal's blubber, and rancid oil, makes up the Korak bill of fare. Everything that you see or touch bears the distinguishing marks of Korak origin--grease and smoke. Whenever any one enters the _yurt_, you are apprised of the fact by a total eclipse of the chimney hole and a sudden darkness, and as you look up through a mist of reindeer hairs, scraped off from the coming man's fur coat, you see a thin pair of legs descending the pole in a cloud of smoke. The legs of your acquaintances you soon learn to recognise by some peculiarity of shape or covering; and their faces, considered as means of personal identification, assume a secondary importance. If you see Ivan's legs coming down the chimney, you feel a moral certainty that Ivan's head is somewhere above in the smoke; and Nicolai's boots, appearing in bold relief against the sky through the entrance hole, afford as satisfactory proof of Nicolai's identity as his head would, provided that part of his body came in first. Legs, therefore, are the most expressive features of a Korak's countenance, when considered from an interior standpoint. When snow drifts up against the _yurt_, so as to give the dogs access to the chimney, they take a perfect delight in lying around the hole, peering down into the _yurt_, and snuffing the odours of boiling fish which rise from the huge kettle underneath. Not unfrequently they get into a grand comprehensive free fight for the best place of observation; and just as you are about to take your dinner of boiled salmon off the fire, down comes a struggling, yelping dog into the kettle, while his triumphant antagonist looks down through the chimney hole with all the complacency of gratified vengeance upon his unfortunate victim. A Korak takes the half-scalded dog by the back of the neck, carries him up the chimney, pitches him over the edge of the _yurt_ into a snow-drift, and returns with unruffled serenity to eat the fish-soup which has thus been irregularly flavoured with dog and thickened with hairs. Hairs, and especially reindeer's hairs, are among the indispensable ingredients of everything cooked in a Korak _yurt_, and we soon came to regard them with perfect indifference. No matter what precautions we might take, they were sure to find their way into our tea and soup, and stick persistently to our fried meat. Some one was constantly going out or coming in over the fire, and the reindeerskin coats scraping back and forth through the chimney hole shed a perfect cloud of short grey hairs, which sifted down over and into everything of an eatable nature underneath. Our first meal in a Korak _yurt_, therefore, at Kamenoi, was not at all satisfactory.