Rockhound State Park

Deming, New Mexico - Sunny skies and beautiful, high 61, low near 30

Why do they turn their head just as I snap the photo??

Our plan for this morning was to get up early and drive to Spring Canyon to look for Ibex and do some bird watching.  I heard a bird just outside our coach and went to investigate.  It was a Sage Thrasher (from the Mockingbird family) so his song was unique.  I ran in to get my camera and guess what?  Yep, dead battery!  I was practically in tears with disappointment.  There go our plans for the morning.  New plan - we're going to stay another night.

The campground is temporarily out of water and we knew that when we pulled in but our fresh water tanks were full and we thought we were only staying one night.  Now our holding tanks are full and the fresh water is empty.  So we unhooked, drove to the visitor's center, filled the fresh water tank, came back to the campground and emptied the holding tanks at the dump station.  Now were ready to begin a new day with our new plan.

After lunch, we rode over to Spring Canyon in search of Persian Ibex and take the Lover's Leap hiking trail.  It's a half-mile trail but rather steep in some areas, narrow foot path with lots of loose stones.  We were prepared with our Nikon zoom lens and binoculars.  But, alas, no Ibex, no birds, no wildlife.  Disappointing!

Denis has a new-found respect for the prickly pear cactus.  Coming down the trail he slipped on those loose stones I mentioned earlier and his feet went out from under him and he landed on a prickly pear.  Ouch, those little needles were stuck everywhere.

I wished all wildlife would stop and pose like this cottontail

Persian Ibex - A photo of a photo, sorry