September 23, 2021

Clayton And Dinosaur Tracks

Clayton Lake State Park Clayton, New Mexico

There was a city park directly across from the campground where I was able to take my morning walk.

Today we left Kansas.  This is the first time that we have taken time to enjoy being here.  Earlier visits had us traveling on windy, rainy days or chunking away miles on the interstate.  There are some beautiful places to visit. It was only about a mile of driving and we were in the panhandle of Oklahoma.  This is what Oklahoma looks like:

After another 70 miles, we arrived in New Mexico.  We drove into the small town of Clayton, parked the RV, and went for a bike ride.  We found a coffee shop and shared a pumpkin spice cappuccino out on the deck.

We saw this big white dome gleaming in the distance and pedaled over to see the Union County Courthouse.

We found, quite by accident, the Herzstein Memorial Museum.   The Herszsteins owned a general store in the community.  They were known to be kind and generous people.  They had a foundation that supported this museum, housed in an old church.  The collection of artifacts from the ancestors of the locals is tremendous.  The director gave us a personal tour.  She has a strong passion for history and for all subjects Clayton.  We learned about the Santa Fe Trail, the Dustbowl, WPA, Black Jack Ketchum, the Herzstein family, and lots of other stuff!

I was charged with finding our home for the night.  Clayton Lake was the perfect spot.

We spent some time this afternoon riding around outside the park.

We did see these pronghorns.

Later, we hiked the Dinosaur Trackway at the State Park.

Seeing these diinosaur tracks was amazing. They are some of the best preserved tracks in the world. This state park was built in 1954. At that time, a dam and spillway was created. In 1982, the spillway flooded and the dinosuar tracks were revealed. There are about 500 tracks. Each depression in the rock is a footprint. Scientists believe there are 4 different kinds of dinosaurs represented. These tracks are 100 million years old. I don’t care who you are…this is really COOL! It makes one feel kind of insignificant in relation to time.

The elongated depression in this picture is an impression of the dinosaur’s tail. The footprints indicate that the dinosaur was slipping in the mud and it used the tail to steady itself.

Ancient prehistoric worm burrows.

More tracks.

Little lizard with a blue belly.

Lovely evening.