More Silver City, NM

Friday March 2nd

Friday we drove to a Nature Conservancy preserve along the Mimbres River.  While we didn't see much wildlife, it was interesting to wander long the river and observe the ongoing restoration work to improve the site with a variety of plantings.  On the drive back to town we checked out Bear Canyon Reservoir, another park providing fishing as well as picnicking at a dammed lake.

Black Phoebe at the TNC Preserve

 

Old saw at the TNC reserve

Bear Canyon Reservoir

We also stopped at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site.  The Mimbres lived along the river as far back as 200 CE, first in a pit house village, and eventually in Pueblos built atop the pit houses.  They began as hunter/gatherers but transitioned to a more settled lifestyle, becoming farmers and building villages from 550 - 1140 CE.  They also produced the distinctive black and white pottery which bears their name.

Mimbres Chronology

Membres  distinctive black and white pottery -
the hole the the bottom of the pottery is made after death to allow the spirit to escape

They had no enemies as evidenced by the lack of bones with war-like scars, and traded with natives from as far away as Mexico, the coast and north to what is now part of Arizona.  Like many of the early cultures, there is speculation as to why the Mimbres eventually disappeared.  Some theories offered for the demise of a number of early cultures are severe drought and over population. We were lucky to have arrived while the museum was open since they are only open weekends in the off season.

Friendly museum cat

As we drove up the hill to our house, I was dumbstruck to see what appeared to be a deer statue standing on the road just beyond our Airbnb.  It took a moment to register that this was no statue, but a 2 point buck, which headed between the houses as I grabbed the camera.

We attended a free late afternoon concert sponsored by the Friends of the Library at the local library by classical guitarist, Peter Fletcher, an up and coming  national performer.  He has given concerts at Carnegie Hall and numerous other venues around the country.  His program spanned the centuries from Dowland to Satie, adding an interesting cultural highlight to our stop in Silver City.   We ended the day at the Little Toad Brewery for a late dinner and a hike back up the hill to our house.  We liked being close enough to town (ca a mile) to be able to walk to things we wanted to do in town.

Saturday March 3rd

Our original plan was to take the longer, scenic route Sunday on the way to Albuquerque, with a stop to see the Catwalk at Whitewater Canyon Park along the way.  But the forecast of the arrival another cold front Sunday, bringing strong winds (20 - 30mph west of the Continental Divide and up to 60mph east) with the possibility of snow in the upper elevations, had us rethink our plans. Rather than visit the Gila Cliff Dwellings Saturday, we'd do a day trip to the Catwalk and include a trip to Mogollon, a ghost town, at what remains of the once bustling site of the Little Fannie Mine which produced millions of dollars in gold and silver in the 1880s.

We started the day with a pre-breakfast birding excursion to one of the town parks along the San Vincente Creek in town.  Even with our early start (the sun hadn't hit the tops of the trees, we saw few birds, but enjoyed the walk.

Interesting burls on a tree by San Vincente Creek

Like everything out west, it was a long drive - 45 miles - to Whitewater Canyon Park. The Catwalk was originally a water line suspended above the canyon floor that brought water to run the electric generator at the mine. A 0.5 mile trail went up the canyon to the a 250' long metal causeway suspended 20' above the stream bed.  Originally a hiking trail continued for a mile beyond the walkway, up the canyon, but a fire and a recent flood destroyed portions of it, and it was no longer maintained.  One hiker we talked to was surprised at how much damage had been done - apparently it had been relatively easy to hike up the canyon on her visit a few years ago.

Cat walk suspended over the creek

Trail washed out from a past flood

We continued a short way before I declared I'd had enough.  Leonard continued a bit further, but said it looked like work to climb the canyon wall, so he turned back.  It was an unusual hike, with the water rushing under the walkway some 20' below. The original construction and maintenance crews certainly earned their wages - photos from that era show a very tenuous, fragile pipe that required frequent repairs!  Leonard wondered why they built the waterline since there was already water running in the stream - we had to drive through a running, albeit shallow, wash to get to the park.  If the water gets too deep to ford the creek, the road and park close. It rated as one of the most novel parks we've visited.

Mogollon  general store

Next on the list was was the  9 mile drive up to Mogollon.  I am the first to admit that I don't like steep drop offs and don't always relish twisty mountain roads without shoulders or guardrails.  The last 5 miles was one way with neither shoulders (think little gullies) nor guardrails.  Luckily not that many people chose to visit the highly rated (in the guidebook) town.

Line of mail boxes in Mogollon

Ore cars from when the mine was booming

Very old car in Mogollon -  note the wooden spokes in the wheels

Back in the 1970's a film was shot in town, giving it a bit of a revival.  In the hey day of the 1880's, the town had everything - bars, hotels, stores, 2 brothels (races don't mix) and a booming population.  Now a handful of hardy souls live there - we counted 9 mailboxes - and most of those are only there in the summer.  Nothing was open.

On the way back we stopped at the Aldo Leopold Overlook  - Leopold having been one of the instigators behind preserving wilderness areas, and this one, named in his honor, was the first and still one of the largest wilderness tracts in the country.  Leopold's definition of wilderness was a tract of land large enough to take 2 weeks to cross on horseback without any sign of civilization.

View from the Aldo Leopold Overlook -  it still take rangers days to cover the national forest 

We took a detour to Bill Evans Lake and drove part way to the Gila River Wildlife Habitat.  The lake, another reservoir, had a number of RVs parked along the shore, but lacked much in the way of trees.  Another five miles of gravel road deterred us from driving all the way to the wildlife preserve, but we did stop for a short walk along the Gila River before heading back to town.

Fuentes hawk

Western Grebes on Bill Evans Lake

Gila River - It starts in the mountains north of Silver City and flows south and then northwest past Tuscon and Phoenix and joins the Colorado River in western AZ  - It was dry in Tuscon!

Being gluttons for punishment, we stopped at the Market Street trail head at Boston Hill for a short hike before the sun set. It was another long day, and we were both tired by the time we turned into the drive at our Airbnb.

Stone maze on Boston Hill