2019-20
Clayton Lake State
Park
(A Bonus Report)
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| clear skies, no pollution remote location NE New Mexico |
An Awesome night
Starry starry night…..
After returning from
Clayton this evening having spent the some time in town listening to
a group of singer/song writers I was filled with pleasant thoughts.
The sound of guitars being played to their top potential, listening
to newly created songs. Hearing a bit of the background behind the
inspiration for each song. Being surrounded by creative folks, many
with voices at their peak of perfection doing what they enjoy.
Watching the
remnants of the sun descend below the horizon, shades of red and orange highlighted the clouds and Rabbit Ear mountain. Arriving at the
campground just as darkness set in, I came inside the camper for a
short while, reading, reflecting on the day, then wondering about the
night sky. This region of the north eastern corner of New Mexico is
recognized by the International Dark Sky Association as being one of
those rare dark sky locations. Where we are able to "see the night
sky as our ancient ancestors once did".
So with that in mind
I bundled up and with a small pen light walked out onto the road
behind my camper. Only a few campers had lights in their windows and
I was able to position myself so they weren’t a distraction. The
few street lights in the park are dimly lit and only shine a small
pool of light directly below the light pole. Once I turned off the pen
light, I could not see my hand in front of me.
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| image acquired from internet, I did not take any photos with my camera/not compatible |
I looked up into the
pitch black sky, on a moonless night, as I have done often when out
west. The stars are the brightest, most brilliant I have ever seen. The Milky Way shone across the entire sky from horizon to
horizon, with not a single cloud to disrupt the view.
Constellations
literally screamed at me for attention and the big dipper was so
bright directly over my camper, I thought it might start pouring
stardust onto the roof of the camper.
I slowly circled
around to see the sky from every angle. Marveling at how clear the
Milky Way streaked across the sky and how bright each star was.
Remembering back when I would look up at the sky in other parts of
the country, or near a town or city and how so many stars would be
dimly lit. Not tonight. Each one, even the smaller stars, were as
bright and clear as the largest stars in the heavens. Overwhelmed would be an accurate way to describe it all.
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| Milky Way image, provided by internet I was not able to capture any images with my camera. but yes, this is what I saw |
Talk about an
experience that fills a person with wonder. Tonight was one of those
nights. And hoping to see it again tomorrow night as well.
If you ever have a
chance to visit Clayton Lake State Park, in the very NE corner of New
Mexico, in the high desert country, make sure you walk outside and
look up at the stars… WOW. What an experience. Yes the dinosaur
tracks are pretty awesome as well, but the night sky is the
attraction.
Part 2
Dinosaur Tracks
There ‘s a second
part to this little gem of a state park and that’s the dinosaur
tracks. The story goes that back in 1955 The New Mexico Game and
Fish Commission decided to build a dam as a bird refuge and fishing
lake. During construction they created an emergency spillway,
blasting away layers of basalt and shale. Many years later, 1982,
Clayton Lake would finally overflow into the spillway. The force of
the water would expose the final few inches of sandstone and debris
and reveal the 500 tracks that were created along the edge of a vast
inland sea. Now the story become even more interesting when I found
out that the park rangers are not the ones to have discovered the now
revealing dinosaur tracks. The tracks remained exposed for some
time, with no one noticing them after the waters receded from the
overflowing of the spillway. A Teacher from Colorado, who was camping at Clayton
Lake, was exploring the shoreline and found the dinosaur tracks along
the spillway. He then started to cut and dig out specimens of the
tracks clandestinely when no one was around. He was a bit late in his
nefarious endeavors late one day, when a park ranger came across the
earthen dam and saw the teacher lugging a specimen out of the
spillway. 27 years after the spillway was constructed, excavating
only inches away from the hidden dinosaur track the teacher would be
caught, the discovery of the tracks became known to the public and
internationally.
The tracks were
created over 100 million years ago. The majority of the tracks
belong to the plant-eaters of the Cretaceous area, the ornithopods.
A few tracks belong the sharp-clawed, meat-eating theropod dinosaur.
Imagine if you will the spillway which contains the 500 tracks that
are currently visible and how many more tracks are still buried in
the shale along the once ancient shoreline surrounding Clayton lake
and it’s spillway. Waiting to be dug up and explored.
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| digging down all these layers for the spillway revealed the dinosaur tracks removing more from this area would reveal even more tracks |
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| overlooking the spillway |
Needless to say,
Clayton Lake State Park holds some spectacular scenery from night
star gazing to dinosaur tracks, fishing and bird watching in season
along the migration paths. Even their visitor center is an
exploration in environmental architecture hay bale construction.
Needing little to no heating or air conditioning during the summer.
For an out of the way place, it’s a favorite of mine.
more photos:
