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



Mud Creek | National Forest | Utah

 

This is my view of some of my neighbors after a storm that included 3 episodes of hail and lots of rain.  The storm lasted until late in the evening, but even before that, my site was full of muddy areas.  The photo below was one of my campsites.  This is National Forest land and locals usually bring in their RVs days before the weekend.  They will leave them until the weekend, and then come in on Friday or Saturday.  They bring boats and 4 wheelers for the trails.  On weekdays, it feels like a ghost town.

 

 

It's a pretty area.

 

 

I love to see the lake, which is Strawberry Reservoir, and this is  shot from my other campsite.

 

 

One of the other campers told me that the dirt road up into the aspens ended with a very large camping area, so I took a drive up there.  The further I drove into the aspens, the more the dirt road got rougher, with some big ruts.  I didn't want to drive my truck any further up, and I certainly didn't want to even think of taking my 5th wheel up there.  It sure was pretty up there though.

 

 

I took a drive around other areas of the neighborhood, very pretty.

 

 

Quite a few of the BLM camping areas have cattle on them.  Most of the time, the cattle are separated by a fence.  My cat has to see what's happening outside and loves the critters.  I think the cows are the largest animals she has seen. 

 

 

An entire herd of them were in the campground this day, well maybe only a partial herd.  They started moving down the hill in a large group, mooing all the way.  I knew someone had to be herding them, and soon, I saw a man on horseback with his dog.  The dog was having a great time, and doing a wonderful job also. 

After they invaded my neighbor's campsite, they moved on down the road.

 

 

Illipah Reservoir BLM Campground | Nevada

 

Bureau of Land Management does a great job with campgrounds.  This one is easy to find, just a mile or so off Route 50, which claims to be the "loneliest road in America". 

 

 

The campground is up on a plateau with hills all around.  There is some great scenery here, and the reservoir has great fishing.  Even with the dumpster available and the picnic tables with shelter, there is no charge for camping here. 

 

 

My campsite was up on a hill overlooking the reservoir.  They had shelters for the picnic table and you'll also notice that they have a fence type enclosure on two sides.  There's a really great reason for this - being up on the top of a hill in the mountains, this area gets lots of wind coming through and those fences block it if you want to sit outside.  However, the RV still gets the full strength of the wind and there were a few days with heavy winds that weren't much fun.  I might have stayed longer if it hadn't been for the wind, since it's a great campground.  I'm sure that there are times of the year that the wind is not as active. 

 

 

The campsites are large and nicely spaced.  Mine was a huge area that I thought I could do just a turn-around in, but it was a little short because of some rutted areas that were left from the rainy season.  In any case, it was easy for me to jockey it around to get set up.

 

There were cattle in the area, mostly on the far side of the lake, but we had some wandering through the camp one day.

 

You could tell that they had been drawing water out of the reservoir because there was a "low-tide" smell down at the lake.  This little rock outcropping was a spit of land out into the water where most of the people fished.  Obviously this was in the morning before the wind kicked up.

 

I don't know how old this, but it looked like a cute little house on Route 50 going to the reservoir.

 

It never rained while I was there, but there were some dark clouds one evening when the sun set.

 

 

 

Ute Lake State Park | New Mexico

 

Reeds and cattails are growing in this section of the lake.

 

 

This is not a very good photo of my campsite, but it shows how LONG it is - my truck is at the back, and I could put at least one more big truck back there.  It's great for people who bring in boats on trailers, as well as a huge Class A towing a huge trailer.  It's a shame not to have a boat here.

 

 

These people found their own private peninsula for their camping.

 

The park has about 5 entrances, some quite far from the main one, as the lake is 13 miles long.  Only two of the campgrounds have electric hookups.  These are some scenes from the south entrances. 

 

The lake has a very convoluted shoreline and there are many coves to visit - to see the entire lake would require a boat and lots of time.

 

 

When I came here, I had no idea you could get campsites right on the water.

 

The little town has it's own draw, they have some old abandoned buildings, like most of these towns do.  There is a decent little grocery store and other establishments.

 

The area is filled with marine places, storage and supplies - this is just the most eye-catching.

 

 

After the monsoon season was almost over, we did have a couple of nice sunsets.  This was after a couple of days with no storms.......