Exploring the Elephant Butte State Park

Spent most of the gloriously warm day wheeling about the several access roads/trail areas belonging to the Elephant Butte State Park and which are accessed via Rock Canyon Road.

But first, the sunrise:

It wouldn't get gloriously warm till about 10AM, but I woke to temperatures in the mid-40s outside which felt just fine compared to previous days!

I checked out several of the access sites, all of which provide nice sandy/dirt trails leading to the waters edge.  Had to engage 4WD in some deep sand spots but the Sammy had no issues!

At one of the trails, I stopped the Sammy below, in order to not spook the flock of pelicans? that were sitting on a sand bar, basking in the sun.

Even with the 30x Optical Zoom capability of the Sony HX80 that I also had along with me, it took me a while to finally get close enough for the last shot:

shot from near the Sammy

about halfway in between the Sammy and the birds

closest I got, perhaps 75 feet from the birds?  Not sure.

At a nearby spot, I almost walked up to this Heron who was watching the water.  Luckily I stopped in time to get a shot before he flew away.

At the South Highlands Point, there was even a copse of trees which some late Fall Colors.

Even wandered down some rough trails on land apparently managed by the Bureau of Reclamation.  Not much found and I turned around when the going got too technical.

So an enjoyable 5 or so hours of wheeling around.  Got back to camp to get cleaned up and then headed into the nearby town of Truth or Consequences to do some shopping at the Walmart (computer mouse died).

Got gas and then joined Mike W. and his lovely wife Laura at the nearby Denny's for dinner.  Good time.

After dinner, I headed on back to camp, locating the camper with no issues at all.   A good day!  It's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow!