I stayed during the “Bomb Cyclone”, don’t you just love all the new words for bad weather.
I bought an Annual Camping Pass $225 for out of state which allows me to stay for free if I don’t want hook ups or $4 for w/e and $8 for full h/u where available. So this 10 day stay was free.
Oliver Lee Memorial State Park is 12 miles south of Alamogordo NM and is a beautiful place on the edge of Dog Canyon. Plenty of hiking and history.
The story of Oliver Lee depends on who is telling it. He was a rancher and maybe a bit of an outlaw. He did have a really cool ranch house, which you can tour. The restored home is full of period pieces from the area and the self-guided tour of the grounds will show you ranch life in the desert.
All of the campsites are on the hillside and mostly level with picnic tables and fire rings. Every site has a great view.
Out of the 10 days, most were windy and overcast. The day of the bomb produced a full 24hrs of wind and a little hail.
It is almost always windy in the valley so keep that in mind when parking on a hillside, orient your rig facing north or south, out of 10 days I only had 1 day of winds from the west that really rocked me.
This was also my first time using my solar more than just a day or two, everything worked perfectly and considering the amount of time it was overcast I had no problems.