The Rest of Oliver Lee Memorial State Park

I started out early this morning because I wanted to explore this park before it got hot.

There are two trails and I wanted to climb the beginning of Dog Canyon Trail by myself. Later Matey and I walked the short Riparian Nature Trail.

Dog Canyon Trail is steep, and in less than 10 minutes I was well above the campground. Looking west the sun was just hitting the San Andres Mountains.

That’s us, in the middle in site 1.

My mind was kept from the steep, difficult trail by the flowers I started to see. This is Utah penstemon.

This is featherplume.

And there it was, my first cactus in bloom for the season, scarlet hedgehog cactus.

The trail was steep, and tilted in places,

and sometimes pretty rough.

More scarlet hedgehog cactus.

I was gaining height steadily, and the lightening sky made the shadows I walked in more pronounced.

To the east the sun started to kiss the highest cliffs.

With all this beauty around me perhaps it’s understandable…

That when I found myself on a narrow, dwindling trail and turned back I found I’d missed a switchback.

Ah, that’s better. I was now crossing from state park land to national forest land.

Well, yes, I meant to stay on the trail. Going off-trail here would not be possible for more than a few feet, after that you be skidding or rolling down the slope.

Here’s a good view of the whole campground.

The sun was moving across the valley. This photo was taken just before 8 AM. I like the shadow of the mountains out on the plain.

The new leaves of this little mesquite juxtaposed with this yucca stopped me in my tracks.

After less than a mile I came to the first plateau. I would have liked to walk further, but I needed to get back to walk Matey.

I’d climbed 510 feet.

The campground was now well below me.

The sun was coming closer, it was time to leave this beauty behind.

At 8:30 I was almost down and the sun had reached our trailer…

and was illuminating the upper part of the canyon.

I got Matey and headed back…

to the Riparian Nature Trail, which was still in shade.

There were cottonwoods…

and trickling water…

along this easy, well made trail.

We headed back from the shade…

to the sun downstream.

We were going to look at the partially reconstructed cabin of “Frenchy” Rochas, who lived here from 1886 to 1894, but first we came across this section of dry stone wall he built.

He only lived here eight years, but in that short time he built his cabin, rock walls to confine his cattle and protect his plants, constructed an irrigation system and had an orchard and a vineyard. Poor Frenchy was found shot in the chest in 1894.

This afternoon Bud and I walked up to the Visitors’ Center where there is a small museum. Besides artifacts excavated from Frenchy’s cabin, and items donated by the family of Oliver Lee who collaborated with Frenchy on the irrigation and ranched here for many years, they had items from the Jornada-Mogollon people, including these shell pendants, which caught my eye.

Walking back from the museum I passed a Chihuahuan Desert Garden, funded and constructed by the New Mexico and Otero County Native Plant Societies. Here was scarlet hedgehog cactus blooming beneath a honey mesquite tree.

And looking across the valley I saw that the dust from the weekend’s winds had finally settled and you could see White Sands in the distance.

This is definitely a park I’d be happy to visit again.