Itter Lakes National Wildlife Refuge

 March 13, I took a taxi out to the Wildlife Refuge to the east of Roswell. I expected a greuling hike after my arrival so I didn't want to burn myself out between town and the park.

Although the area is primarily intended as a wildlife refuge, especially as a byway for migrating birds, it's a great attraction that's developed with education in mind 

As a home to one of the largest bison herd ever in North America, the oasis that is now the Roswell area was a major draw to the indigenous people long before Europeans began to settle here. So the refuge is also a outdoor museum of history.

The land surrounding the park is typical Chihuahuan desert. Reading the section on the Chihuahuan desert in The Deserts of the Southwest. A Sierra Club Naturalist's Guide by Peggy Larson and Lane Larson makes me think, "Yep. That's my yard."

The trip out Pine Lodge Road has a few surprises such as the big solar farm, part of the source for Roswell's power (see the September 4 blog about Roswell's utilities).

The visitor center (see photo above) is loaded with information about the site and souvenirs that have nothing to do with UFOs. It also has a back patio with observational scopes to look out over the lakes and cliffs. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. They have events throughout the year but I intentionally went during a less crowded period.

They have an aquarium that displays some of the rare and endangered fish of the park including the Pecos blunt nose shiner, Pecos gambusia, and green throat darter. (I, hrm, failed to get a photograph, ummm, embarrassed.....)

You can check on events at their website:

Bitter Lakes National Wildlife Refuge

There is a string of several lakes fed by artesian springs. The waters flow through layers of gypsum and evaporites are evident at several places, especially at the northern reaches of the lakes  They lay in the Pecos River valley along Comanche Bluffs.

The park is home to many migratory birds including the sandhill crane. There are also over 90 species of dragonflies and damselflies. The park is on the route of the migrant Monarch butterflies. 

The oxbow lake at the southern end of the park seems to be popular with water fowl. Streams can meander pretty far in the flat areas of the desert, so much so that they can "meet themselves coming back", pinch off, and form a body of water separated from the stream.

Although it's hard to see from the ground, this aerial shot from Google Maps clearly shows the path of the oxbow.

The parent stream, the Pecos River is to the right of the photos. Here it is from its bank.

Although I didn't see evaporites on the ground much at the southern end, I did see this rock that was coated with the crystals.

There were a lot of different birds in the park but this wasn't a technical hike and I didn't have the equipment to catch them on camera. I will have to revisit the park with my tripod and lenses.

Wildlife refuges are great places to visit and are chosen for specific reasons. They're usually home to rare indigenous species or important stop over points in the migration of other animals. If there is one near you, you might want to visit with a camera 

Roswell: Highway 285 to Berrendo Road: On paper and in the movies

 The UFO thing has gotten Roswell into the public eye a lot.

Having met Dr. Gregory Reece and having recently moved to Roswell, I felt obliged to read his UFO Religion. It wasn't actually unpleasant. He is a very readable author.

His books have rather sophomoric covers but it's intentional. Dr. Reece is an avid fan of popular culture including comics. The stuff inside is meaty, though. His specialty is religious studies and he's interested in why people get so wrapped up in certain things that most other people have little or no interest in  He is not only readable but he's knowledgeable in his field.

But the thing that draws me to his works is that he's an adventurer. He's not only an academically trained expert in his field, he not only teaches what he knows, he lives what he teaches, and his books report his adventures. 

He's an Indiana Jones of sociology.

So, if you want to know about the UFO crash thing, I can't think of a better education than UFO Religion - the book.....well, except to actually come out here and explore for yourself.

There have been a lot(!) of books written about Roswell. By far, most of the widely known books are about UFOs. There is a book by Joseph P. Farrell, Roswell and the Reich, about some Nazi involvement with the town. I haven't gotten into that one yet. I do know that there was a prison camp for WWII prisoners of war in town, so we have interesting attractions like this:

The German Iron Cross embedded into the bank of Spring River  The park is a general memorial to prisoners of war. There's also a chunk of the Berlin Wall there 

There have been many local folks who have been published and even awarded for their works. Most have written about southwestern history and culture. Clarence and Joan Adams's Riders of the Pecos and The Seven Rivers Outlaws looks interesting. Other native authors include Rachel Wilson (AKA Alice Duncan), Ernestine Chesser Williams, and Jody Alpers  Other authors associated with Roswell are Paul Hogan, a Pulitzer Prize winning author; and John LeMay.

The Roswell High young adult science fiction series by 
Melinda Metz inspired the TV series Roswell. It's about stranded alien teenagers and their friends. 

There have been several other movies about Roswell and UFOs including Disclosure Day (2026) directed by Steven Spielberg.

Roswell FM is about a UFO based paranormal talk show host and his romantic and employment situations. It's a comedy that isn't actually about UFOs.

The horror movie, The Rambler, was partially shot on location in Roswell.

As for visual art, I'll have a lot more to say about that in future blogs because Roswell's artist-in-residence program, the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Bone Springs Art Space makes the town a legitimate hub of art and culture.

As for North Roswell, my part of town, there's not a lot of visual art, but this sculpture of a bear outside the Silva Law Group office at 3600 North Main Street deserves mention.

That covers my exploration of my section of Roswell and a general overview of the town.

I'll post blogs about each area of Roswell as I can (I'm already way ahead of myself having toured down to 1st Avenue, the center of town).

In the meantime, if you haven't toured your town, I'll bet you can find a lot more of interest than you expect.

Revisiting Berrendo Creek

 I missed an event in Roswell. I went one day too early. But it's monsoon season and I was in it. I used Intergalactic Transportation taxicabs (an intentional plug for a good outfit). At one point, we went right through the usually dry Berrendo Creek. It was running but I didn't have my equipment and, therefore, didn't get a photograph. But more flash flooding is predicted and I'm on the ready.

I did return a couple of days later and, although the creek wasn't flowing, it was clear where it would be if it were.

The water was standing on either side of Montana Road.

The ravine in town had some water in it, again not flowing.

I played around with the photograph to bring out the topography of the area 

It's hard enough to make a photograph that gets the idea across.

Berrendo Creek is currently an arroyo, normally a dry Creek bed but a respectable stream at flood level.

Finally, on September 30, rains returned and so did Berrendo River. On a supply run, I noticed that Montana Road was blocked and a little more walking showed why.

And in the ravine, the river flowed.

Roswell: Highway 285 to Berrendo Road: Life

Roswell is an oasis in the Chihuahuan desert and being such it provides many opportunities to view interesting wildlife from the microscopic

Algae colony from Cahoon Park on the Spring River Trail - Sunken Garden

To mega fauna like this

Deer I spotted on a walk back from town 

It is a place of wildlife refuges like Bitter Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Spring Run Parkway in the Center of town, and Salt Creek Wilderness. In the spring, the desert blooms.

Roswell has a small zoo, the Spring River Zoo, which is, in size, between a roadside attraction zoo and a large city zoo. It has tours and educational events and the staff seems to be dedicated to their mission.

The idea that a desert is a barren lifeless environment is absolutely incorrect. 

Human life is also important here.

There are two hospitals in town: Eastern New Mexico Medical Center and Lovelace Regional Hospital. 

Roswell Fire Department provides emergency medical services. There are many clinics scattered around the city and I've had some good experience with both public health services (I'm retired on a small pension) and general medical services. I have heard that availability of specialists is rather thin and there's a lot of travel between Roswell and places like Albuquerque and El Paso. I think I can say that the services that are available are good.

One of the joys of the United States is the vast diversity of landscapes and ecosystems to explore.

Roswell: Highway 285 to Berrendo Road: Attractions

 

Roswell doesn't look like a travel destination, does it?

Actually, tourism makes up a significant part of the city's revenue. The UFO museum along brings 220,000 visitors to the city annually.

The city is proud of its eight museums and there is a lot more to it than a UFO crash 

I'll be writing a lot about other attractions as I explore Roswell. My corner of town has the Bitter Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, a nature park that presents the Chihuahuan desert to visitors. I heartily recommend it.

I will be dedicating a whole blog to Bitter Lakes soon.

Roswell: Highway 285 to Berrendo Road: Food

 

Okay, I'm a foodie.....not quite a gourmet or a gourmand. I like to eat and I like to enjoy eating.

I also like to eat out and am delighted that Roswell is a foodie's paradise. 

There are a few low points but not so bad as to be a health hazard, or I haven't encountered any, so I just won't mention those 

The diversity astounds me. Roswell is a small town by anyone's estimation and even though the UFO thing is still a thing, it's dropped off to a large extent. I'm not sure how it supports the restaurants and motels here but they're not disappearing so I guess it does. 

Of course, New Mexico is inspired by Mexican culture and although I'm sure that even Mexico has subpar Mexican restaurants, Roswell has some fine examples. An old favorite, the Antigua Cocina  Mexicana, in North Roswell has changed hands and now is Geli's Mexican Restaurant. I haven't had the opportunity to try it but I've heard from old time returning diners that the quality hasn't diminished.

The fast food here is even (at least) edible. It's been thirty years since I have found a fast food restaurant that I wanted to eat at. Milkshakes are one thing.....eats are another thing entirely. All the fast food that I've eaten here has been good. A favorite in my home section (Pine Lodge to Berrendo) is Sonic. There are two that I know of in Roswell. The other is in the center of town. There's also a decent Panda Express fast food Chinese restaurant nearby.

In other parts of town there are excellent Middle Eastern, Southern US ("down home"), Italian, Western (steak House style), Chinese, Japanese, Caribbean, and at least one Cajun restaurants....all worth trying.

I always get surprised reactions when I recommend Alabama as a destination for people who like to eat well. Now I have another and I will gladly recommend Roswell, New Mexico.

What kind of food do you like and do you have any good restaurants near you? If you had to recommend an area for foodies to vacation in, where would it be?

Roswell: Highway 285 to Berrendo Road - Utilities

 

Roswell's utilities are interesting and, to some extent, unique. I've talked about the water utilities elsewhere. Individuals have wells like the one above, but they're monitored. We're in a desert and water is a little more precious here than in some other places I've lived.

It's convenient that the aquifer is clean and under pressure and doesn't have to be pumped. On the other hand, it's hard (full of calcium) and apt to damage plumbing. We had a water softener but it only lasted for a couple of weeks before the water from it tasted like acid. It turns out that our hard water, though well within Environmental Protection Agency limits, will still overdrive ion-exchange water softeners.

I saw this little stream on the way into town one day. It just appeared. Actually, it was an irrigation ditch. But the water was crystal clear. I hope it stays.

Roswell's electricity comes from solar farms 

Google Maps Street view of the solar farm on Pine Lodge Road 

This farm, Roswell Solar Energy Center, and the companion Chavez Solar together put out 140 megawatts of photovoltaic generated electricity. This is enough electricity to run about 105,000 average American homes. There are plans to expand these facilities. Other solar farms in New Mexico sell electricity to other states 

The panels track the sun and the facility provides storage batteries for times when the sun doesn't shine. The distribution station changes the direct current produced by the panels into high voltage alternating current for transmission.

I've traced lines from the farm shown above to my house. 

Most of the lines in the Roswell area are above ground.

There are a lot of wires running around. Most are three phase which ends up as 240 volts at homes  We recently had a thunderstorm that blew out one of our lines and left us with 120 volts only for awhile. 

For the usual arrangements, the top three lines are three 120 volt AC lines with a phase.difference between any two lines of 120 degrees. The single line below them is the ground wire. The thick cable on the bottom is a fiber optics cable for telephone, cable TV, and/or computer signals. They're strapped to tension wires to take the stress off them.

The next major junction after the solar farm seems to be this substation at the junction of Pine Lodge Road and Main Street.

The city is supplied by 115 kilovolt transmission lines. Massive transformers like those pictured above step the voltage down to 15 kilovolt supplies to neighborhoods. There are high tension lines that enter the city with backup supplies of 345 kilovolts.

There are fixtures on the power lines that look rather arcane.

This is a step down transformer which drops line voltage to house voltage.

Fiber optics systems have their own appliances. This loop of cable allows some slack in case the line is damaged and they have to cut out a piece 

This one really confused me when I moved into the desert. There's one of these metal grills between every other utility post. I looked it up and they're there to interfere with the standing waves that form on the line during windy days. 

This box transmits information back to headquarters, for instance, in case of a power outage 

The infrastructure fits us as a small town. I see posts about the roads being bad but I don't hear a lot of residents complaining and, as I walk, I don't hear a lot of cars hitting potholes as I have in much more populated areas where I've lived. Main Street is the best maintained roads followed by the main highways and the relief route (bypass). Main Street has sidewalks and bike lanes in decent condition. The further away from the main roads, sidewalks disappear quickly and quality of paving slowly decreases.

One side street, Pine Lodge Road, runs from the rural Pine Lodge neighborhood to Main Street at the north end of town. It is very rural with no shoulders and I walk it two or three times a week. It's work but it also lets me see much more of the desert and ranches 

We have the other utilities but I don't notice that many people use gas. Larger ranches have butane and liquid fuel tanks.

In general, Roswell seems to have what it needs and maintains it.