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City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM

Camped at Site 12, City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM, March 6, 2008
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

Nights I've camped here

Alex Can Spell

Not very long ago, Dr. Pepperberg began trying to teach Alex and another gray parrot, Griffin, to sound out phonemes, which are the sounds that letters and letter combinations represent. English has forty phonemes altogether. She and her colleagues wanted to see if the birds understood that words are made out of letters that could be recombined to make other words, so they started training the birds with magnetic refrigerator letters.

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