GREG WOOD HAS STAYED in 33 of New Mexico’s 35 state parks as a volunteer (construction and a wildfire caused him to miss two). In exchange for an annual camping pass (currently $225 for an out-of-state resident), he and his “wonder pup,” Freddy, spent two weeks at each state park in his 13-foot camp trailer and published a blog, Ramblings from the Road, with photos and descriptions.
You can camp all year in New Mexico. There’s not a lot of states you can do that in. There’s amazing diversity. New Mexico goes from the deserts to the mountains, so it’s a neat place.
The ranger would save me a really nice electric site. Then the ranger would meet me and escort me to the site. All the other campers were like, Who is this VIP?
There’s a lot to explore that you can’t do in just a weekend. I would hike all the trails. As a photographer, there are certain times the light is really good—morning and afternoon—so I’d plot out where I wanted to go, then I’d spend a couple days writing the blog.
I wanted to have fun, too. I didn’t want to just go in there and zoom, zoom, zoom. I recommend a week at any campground.
This summer, I’m camp hosting at Verlot, by Granite Falls, in Washington. Only 23 sites, right on the river. I met so many nice camp hosts in my travels, and they kept telling me what a nice thing it is. So instead of driving, this is what I’m doing.
New Mexico goes out of its way with the visitor centers—they’re like mini-museums.
It was a blast. All in all, I can’t say any are bad. Every park is unique in its own way.
