Daylight showed us the wonder and majesty of the rocks within which we were camping! They are fanciful monoliths of ancient eroded volcanic ash that can be up to 40 feet high that tower all around in strange shapes. Some are balanced on their sides or on top of other rocks. Others were obviously used as grinding stones by the prehistoric people who first lived in this area. One was worn all the way through an eight or ten inch slab! We had a great time climbing all over and around them. But having spent an hour or so in them we felt it would be best to be on our way to avoid the coming storm. We drove east and south on I10 through Las Cruces and El Paso. We considered a state park with unusual sand dunes on I25, but it was mid-afternoon by the time we got to where I25 split off. It would have taken us a good hour and a half north of where we are heading so we decided instead to go to Balmorhea State Park, where they claim to have the world’s largest spring-fed swimming pool. It is interesting to see the 1.75 acre pool which was built in the 1930s, is 25 feet deep and stays at 72-75 degrees year-round. There are also canals that now lead to a restored ciénega (wetland). Like all the other Texas State Parks we’ve stayed in they have electricity and water at most sights and rates are usually around $15.00 which is quite reasonable. But having seen the pool, and not being interested in swimming with the air temperature in the high 50s, we’ll make do with another one night stand here and move on to South Llano River State Park, which will get us closer to our next major destination of the San Antonio-Austin area.
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