We moved just a few hours north back into New Mexico at Oliver Lee Memorial State Park. Back in the Tularosa Basin, the other side of The White Sands in the Chihuahuan desert, the park sits at the base of the Sacramento Mountains. It looks to be another great hiking area with a 5.5 mile Dog Canyon National Recreation Trail rising 3,100 feet in elevation.
The park's namesake, Oliver Milton Lee (1865-1941), was a rancher, U.S. marshal, gunman and one of the most colorful characters in New Mexico history. Crinoids and other fossils riddle the area limestone and native american people have used the canyon pathway for 4,000 years.
The area was the site of many battles between the US Army soldiers and Apache. However, Apache and Army skirmishes aren't the only interesting stories of the canyon. A French homesteader near the mouth of the canyon named Francois-Jean "Frenchy" Rochas ran cattle and cultivated an orchard in the area. He was found murdered in his cabin in 1894. The State Park has partially reconstructed Frenchy's cabin and the walls he built to contain his cattle remain in and near the campground.
In our short hikes we found several mortar stones along the wash area, one containing the stone mano used to grind seeds. We hope to hike the longer trail tomorrow if the weather clears. We spend the few rainy periods in the rig, playing with blue. Being the young man that he is, and given to exploration, he has found a place under the dash to hide when we are not playing. One more reason to have him on a leash as we go traveling down the road.
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