28 Feb 2019
Chilly night with a low of 34F, but again, warming nicely with a high of 75F this afternoon.
Primary game plan for today, our last day here at Roswell NM, was visiting the Bottomless Lakes State Park just a few miles east and south of Roswell
The Bottomless Lakes are a chain of eight lakes that are actually cenotes (sink holes) ranging in depth from 17 to 90 feet. Waterflow dissolved salt and gypsum and created underground caverns. As time passed the ceilings of the caverns collapsed creating sinkholes that filled with water over time and created lakes.
As we entered the State Park we passed the Lazy Lagoon, one of the first lakes. All of these lakes have a unique hue.
As we drove the park road, we passed many rock formations which were beautifully colored. How they were created is explained below.
We stopped by the visitor center and paid a token $5.00 day use fee, and wandered through the displays. It is interesting that 240 million years ago this whole area was covered by ocean. Sediments that were rich in calcium accumulated behind the reefs which over time, turned into limestone called the San Andres Formation. Eventually the water receded leaving the limestone shelves exposed. The seawater evaporated and left behind salt as layers of gypsum. Wind and rivers carried in red silts. This resulted in alternating layers of white gypsum and red silt called the Artesia Group. As these layers tilted they created the eastern slope of the Sacramento Mountains.
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| Alabaster |
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| Examples of Indian arrowheads found in the area. |
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| Photographs of building the Lea Lake Water Tower completed in 1937 |
We finished inside the visitor center and then walked to the first of a series of small lakes. These lakes are located fairly close, but driving distance
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| Cottonwood Lake |
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| Cottonwood Lake. Notice the layering of the rocks |
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Mirror Lake is actually two sink holes connected together. This picture is the left lake and has
too high a salt content to support game fish. The right lake will support fish. |
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| This shows where the two lakes come together |
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| Where they come together |
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| Notice the salt deposits on the shore |
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| Check out the beautiful reflection in the water. |
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| Devil's Inkwell Lake |
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| Figure Eight Lake |
The final lake, Lea Lake, is much larger than the first lakes. It has a large pavilion, a bath house with concession stand, a day-use area, a dry camping area and an RV area with power, water and sewer connections at some sites.
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| This is the water tower built in 1937, shown above. |
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| The pavilion building |
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| The bath house and concession area, closed for the season. |
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A view of the beach looking back at the pavilion. We can only imagine how crazy busy
this place would be in the middle of the summer! |
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| One of the campground areas |
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| A view from above, looking back at the lake and pavilion |
After departing the State Park, we made a short stop at an RV Park souvenir shop and Doreen picked up a few things including a cute t-shirt.
Then we headed to a local winery called 'Pecos Flavors'.
The Pecos Flavors Winery grows their own grapes and makes their wines locally. Doreen purchased a three sample pack and decided on a blush that was very good.
I tried a couple different craft brews and bought a six pack selection. We will bring them back for the family to sample!
We fueled up on the way back to the RV Park in preparation for departure in the morning. On the way back Doreen snapped a picture of this McDonalds sign. It's a little hard to see here, but McDonalds delivers here!
Back at the RV Park I completed my regular pack-up stuff and helped the neighbor, a Coastguard retiree from Kentucky, with a malfunctioning water heater system in his diesel pusher. Bad thermostat quickly isolated! He will be hitting Amazon Prime to get it en route.
Tomorrow morning we head west and south to White Sands Missile Range RV Park, east of Las Cruces NM. We have some significant mountains to climb, but no worries with the RAM diesel.
Next report from White Sands!
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