elephant butte state park

Dispersed camping / Boondocking! Our first time this year and hopefully not the last. We stayed here for 5 days. Elephant Butte Reservoir is part of the Rio Grande. Absolutely loved these views right out our door. And at night the stars were amazing. Other campers were a good distance away. Someone commented "There are no trees. No privacy." Correct - no trees. We're on the beach. But no privacy? Look at these photos. No one next to us. I'd call it wide open privacy.

There are other campgrounds in this State Park that have electric and water. It also has a huge marina and boat launch. Several walking trails head through the desert or you can follow the shore for miles!

We got the little boat out and caught a few white bass, a catfish and a bluegill. There are Western Grebes everywhere on the water. They are similar to Loons but have a very different call. The first time I ever saw those was on Lake Osakis in MN. And here they are in NM too.

We celebrated Thanksgiving here. Squeezed a 12lb turkey into the oven. We definitely miss being with family for the holiday.