Return to Maxwell National Wildlife Preserve Maxwell, NM

Back in October of 2013 when I had a whole three months of full-timing under my belt I visited the Maxwell National Wildlife Preserve in northeast New Mexico.  I reviewed it here:  Maxwell Wildlife Review .  The Lake 13 (that's it's real name) was so low from drought at the time the camping experience then was somewhat diminished so when I heard that the lake had refilled I made plans to return.

Someone got real creative in naming the lake.

When I pulled into the campground with the Tank I could barely believe I was at the same place I'd camped three years ago.

Lake 13 refilled!

For the first of my three nights I had the campground completely to myself.

The Tank all by it's little lonely.

My first campground review didn't include a data sheet on Maxwell so here's one:

Hookups:                                             None                                      

Fire ring:                                              No                              

Water Access:                                     Yes                 

Fresh Water:                                        No                  

Trash Service:                                      Yes                             

Toilets:                                                Yes (vault)                             

Showers:                                             No                              

Dump station:                                      No                              

WiFi:                                                   No                              

Level sites:                                          Yes                             

Laundry:                                              No                              

Store:                                                  No                              

Pool:                                                    No                              

Shade:                                                 No                              

Verizon reception:                                4G, 2 bars                               

Internet reception:                                2 bars              

Cost:                                                  Free for up to 3 days

This time I had a reason to take the kayak off the Tank's roof.

The early morning water was like glass.

 Lake 13's comeback from what was almost a big mud puddle to where it is now is just amazing!  The Maxwell National Wildlife Preserve is one of my all-time favorite boondocking spots.  Only bad thing is you only get to stay three days!

Thanks for reading!

Happy National Hamburger Day!

This "holiday" was just the excuse i needed to drag out the new grill!

Yum!

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!


Thanks for reading!

Campground Review: McHood Park Winslow, AZ

Starting my meander back northeast towards Michigan I spent several days camped at McHood Park located about five miles southeast of Winslow, AZ along Clear Creek and the reservoir it creates,

The park sits above Winslow's reservoir created from Clear Creek.

McHood Park is a nicely maintained, quiet park that was about half full during my stay.  Campsites are given out on a no-reservation, first come first served basis and there are three basic types in the main camping area, paved pull thru, gravel back-in, and paved sites next to picnic tables near the swimming area.

The Tank's pull thru.  The grill didn't have long to live.

Pull up campsites nearer the swimming area.

Then there were three really nice and secluded campsites with a ramada covering the picnic table somewhat away from the site but all were occupied when I pulled in.

If any of these are available jump on them!

Here's McHood Park's data sheet:

Hookups:                                             None                          

Fire ring:                                              No                              

Water Access:                                     Yes                             

Fresh Water:                                        No                                          

Trash Service:                                      Yes

Toilets:                                                Yes (flush)                                         

Showers:                                             No                                          

Dump station:                                      No                  

WiFi:                                                   No                                          

Level sites:                                          Yes                                         

Laundry:                                              No                                          

Store:                                                  No                                          

Pool:                                                   No                                          

Shade:                                                No                                          

Verizon reception:                                4G, 3 bars                   

Internet reception:                                3 bars              

Cost:                                                 Free for up to 14 days

There is also a large day-use area with picnic tables and water access to Clear Creek on the other side of the creek from the camping area.

McHood Park's day use area across Clear Creek.

The park boat launch into Clear Creek.

One factor that isn't conveyed in the above pictures that prospective McHood Park campers should probably be aware of is it is REALLY windy there most of the time, at least during my stay.  I had my charcoal grill sitting on the picnic table at my site and a strong gust of wind picked the grill up and threw it on the ground with enough force to break the top half's handle and severely dent the bottom to the point that I left it in the park's dumpster when I departed.  I really liked that little grill too!

I mentioned in the data sheet that there aren't electrical hookups at the park but there IS a dual electrical outlet in the bathroom that could be used to emergency charge a cell phone or other small electrical device.

It's a really nice camping experience at McHood Park and I would suppose that the part of May that I stayed there is normally the windy period and it's not like that the rest of the time so take that with a grain of salt.  I've placed it on the "Will return" list on my camping database!

Thanks for reading!