When we left Carlsbad we headed to Alamogordo. Here, we setup our base camp at Oliver Lee State Park.Oliver Lee turned out to be one colorful character at least, and perhaps, at most, a killer. He ranched around here after the civil war. As a democrat, it would appear he favored the South.
Oliver Lee ranched at the mouth of Dog Canyon on the west side of the Sacremento Mountains.
Dog Canyon has a reliable year round water supply. It's a beautiful hike up the canyon.
This is Lee's Ranch house. The adobe walls are two feet thick, providing great comfort in the extremes of summer heat or winter cold.
Another fellow tried to set up a ranch at the mouth of the canyon. They called him Frenchy. His adobe house is in ruin. For a while Frenchy and Lee got along. Ultimately, they fought, until, finally one year, Frenchy was shot dead on the day after Christmas. No one was ever tried for his murder. Lee got his ranch. Lee was implicated in the murder of other men, most famously an attorney and his 9 year old son, Albert and Henry Fountain. He was tried for Henry's murder and found not guilty...
And then, there's our little camp at the mouth of the canyon. On the vernal equinox we attended a star gazing party at a group pavilion a few hundred yards away. The presenting Ranger discussed the use of planets, sun, moon and stars by different cultures over time. When the sky darkened, we observed planets, galaxies, nebula and star clusters through several different telescopes. We also saw, for the first time, the Zodiacal Glow, on the ecliptic well after sun down. 
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