City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico

At something cold and dark o’clock on Friday morning DB threw me out of bed and before I knew it we were watching Tucson disappear in the rear view mirror.

After an uneventful drive on a sunny warm day we arrived in Deming, New Mexico our home for the next few days.

Yesterday, Saturday, we drove out to City of Rocks State Park at mile post 3 on highway 61 just north of Deming.   City of Rocks was formed over 34 million years ago in a huge volcanic eruption 1,000 times greater than the eruption of Mount St Helens in 1980.

  

The rock formations are so unique that there are only 6 other places in the world where they are known to exist.

Mimbres Indians once roamed the area, Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache traditional homelands are also nearby. 

In the early 16th century Spanish explorers and settlers arrived and mule trains loaded with copper from the nearby Santa Rita mines passed close by on their way to Chihuahua, Mexico.

After the Mexican War ended in 1848, the Mormon Battalion blazed a trail through the area linking New Mexico and Arizona to the eastern US.

City of Rocks state park was formed in the early 1950’s and was also the first New Mexico state park to receive an observatory, star parties take place at the park during the year.

DB decided to have a snooze in BT while I spent a couple of hours slithering through the rocks and taking tons of photographs.

Have fun, we are!