A Little More Elephant Butte Plus a Little T or C

We've explored the South, or dam end, of Elephant Butte Lake and found that the birding was excellent just below the dam. There is a very short (~1 mile RT) trail that follows the riparian area where the Rio Grande flows out of the dam. Right now the water is extremely low but the birds were abundant and varied...different birds than we saw along the West and North portions of the lake. No pics of the birds but the variety was worth a mention for bird lovers.

Looking South beyond the dam, the riparian area is full of a variety of birds.

Looking North beyond the dam you see the "Elephant Butte" the lake is named after.

We've also explored Truth or Consequences, the "big" town just South of the lake. Renamed (from Hot Springs) after winning a contest sponsored by the game show of the same name in 1950, T or C is a struggling small town that seems to rely on the influx of tourists that visit the hot springs that run under the town and the recreation lovers that visit the lake.

Fence art.

White Coyote Cafe.

Art wall outside the Geronimo Springs Museum.

We've capped off our stay in this area with a soak in one of the T or C hot springs: Riverbend Hot Springs. Riverbend is the only hot springs that sits on the banks of the Rio Grande. They have slate lined soaking baths that range from 100 to 106 degrees. We chose to use the public pools for $10/hour each. If you stay in the lodge or one of the RV spaces (not particularly scenic) you can soak all you want for free!

Riverbend Hot Springs entrance.

Patio and soaking pools on the Rio Grande river.
This part of the river has a small dam to make it a little more scenic through town,
as opposed to the trickle we saw below the Elephant Butte dam.

Tomorrow we're off to Albuquerque for a week. Hans lived there in the early 80's for a few years so we'll see how much it's changed.