Elephant Butte State Park, NM

2 Nov, 2017; Elephant Butte State Park, NM

Lots of water; lots of sand . . .

The day started out so well!  I got hooked up with a minimum of fuss and left Santa Fe.  The drive was smooth and I reached Elephant Butte in early afternoon.  Signed up for a week of primitive camping and a campground map, I drove around looking for a great spot to spend the week.  Outside the developed campgrounds, there are a number of areas for dispersed camping.  I wanted a spot by the water so I followed the gravel roads along a ridge and then down closer to the beach where I saw several large trailers parked right on the beach.  

Seeing a fire ring with a lot of space around it, I pulled off the gravel/sand road to pull the trailer around so that my door and patio would be facing the water.  Usually, when I'm somewhere in sand, I get out and check the surface - but it had been a long day of driving and I could see much bigger rigs parked on the beach.

Within seconds, I knew that I had made a big mistake.  I had driven right into an area of deep soft sand.  I put the car in low and tried to maintain even forward  momentum.  Alas, the car ground to a halt and I was stuck.  I put the car into 4wd-sand mode and  tried rocking the car back and forth a bit - nothing.  I dug out the front tires and stuck a couple planks I carry for leveling under the tires - nothing except the front tires digging in deeper. 

Did I mention that it was about 75F?  I was hot, dry and frazzled.  Finally, I gave up - unhooked the trailer and tried again.  Finally, with boards and stabilizer pads under all the tires, the car inched up and forward. Moving the two wood planks that I had under the front tires and repeatedly inching forward, I got the car to firm sand and then back to the visitor center.

At the visitor center, I had to confess to my errors (despite having been warned of this exact problem when I checked in!!).  Thankfully, the park hosts have seen this frequently and had a few options for me.  First, they called the park ranger who agreed to come 'evaluate' the situation.  He wasn't allowed to tow trailers - but was convinced to 'evaluate'.  The hosts said that, depending on what the ranger said, they might be able to get me out with their truck at the end of their shift (about an hour off).  Failing that, I could try to get a local wrecker or AAA tow truck out from somewhere.

The ranger met me on the beach and we surveyed the situation.  I must have looked pretty pathetic because he agreed to pull me out - only because my trailer is so small and the job looked easy.  Within minutes he had backed up, hooked up and with very little trouble - pulled the trailer onto the firm gravel road.  I won't confuse the towing abilities of a Honda Pilot SUV with a full-size pickup with dually back tires - he had no trouble navigating the sand with my little trailer in tow!

Final setup on a ridge

Whew!! I was so relieved!!  And no longer interested in parking on the beach at all!  But, apparently my lessons in dealing with sand were not over.  I found a suitable spot on a gravel ridge and started to unhook and set up.  As the trailer came off the hitch ball, it rolled forward - over the chalks that I'd set!!!  I haven't ever had this happen before, but the gravel was apparently soft enough that the trailer just rolled over the chalks and buried them!  Fortunately, I got the trailer hooked up again and rolled the trailer tires onto the wood planks I use for leveling and they provided a stable surface on which to place the chalks.

Lesson Learned:  On sandy/gravel put the trailer tires up on wood planks so that I have a hard surface for the chalks.

By the time, I finally got set up I was really ready for a glass of wine!!

The view from my trailer!

One a positive note, the lake is pretty, the Verizon cell signal is strong (4GL-4/5 bars) and I get a half-dozen or so very clear TV channels on my Jack Antenna.

One small slice of a 360 degree sunset