Hanging Out at Sumner Lake, New Mexico

When we left Mountainair, New Mexico, our elevation dropped as we drove east. We were leaving the mountains and heading into the plains. We have to say that it was one of the most boring drives since we started traveling in our motor home almost three years ago. We got tired of the flat and sandy pastures punctuated only with junipers and cactus. In the 2.5 hour trip, the only picture Denisa took was of the salty ponds that were discovered by the Spanish explorers. They had hoped to find gold and silver and good farm land to settle. But according to the information at the national monument visitor center, salt was the only commodity of any worth discovered in this part of New Mexico.

So we made our uneventful drive to the town of Fort Sumner, then headed north towards our next campground at Sumner Lake.

We have enjoyed New Mexico state park camping in the past, and Sumner Lake is another good one. One of our favorite aspects is the price. For $14 we can camp at a water and electric site, and use their handy dump station as we leave. We love it that this state doesn't charge additional day-use fees or boat launch fees. New Mexico State Parks are the best bargain among all the states we have traveled. The ranger we talked to pointed out that he thinks they are too cheap. They haven't increased prices in many years, and he has had forced furlough at times when the state's tightened budget couldn't keep the parks open. But for now we are enjoying the great site we got at Sumner Lake, complete with its three-sided cabana over the picnic table.

We had a nice view of the lake from our campsite. But we had windy weather during our four-day stay, and we looked longingly at the lake through our front windshield. But with white-caps stirred up by the 30-40 mph winds, we couldn't put the kayak on the lake like we had planned.

We did some hiking around the state park. On this hike, we realized that we were not alone among these juniper trees and soap weeds.

A whole herd of deer were also enjoying the views of the lake.

The ranger told us that the campgrounds had been packed all summer. But in the middle of the week during the month of November we got a nice first-come-first-served camp site. We also had the entire playground to ourselves. We love camping during the fall!

Aside from the wind, the weather was beautiful. With blue skies and temperatures in the 70's, New Mexico is enjoying unseasonably warm weather this week. So what shall we do to take advantage of this nice weather? How about washing the motor home?

That's a huge project--something we don't do very often. In fact, we spread that 35-foot project over two days. Note to self--it's probably a good idea to wash the motor home when the water isn't so full of minerals. We spent a good part of our time drying each section before the hard water spots made it look dirty again. Our shoulders are sore, but the motor home looks great.

We have a visit planned for Fort Sumner, but until then we're enjoying lake time.