We stayed near Silver City for 3 days on our way to Elephant Butte. I love to check out small, historic towns. They are always interesting. It's also nice to find a couple of cute shops and a cozy restaurant. We toured Silver City one sunny afternoon and ate in the local brewery. Other activities included running around the dusty roads near the Manzano RV Park and visiting the City of Rocks State Park. That's it for our 3 night stay, which means only 2 days for fun.
Silver City - Downtown
We hiked at the City of Rocks State Park which was 20 miles from Silver City
We spent 10 days in the Elephant Butte Lake RV Resort which is within walking distance of the same named state park. I made the reservation in August. When we arrived on November 5th I wondered why I chose Elephant Butte. Not much to the town; it is small with no shopping or restaurants just tons of storage places for boats and RV's. There is a lake but we don't boat or fish. But it turned out to be a great place for biking and running. There is a paved path thru the town and paved and gravel paths along the beautiful lake. We did several long bike rides and didn't have to worry about crowds or traffic. The RV Resort was nice, our space was huge. Our next door neighbor was a very talented singer/songwriter with a recording studio in his Prevost Bus and a keyboard, several guitars and full set of drums in the trailer that he pulls. He was very fun and entertaining. He also let me drive his go-cart around the resort. Thank you Larry!
The Resort:
Elephant Butte Lake - Beautiful but a much smaller lake/reservoir than years ago due to the drought.
The Rio Grande River flows thru the Lake from the north and passes thru the Elephant Butte Dam at the southern end. The river is also greatly depleted due to the drought.
Larry's Setup at the Resort - Quite impressive. Below is a video of Larry singing a song he composed about the nearby "Turtleback Mountain".
Rattlesnake Island in Elephant Butte Lake - Not an island any longer due to the drought. We biked there twice. The second time we rented a Specialized E bike (pedal assist only) for me. I didn't want to like this bike but I loved it. It rides just like a normal bike and the pedal assist makes the sandy, rocky roads much, much easier. We are considering a 2022 model. Yay!