New Mexico Oct 2007 (Day 9)

 Deming to Socorro

More Fossil Hunting

On a trip a few years back, I tried to find this site. According to a rock hounding book I have, the location has abundant fossilized coral. While on the last trip I didn't find anything, this trip I found several nice specimens.

	This is the beginning to the back-country road off I25. Not a big deal, even for a passenger car. In fact, the first time I was here I had rented a convertible, and drove up and over this hill.
	As you travel further, the road gets much rougher. This shot does not truly show how bad the road is; it is a lot rougher than it looks. High-clearance 4WD is required. I certainly didn't take the convertible up here, but drove it with the SUV. Just past this climb are the fossils.
	This hill looks just like many others in the desert southwest. It is about 2mi east of the Rincon exit on I25. But in this case, the hill is composed of fossilized coral. I have to assume that this was a coral reef about 100 million years ago!

Truth or Consequences Area

Truth or Consequences lies along the west bank of the Rio Grande, about 150mi south of Albuquerque. East of TorC is a "town" called Engle, where they are talking about building a "spaceport". I didn't take any shots in Engle. There was there was just a couple of Bureau of Land Management buildings, and a sign that said "end road maintenance".

	A view of Elephant Butte reservoir.
	A shot of the dam at the south end of the reservoir. Note how little water is flowing in the Rio Grande below the dam. You can see a couple of cars next to the buildings on the left for scale.
	This is Elephant Butte. It is so named because some people think it looks like an elephant (I don't really see that much resemblance, but what the heck).   Note the white "bathtub ring" which shows how far down the water level is.
	While driving out to Engle, I went over a bridge labeled "Rio Grande". Not sure how this could be the same river. The Rio Grande flows north-south in New Mexico, and this is several miles east of the reservoir and dam.
	One shot of the road out to Engle. It was a nice ride out there. But note the ~30ft drop to the dry wash, and the lack of guardrail!
	Another shot along the road to Engle.

The Very Large Array (VLA)

Towards the end of the day, I had a few hours of daylight left but was nearing Socorro where I was spending the night. There were a couple more places I could go, but they were either off-road (had enough of that earlier in the day), or 1hr+ east or west of the hotel. I was also pretty tired by this point and considered just checking into the hotel and doing some homework for a college course I am taking. But in the end I figured I was out here on vacation, and should make the most of it. And there were some nice high clouds to the east. So I made the 1hr drive out US60 to the VLA for sunset.