I figured it out !
Sunday is normally a quiet time, but not this Sunday. For some reason, Elephant Butte State Park has been really busy this weekend with lots of people and lots of traffic, and I don't know why.
I was reading on the Internet that to get New Mexico's public to go along with these State Park fee increases, they're giving the New Mexico residents free Park entrance from October 1st through April 30, every year. This very busy weekend is May 3rd and 4th, so that six-month free ride at the State Parks should have been over, but who knows, maybe they extended it for one weekend. I don't know the explanation, but I've never seen it this crowded before, except on holidays.
PS... I might have figured it out. Monday is Cinco de Mayo, and since I'm just about the only English-speaking person in town, maybe it's a three-day holiday and I just didn't know it. The more I think about it, the more I think that explains it.
Theboondork
Since I've been talking about how crowded it is at the Elephant, here are some pictures that kinda show that.
This is the boat launch ramp, and the vehicles parked beside it are everybody's boat towing vehicles, and this area is known as the lower boat trailer parking lot.
The upper trailer parking lot is just above the lower boat trailer parking lot, which you can see part of on the right side of the picture, near the top.
And this isn't the only boat launching ramp.
If everyone stays in their lane at the boat launching ramp, 10 boats can be launched at the same time. This wouldn't apply to me, of course, because when I was launching my boat back in Miami, I would easily take up three or more spaces, sometimes even accomplishing the almost impossible task of getting my truck in the water before the boat. Needless to say, my backing abilities did not improve while living and traveling in the Arctic Fox.
The boat launching area can become very busy when many people are coming and going at the same time.