Blue Water Lake State Park, New Mexico

We visited Blue Water Lake State Park in New Mexico briefly in August of 2015 when we were on our way back to Idaho at the conclusion of the ten week course I attended in Albuquerque.  I had not started this blog at that time, and I had not taken any pictures.

This was our campsite for twelve of the 14 days we stayed at the park.  We boon docked for the first two nights while we waited for this handicap site to become available.

Notice how brown the ground appears.  We were just beginning to get the early monsoon rains.  By the time we left the grass and weeds were coming back.

This is the entrance to the Canyon Loop camping area.  It is a primitive camping area with several reservation sites available.  I walked our little poodle along this road a couple of times a day.

Here is one of the reservation sites in the Canyon Loop area.  The sites provide quiet and privacy.

The dam can be seen off in the distance.  It is located at the southeast end of the lake.

I zoomed in on the dam.  I did not want to take a chance by taking my camera with me in the kayak.

Here is the dam from up above.  There is quite a lot of water flowing out of the lake in spite of the drought.  The little white appearing dot in the lake is a man fishing out of his kayak.

This is a close-up view of the water flow.

Here is a close-up of the white dot in the previous picture.  Through the camera I could see his rod.  This lake is famous for huge tiger muskie. The keep size limit is 40 inches.  The muskie were planted here to clean out the carp.  We were told people could see waves of orange from the large gold fish (carp) before they put in the muskie.

 The stream exiting the lake can be seen from the Canyon Loop campsite where I walked the dog.  There is a trail down to the stream.  It is unimproved, rugged, and crosses the stream in places.  There is also a warning about the possibility on encountering rattle snakes.

Margaret waited for me while I took pictures of the dam, although she had walked up to it with me once before.

Storm clouds were rising at the far end of the lake.  There are houses dispersed along that part of the lake.  We were told it was not an organized community.

Across the lake from where we were camped, people are allowed to primitive camp.  I think there might be a risk of getting stuck if a huge storm occurs.  There are a couple of portapotties there, and a ramp entry to the lake, although unimproved. 

The boat ramp on the campground side of the lake is concrete and has a mooring platform.  This area of the lake is designated a no wake zone.

There is a nice children's playground.

Near the children's playground there is a area set aside for star parties.  The constellations shown here are etched in concrete slabs encircled by benches that accomodate the guest when a star party is presented. Can you name these constellations?

Here is one of the slabs.  Each of the constellations shown on the display board is etched onto a slab like this,  It would be redundant to show each.

The view here of the visitor's center does not do it justice.  It is where the showers are located.  These were recently added.  They are kept in excellent condition, and locked between 9pm and 7am.  They had trouble with the old facility that used to be next to the handicap site.  That unit was replaced by these rest rooms.  There is a vaulted toilet there now.  It was not inconvenient for us.  We just drove up to the visitor's center to shower.

I often close my blog post with a sunset, but today I will close with a picture of beautiful storm clouds forming near the west end of the lake.  We have had an extreme drought here in New Mexico so the Monsoon rains are welcome.

Things we miss while living in New Mexico

We really do love living in New Mexico, "The Land of Enchntment," but there are things we miss.  Since we moved from Idaho, I thought I would post some pictures from there to illustrate the point.  This lead image, for instance, is a beautiful weeping willow and trees from a neighborhood in Sugar City.

We miss the flowers that bloom in the spring.  These sugar babies adorn the front yard at our daughter's house.

Green lawns!  Very few people in New Mexico have lawns.  Water is scarce and expensive.

During the eight months while we were serving as camp hosts at Rock Hound State Park, we did not see bellowing cumulus clouds.  I have always been fascinated by these wonderful  cloud formations.  We are seeing some now in northern New Mexico now that the monsoon season has set in.

Swimming pools are a real luxory in most of New Mexico.  We certainly don't have them in the state parks where we camp.

We miss all of  our family, and we especially miss this talented son-in-law.  He knows how to fix so many things, and has helped us so many times.  Here he is welding a hitch on his new 5th wheel so he can tow his boat.

My next post will feature Blue Water Lake State Park near Prewitt, N.M.