SILVER CITY, NM and Surrounding Area

We woke up this morning in Silver City, NM to a slight frost as the temperature went down to 29 last night.

Silver City is at an altitude of 6200 feet and came into existence when silver was discovered and silver mining is still a big part of the area. Prior to that it was the stomping grounds of the Apache Indians. Silver City’s other claim to fame is that Billy the Kid spent part of his youth here and was said to have been arrested twice while living in Silver City, both times for stealing. In addition to mining Silver City has developed an artist colony with a section of the downtown set up strictly for artists to retail their wares.






Downtown Silver City, NM









We went downtown for a coffee this morning before heading out to Whitewater Canyon and the famed Catwalk. The canyon has been worked so that people can follow the trails for about 1.1 miles in and the same back out. They have built a catwalk through parts of the canyon so that you can walk right inside the canyon with the water running under you. It was only a little over a 2 miles hike but it felt like it was ten miles as everything was up and down. It certainly got the heart rate going. Kathy kept asking me if I have paid the insurances premiums this month.

Even with the difficulty of the climb the scenery was spectacular. I have posted a bunch of pictures and just hope that they do justice to the actual beauty that was there.

After leaving the canyon we headed up the road to an official ghost town and it is called Mogollon. The drive to get there was a big part of the fun as it is 9 miles off Hwy 180 and the first 4 miles were fine. The last 5 however proved to be an adventure as it narrowed to one lane and climbed over the mountain and down the other side to reach Mogollon. We ran into a couple of other people and it was a tight squeeze getting by each other. I had to 4 wheel drive to turn around as I almost got stuck in the snow and mud.

When we pulled into town I realized that they knew my brother in law. There was a painting on the rock face just as you entered town that proclaimed it was “ Ricky Donny Time “ After having a quick look we headed back to Silver City and called it a day.

It's Ricky Donny Time in

Mogollon