We're impressed with New Mexico State Parks - Brantley Lake State Park

After spending four days of boondocking with no hook-ups, we were looking for a nice place with some electricity. We have always liked state parks, but we have found that some states over-price their parks, or charge nonresident campers extra fees. Others are already booked solid with no chance for a wanderer to get a site. So we were pleasantly surprised when we looked into staying at New Mexico's Brantley Lake State Park, about an hour's drive away. 

New Mexico state parks are some of the cheapest options around, at just $14 for a water and electric camp site. That includes day-use fees to use any of the facilities. That's another trick that some state parks use to make your stay more expensive--they charge a day-use fee on top of what you already paid for a camp site. Also, New Mexico doesn't charge more for out-of-staters. While their reserved sites were full, they have ten walk-up sites that are available on a first-come-first-serve basis. So we were glad to get a great 50-amp and water site when we arrived early in the day during the week. We're impressed with New Mexico state parks so far! If you add that the generously-sized sites are blanketed with wildflowers, Denisa might just stay here for the whole 14-day limit.

While we've already experienced some New Mexico wind, the lake looked beautifully calm when we arrived. 

So we pumped up our kayak and got out on the water to take advantage of this rare opportunity.

As we turned toward the north end of the lake, we could see our motor home, perched on top of the hill in the campground.

Our plan is to row toward the point where the Pecos River empties into Brantley Lake. As we turned the corner where the lake narrowed towards the river, we could also see the railroad bridge ahead.

This more narrow part of the lake is a more protected home for the birds. The coots have taken up residence here, so they were surprised to see a couple of wanderers in a kayak.

A pair of white pelicans are passing through on their migration north.

But our favorite bird to chase was this guy. We're not sure what it is, but Denisa spent a lot of time trying to catch a picture of it above water before it dove again. We've seen a similarly shaped bird, but not one with this coloring. If you recognize it, let us know!

As we got deeper into the river, we were soon into grass-bordered inlets where we had to make decisions about rowing up the right or left channel.

Instead of golden grass channels, some of the dividing foliage was of the stickery persuasion.

When we zoomed in, we realized that we were surrounded by cocklebur. We've seen these stickers tangled in horse tails or buried in dogs' fur. We have mixed emotions about rowing an inflatable boat through a forest of cocklebur.

Not all the birds live in the water. This black bird stood out amongst the golden grass. He was much more cooperative in posing . . .

than the ducks that took flight before we got to admire them.

After rowing for more than an hour, we got our best view of the railroad bridge. Out of all the channels available, we had chosen one that got us all the way to the bridge. We planned to paddle on up the Pecos River, but debris caught in the supports of the bridge finally brought our progress to an end.

We got to see the old swallow nests that are stuck to every surface of the bridge before we were forced to turn back and head towards home.

The sun was low in the sky, with the low light dancing on the surface of the water as we made the long trip back across the lake.

We were on the water for almost three hours, and traveled 7.5 miles on the unusually smooth Brantley Lake this day.

We just had time to deflate the kayak and get it loaded into the pickup before it got dark. We were leaving the dock when this osprey swooped out of the water and over our heads. We could see that he had a freshly-caught fish wiggling in his talons as he flew over us. When we saw him land on top of a light post, we stopped to see his catch of the day.

He had already eaten the head, and this was a big fish! We watched as he enjoyed his meal and spread his wings.

Sorry for the gruesome pictures, but it was interesting watching him enjoy this fresh fish meal. It is amazing to see his fishing prowess, and to know that he was able to take flight from the water with the extra weight of that fish in his talons. Watching it all is a way of wandering into another of His wonders.

The light was fading as we took the last pictures and left him to enjoy the meal.

We had a nice sunset on this beautiful evening. The only negative this evening were the tiny flying bugs that appeared as Denisa was trying to take a picture. The black blurs in the picture below are those bugs zooming past.

We have already enjoyed our time at Brantley Lake State Park, and we're impressed with New Mexico State Parks.