Heron Lake State Park | New Mexico

 

Heron Lake is quite close to El Vado, there are ospreys in both places.  This one was not as helpful with getting a good shot.

  

Scenery is great, but you have to take a little walk down to the water.  Good exercise though. 

 

Last time I was here, I was able to walk down to this river, but the steps down have apparently deteriorated and are blocked off.  At least I did get to hike down there once a few years ago. 

 

The dam is nearby this area - as well as another camping area.

 

The marina was a really pretty area. 

 

Not many boats, and I'm not sure why.  And I never found out how to get down there.

 

 

 

I was standing on the edge of the reservoir, which shows how low the water level is.

 

 

Another flower I don't think I have seen before, surprisingly how many little wild flowers there are. 

 

Some of these sites are great, I was lucky to get one of the spacious ones.

 

El Vado State Park | New Mexico

 

I wasn't sure I was going to like this state park, but the scenery is great!  I really enjoyed my stay here, but I sure was missing trees for shade.  And the internet - there's basically no signal here, although I did get a few messages out.

 

 

Ospreys are nesting this time of year in this neighborhood.  She was bringing her babies some breakfast - whole fish right out of the water.

 

 

For some reason, I think she looks startled in this photo. 

 

  

I love the scenery here, even the rocks near the boat ramp.

In one of the calm areas that is a bit sheltered, you can see the dam in the distance.

Shale Point was not far away and is different from the other areas - the shore is all shale that has been worn down into tiny pieces.  I guess it's not hospitable for plant life - not much there.

 

 

One evening we had a thunderstorm and even though this might look like a sunset, this scene was opposite the sunset and it was still misty.

 

Sunset that night.

 

Tetilla Peak Corps of Engineers | Cochiti | New Mexico

 

For some reason, the Rio Grande River is very muddy at this point.  This area has a campground that's spacious and is miles from civilization. 

 

 

 

It looks like the river is low at this point, with some very shallow spots also.

 

In the middle of all the browns and greens, this little area of color really stands out, and it was the only color around.

 

The tower for the reservoir stands out from here. 

Sailboats are very common on this reservoir, since it is a no wake zone. 

 

Kayaks are also popular, and people fish from them.

 

I love these signs on the road to the boat ramp, and this is very steep as you can see from the next sign down, indicating a steep descent.

 

It was so hazy one day we couldn't see across the reservoir to the other side, this is the resulting sunset after it cleared just a little.

  

Lots of money went into building this area, which is now unused and closed off.  They have at least a couple dozen of these picnic shelters that were never finished with a roof.  There were a few that were finished.

 

All different sizes of  RV sites were in the main camping area, and I got one of the nicer ones.  Unfortunately, not a water view but it's nice and large.

Little lizard was just hanging around one day, he's about 4 inches long, and then a long tapered tail. 

Cochiti Lake Corps of Engineers | New Mexico

There usually is a Corps of Engineers campground near the dams in New Mexico.  Water was running out of the dam for 3 days - at least, since that's how many days I went by it.  And this next photo shows it running down the Rio Grande on the other side of the bridge. 

 

The campground is a large facility and this is only one of the photos of the main area.

 

My campground was way to the left and up a hill - this shot was taken across the valley and up the hill to the visitor center.  Long zoom to get this one.

My photo shows only the main part of the reservoir, but it's quite large.

 

Up at the visitor centers, they always have interesting displays, this is a native Indian oven.

 

Huge boat ramp, but no wake is allowed in this area.

Control tower for the dam.

Most of the camping area is on some type of cliff or hill, so they made a beach just for water sports and swimming.

No wake - can't make much of a wake on sailboats!

 

 

I have no idea what these are, but it's interesting.

 

Sunset!  Finally got a nice one there. 

 

Tent Rocks is nearby and is definitely worth a hike - check it out.....  https://landcruisingadventure.blogspot.com/2014/09/tent-rocks-new-mexico-aka-kasha-katuwe.html