Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Clayton Lake State Park | New Mexico

 
This is Clayton Lake, and to the right are what's left of old cottonwood trees that were alive before they started building the dam. 
 
 
This is the type of land that I drove by to get to Clayton, totally meadow, ranch land and lots of cows.  I was lucky enough to get a couple of photos of antelopes.  I certainly saw more than these, but there are some places you just can't stop for a photo!  I was also lucky to see a couple of cowboys rounding up some of the cows - yes, just like they used to - on horseback!
 


The lake was beautiful, when I could catch it without the monsoon clouds. 




While building the dam here in the 1950s, water washed away some dirt and left ancient dinosaur tracks in the hardened soil.  Supposedly there were multiple varieties here and there are over 500 prints.  It rained the day before, and I think it shows in the photos better with the water.





I thought this was interesting also, dried mud cracks that were petrified under all that top dirt that got washed away.  This was dried puddles along the shoreline of an ancient ocean.


Town is interesting, with some distinctive buildings.....  The library does have a new building.


This looks very much like the "wild west".

This one is interesting, I have no idea what this was when it was inhabited.


Sunsets gave us some pretty color on the scenery.



 

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