Sometimes It’s the Hike, Sometimes It’s the Destination

 

Signal Peak Trail. A 2.5 mile climb to the second highest peak in the Pinos Altos range, 15 miles north of Silver City, NM. Trailhead is at 7200’ elevation. Peak is almost 9,000’. We did it because it was there.

We blamed it on the altitude. Our pulse was beating in our heads with every step. We were both lightheaded and felt weak. An older gentleman with 2 dogs was coming down the trail. His legs bother him going down and he thinks it’s easier going up since he can pace himself. We tended to disagree at that point. He told us we were about a quarter of the way up. These were the steepest switchbacks so far. Jim said he needed to sit down. I suggested turning around. No, just need to rest. We split a Cliff Bar and continued on. We are normally fairly fast hikers but felt like we were barely moving. The switchbacks ended and we hiked along a ridge, climbing a bit more gradually. We got some occasional views of the mountains through the trees. We were feeling a little better.

 

We heard voices. A couple with a dog were coming toward us. We didn’t even ask them how far along we were, just said hi and continued on. Maybe we’ll be able to talk on the way down.

The switchbacks started up again, not quite as steep as the previous ones. Then this came into view. A fire tower, a couple small buildings, a picnic table, trash cans, an outhouse, a Jeep, and pink flamingos! We made it to the peak. Who knew we could have driven there, but what fun would that have been? And we made it in an hour and a half.

 

We sat at the picnic table and ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. A tough hike makes PB&J taste like a gourmet meal. There wasn’t much of a view from there so we walked around the peak to find a better spot. We heard a man’s voice from above. “Would you like to come up into the fire tower and see the view from here?” Sure, we’ll be right there. Well at least Jim would.

I started up the first flight like I wasn’t afraid of heights, then panicked on the second flight as I looked down through the open rungs of the steps. It took a few minutes and sitting down on the steps until I regained my composure and told myself this was silly and I could make it up there. And I was so glad I did.

We spent over an hour in the tower, talking with John the fire spotter.

Here he is lowering the map to show us.

We got a tour of his office in the sky. What a great place to work. He’s been doing this for 13 years, April through September. He and his wife retired and traveled in an RV for a few years, trying to find a better place to live than San Diego. They came to Silver City and loved it. They live in a 400 sq ft house on several wooded acres. He said living in an RV makes you realize you don’t need near as much as you thought you did. We had to agree.

Said he never gets bored and never takes the view for granted. Jim wants his job. Talk about million dollar views.

 

 

We hated to leave. John was a delight to talk to, and we were in awe looking out over 4,500 square miles of forest.

We literally flew down the trail back to the car. This was one of the steeper spots. We talked the whole way down and it took us less than 45 minutes. And we never saw another soul on the trail. This ranked up there as one of our favorite hikes.

 

We are definitely leaving Silver City on Tuesday, and won’t have internet for at least a few days while we explore the Gila Cliff Dwellings area and Lake Roberts to the north.

Hiking Silver City

 

Although I did some research prior to coming to Silver City, we had no idea there were so many hiking trails within a short distance of town. Besides the Boston Hills and Ft. Bayard hikes I already posted about, we discovered that the Continental Divide Trail, which runs from Canada to Mexico, crosses Hwy 15 just north of Pinos Altos, about 7 miles north of Silver City on the way to the Gila Cliff Dwellings.

It was a good climb up from the parking area, but finally leveled out and became very scenic.

We also did another great hike in the Little Walnut area, part of the Gila National Forest, just 5 miles from downtown. We took the 4.5 mile loop around Gomez Peak, which was a lovely trail, passing through pinon-juniper woods, then coming out along a virtual agave forest, with the century plants in various stages of growth.

 

For at least half the hike we had panoramic views of the Silver City area, and didn’t see another person on the trail.

 

We started our last couple hikes from the Dragonfly Trailhead, about 2 miles down the road, part of the Ft. Bayard area of the Gila NF. We did the three mile loop which traverses a riparian area along Twin Sisters Creek and passes by some petroglyphs. It was another nice trail, an easy, mostly level hike. It rained off and on the past couple days but we managed to get in another hike there with Elliot, where you are allowed to let dogs off leash.

This is why they call it the Dragonfly Trail. Jim just loves petroglyphs.

We extended our stay here another week and have several more trails in mind for other hikes. So far we’ve only encountered a handful of other people on all the trails we’ve been on, which really makes for great hiking. And we’ve enjoyed exploring the quirky town of Silver City, even though we haven’t found any good pizza here.

Playing Tourist in Silver City

 

Besides all the hiking opportunities and watching the bike race, we’ve been busy the past week in Silver City. One afternoon we visited the Western New Mexico University Museum.

No photographs were allowed inside, but WNMU Museum has the largest permanent exhibition of Mimbres Mogollon (translation: really old as in 1000-1250AD) pottery and artifacts in the world. This is a small sample of what we saw. It was a really beautiful collection of interesting pottery, baskets, tools, jewelry, etc.

They also have a display about the history of mining in the region, and the history of the university. It is well worth the price of admission, especially since it is free.

On Saturday mornings at 9:30 there are free guided tours of Ft. Bayard, and since we are only about 3 miles from there, Debbie and I decided to check it out. That was too early for Jim, and since it didn’t involve eating, he chose to pass. It was a smart move on his part. Nearly two hours later I finally made up an excuse that we had a lunch date and had to go, not realizing it would be such a long tour. And we weren’t close to being finished. I hate to say anything negative about the docents who volunteer their time to give the tours, but we were the only two people who showed up for the tour and we felt like we were held captive! Live and learn.

We did learn a lot about the fort (not a walled fort like most of them), and the Buffalo Soldiers who were stationed there. This is a monument of Corporal Clinton Graves, one of the soldiers who fought the Apaches and received a Medal of Honor.

 

Our new Canon Sureshot A1200 malfunctioned during the tour, so I didn’t get many pictures. It is going back and a new one is on the way. We have not had good luck with cameras.

The parade grounds and officer housing.

Most of the original buildings are gone, but there is still an old hospital, movie theater, and National Cemetery. What I found most interesting is that after the fort was dismantled, the hospital became a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. The high altitude, low humidity, and daily sunshine were thought to be good for TB patients. You sure didn’t want to be alive before antibiotics. Wonder how many throats were burned!

If you like history this is an interesting place to visit. You can pick up a brochure in front of the museum (one of the old officer’s quarters) and take a self-guided tour, or plan to spend a few hours with the docents one Saturday morning.

2012 Tour of the Gila

 

 

The Tour of the Gila 5 day bicycle race is advertised as one of the toughest in the country. If you’ve ever been to the Silver City area, elevation 5900 ft and higher, you would know why. It’s definitely too hilly and challenging for us to ride around here, but the pros like that sort of thing. Yesterday we went downtown to watch the pro men’s criterium, 40 times around a one mile loop through the downtown streets. We got there just as they were starting off.

We learned years ago after seeing the Tour of Georgia that a circuit race or criterium is much more interesting than watching a road stage. After standing around forever waiting for the riders, Lance Armstrong and his US Postal Team zipped by us so fast we could hardly tell who they were. And that was it for the day! The following day we watched them do a circuit race around downtown Rome, GA, where they went round and round multiple times and we actually got to see them much better. It’s also good to stand at the top of a hill since they are going a bit slower.

This was Jim’s only picture of Lance Armstrong, in the yellow jersey, missing his head.

This was the first time Debbie had been to a bike race, and I think she enjoyed it, too, although she got nervous watching them take the corners. We just like the colors, sounds and of course the possibility of a big crash. Fortunately for the riders there were none.

Having ridden bikes for years, we really appreciate the effort and training it takes to become a pro cyclist. Here’s a short video as the riders were turning a corner. Enjoy. We sure did!

Meeting of the Minds

 

An interesting thing that’s happened numerous times since we’ve been on the road is meeting other bloggers. We don’t intentionally seek out these people and hunt them down, but if we see that a blogger is in our area, I don’t hesitate to contact them and arrange to meet. And we have had people do the same with us.

The other day I saw that Randy from Mobile Kodgers fame was near Silver City with several other boondockers, parked in the Gila National Forest. We exchanged a few emails and decided to try and meet up in downtown Silver City during the Tour of the Gila criterium races. After one of our hikes a couple days ago we thought we might be close to where they were parked, so we went exploring on a couple forest service roads. We didn’t come across any areas where there was boondocking, and were about to turn around, when we spotted a group of RVs. Sure enough, it was them, so we stopped to introduce ourselves. We felt a bit funny intruding on their space, but they made us feel welcome and we had a great visit.

As of now there are four people in their group, with four more expected to join them soon. From left, Jim, Debbie, Lynn, Laurie, Randy and the elusive Boonie, the other famous blogger. His blog, Occupation of Independence, can be quite thought provoking. Both Boonie and Randy have been full time RVers for many years.

We spent a couple hours of stimulating conversation, and were treated to two songs by singer/songwriter Laurie Theodorou, who just released her first CD.

As much as we enjoyed meeting the Community Caravan group, the highlight of the afternoon was getting to meet Lynn’s new Corgie puppy, Rain. We all thought she had to be the cutest dog ever!

Thanks for the hospitality, and we hope to meet up again somewhere down the road. (Sorry, Boonie, the “net of doom” will have to wait for another time.)

Silver City, New Mexico

 

We’re spending a week at Manzano's RV Park, just a few miles from downtown Silver City. For a commercial RV park it is quite nice, only 18 sites, very clean and quiet, with lots of trees. It was also the least expensive park in the area, at $130/week.

One day we did a little window shopping downtown and hiked the Boston Hills Open Space, with 25 miles of trails overlooking town. This was a former mining area, and there are fences around some of the larger mines. I think every one of them we saw had a broken part of the fence which allowed access. We figured since this is a college town, the students come out and party in the mines. And shoot at the signs.

Nice views from the trail.

  

We did another hike at nearby Ft. Bayard, which was established in 1866 by Company B of the 125th U.S.Colored Infantry, also known as the Buffalo soldiers. There are still quite a number of buildings standing, and a few miles beyond the fort we entered the Gila National Forest.

Our hike took us to the “Big Tree”, the second largest alligator juniper in the country. We pondered how anyone could be sure this was the second largest, but who are we to question? It was just another excuse for a hike.

The Big Tree. Its diameter is 70.2 in, circumference is 18 ft. 4 in, crown spread is 62 ft., and height is 63 ft.

 

It really is a big tree.

We had another adventure that involved meeting a couple of famous bloggers, but I’ll leave you in suspense and save that story for another post.

City Of Rocks State Park, New Mexico

 

 

City of Rocks State Park is an easy 43 mile drive from Rockhound, on the way to Silver City. There is an electric and water area just past the visitor center, but we stayed there a few days last year during a bad wind storm, and this time we really wanted to camp among the rocks. We were lucky to find a couple fairly level sites in the Pegasus campground, and we are the only ones here. Plus it is free, with our New Mexico Park Pass. Can’t beat that!

 

There is not much to do here except hike around the rocks, which we did yesterday, or walk the 3.5 mile trail around the perimeter of the park, which we did this morning. You can add an extra mile to the trail by going up to Observation Point. It is just a lovely quiet place to relax if you like big rocks!

 

Saw lots of lizards, horned toads, and one friendly snake on our hike today.

This is the first time we’ve been without hookups in a very long time, and we are happy to see our solar is working like it should. Debbie is happy, too, since she only did a couple days of boondocking after Jim helped her install a second panel back in December 2010. We’re planning on doing a lot of Forest Service and BLM camping this summer, so it will be nice to have. 

Time to climb some more rocks!