Clumsy Fool

Adventure Location: Brantley Lake SP, New Mexico
Teams Location:  Brantley Lake SP

EDIT: I drove past the Sierra Madre Astroblume today and did not know what the sign was talking about.

Seems to me the wind is blowing rather stoutly.  When you look out the window you can see trucks and RVs rolling down the road.  Brantley Lake is four and a half feet higher on the downwind side of the lake than the upwind side.

Finally an easy day of travel was had.  After two days in a row of 350+ miles each, it was wonderful to only roll about 105 miles and be set up by noon.  That is even after a Wal-Mart stop in Carlsbad to load the pantry and refrigerator.  Of course the first thing at the campsite that the clumsy fool known as the OFM had to do was step in a critter hole and twist his right ankle. In spite of that event camp was set up before noon.

On entry to the State Park (SP) an annual pass was purchased for $225.  That covers the normal entry fee and basic camping fee of $10 until the end of May 2013.  So the OFM Teams could literally live in the campgrounds for 53 more weeks at no more camping fees cost.  That annual furnishes you with water, a site, dump station and use of the facilities in the park. Another improvement for the park is that they now accept credit cards. That makes life easier for me now.

The Traveling Team chose the same site we were in before.  There was especially good reason this time.  The site is just on the downwind side of a knoll.  It has a few trees to help shade the hot evening sun from getting to the Castle.  Additionally no other campsites can be seen from my picture window at the dining room.

The fragrances from all the flowering desert plants are great.   Even the severe winds are not dissipating the fragrances before they arrive at my nose. Here is a picture from the Castle’s door showing the lake and the huisache in bloom.  Man that is some sweet sniffing.

It is very hot in the afternoon and chilly in the morning.  My trips out this afternoon were limited to about thirty minutes each and then some time inside in the AC.  Here in no particular order are some of the many flowers and berries from this area.

The birds think these are great.

The campsite is roughly elevation 3300 feet as my first stop in trying to acclimate to higher elevations.  Being able to handle higher elevations would be great when you are trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.