Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM

Emory oaks at dawn, Site 12, City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM, March 14, 2009

Emory oak

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the Emory oak:

Emory oak (Quercus emoryi) is a species of oak common in Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas (Big Bend National Park), USA, and northern Mexico south to Durango and San Luis Potosí. It typically grows in dry hills at moderate altitudes.

It is a live oak in the red oak group, retaining its leaves through the winter until the new leaves are produced in spring, and is a large shrub or small tree from 5-17 m tall. The leaves are 3-6 cm long, entire or wavy-toothed, leathery, dark green above, paler below. The acorns are 1.5-2 cm long, blackish-brown, and mature in 6-8 months from pollination; the kernel is sweet, and is an important food for many mammals and birds.

The tree is named after the United States army surveyor, Lieutenant William Hemsley Emory, who surveyed the area of west Texas where it was discovered in 1846.

Night camp

Site 12 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood NM

Verizon cell phone service - fairly good signal - best on west side of the park
Verizon EVDO service - faster than many places I've camped
Go to City of Rocks State Park website
Locate City of Rocks State Park on my Night Camps map
Check the weather here

That Ideas Should Freely Spread

If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it. Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.

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