Sumner Lake State Park, New Mexico: A Big Drink of Water

Sumner Lake State Park, near Fort Sumner, New Mexico

When I arrived in New Mexico in September 2012, it was in the grip of a long drought and still suffering the effects of some severe forest fires.

Sumner Lake State Park, near Fort Sumner, New Mexico

The 2013 monsoon season in July and August brought deep gulps of water to some areas, but neglected others. As recently as early September, some lakes were still parched. (I haven't written yet about my visits to Storrie Lake, Santa Rosa Lake, or Conchas Lake in mid-August, but they were down to or near their minimum pool levels then.)

This changed in mid- and late September, when sheets of rain and flooding came.

Sumner Lake State Park, near Fort Sumner, New Mexico

When I visited Sumner Lake State Park the last weekend of September, it was fat with new water. A park ranger told me that the lake had risen 27 feet in the past week. Twenty-seven feet.

Sumner Lake State Park, near Fort Sumner, New Mexico

The liquid song of the lake drew me to crouch down and move my head closer in. Listen for it at :19 below. 

Sumner Lake State Park, near Fort Sumner, New Mexico

Parting Gifts from New Mexico: Little Yellow Butterflies

On my penultimate day in New Mexico, on my way from Sumner Lake State Park to the Bosque Redondo Memorial, I drove through little yellow butterflies.




I couldn't get a decent video of the butterflies on the road, but they were also at Bosque Redondo. 

Never had I seen such a thing.

Credit: Wikicommons, Harrelson

I like what this writer had to say about the Little Yellow Butterflies: "My daddy used to say, 'When you see the Little Yellow Butterfly crossing the road, it means fall is on the way.'"

Driving through fluttering yellow butterflies along freshly-cut alfalfa fields on a glorious sunny day is a pretty special experience.