Hiking the Hydra Trail at City of Rocks State Park

Wow!  City of Rocks State Park is as dramatic as we thought it would be!  Only one square mile in size (that's not a typo), it packs a big punch. The rocks were formed from tuff (solidified volcanic ash) laid down millions of years ago.  The soil around the tuff eroded, leaving large formations, which split due to heat and ice.  In turn, the sections of rock that had split were further separated from each other and rounded by erosion.  The result:  a City of Rocks!

We wandered through the main cluster of rocks yesterday when we arrived, but planned to hike the park's major Hydra Trail today.  Because we also wanted to shoot down and go rockhounding in Rockhound State Park south of Deming (see the next blog entry), we decided to start our hike with coffee before breakfast in order to finish it before noon.

The sun was low, as was the temperature, when we started:

Aside from the main "city" of rocks, there are groupings of rocks scattered around the park.  Our first objective was a smaller grouping we call "The Village" nearby, which is near the highest point in the park that serves as an observation site:

From the observation point, we could see the main formation of City of Rocks, including the campground, which is comprised of sites scattered through the rocks:

Some beautiful sotol graced the heights of the observation point:

After we wolfed down the breakfast we packed with us, Kathy posed with some desert friends at the observation point:

It's hard to understand the landscape around City of Rocks without seeing this panoramic view from the observation site high above the City of Rocks.

The Hydra Trail is over 3 miles long.  With our climb to the observation point, the total hike would be almost 4.75 miles.  Hiking back down from the observation point, we saw a rock that cast an almost human shadow on a neighboring rock.  It made us think of Native American beliefs that such rocks are their ancestors, and we wondered what ancient soul is expressing him/herself in that shadow:

Hiking further around the City of Rocks, we reached the side trail up to the top of nearby Table Mountain.  We would have liked to have time to climb to the top and wander around the table, but we had a full agenda for today, so we took a pass on it.  Next time.

The Hydra Trail passed far above the north end of the City of Rocks.  It looked diminutive from this perspective:

The Chihuahuan Desert is sparser and has a more wide-open feel than some deserts.  Cactus are fewer and further between.  We spotted this prickly pear cactus which, sadly, looked as if it may be fading:

A few large washes cut through the northern reaches of City of Rocks State Park.  This is probably the largest, and it was impressive:

As we circled around to the west side of City of Rocks, we got a view of Cook's Peak beyond the main grouping of rocks.

Toward the end of our hike, we returned to the main grouping of boulders, and David bounded up to great his old buddies:

Perhaps one of the iconic rocks, this "forefinger" makes a statement, with a classic windmill and Table Mountain in the background:

We finished our hike and rested before heading out to Rockhound State Park.  When we got back to our campsite here in City of Rocks, we took a quick shower, but as we returned to our RV, Kathy spotted sunset gracing the City of Rocks, a harbinger of good fortune on our travel across the Southwest as we head toward California for Thanksgiving: