Geronimo Trail Scenic Byway

Nov 3/17  Weather high 74/low 41.  Spectacular Fall Day.    It was one of those perfect riding days.  The colours.  The smells.  The sun.  A ride to a neat little village for  lunch and back with beautiful views around each corner.   It is the essence of what makes us so happy to be snooping around. 

Geronimo Trail

The Geronimo Trail honors the great Chiricahua Apache Warrior, Geronimo, who was born west of here in today’s Gila Wilderness.   His great grandson (a medicine man) honored a plaque marking his birthplace near the Gila Cliff Dwellings.  Interestingly enough  the great grandsons name is Harlyn Geronimo.  Last name Geronimo!!!   While riding the scenic byway you could look up and imagine the landscape with Apaches on horseback watching us make our way along the route which is unspoiled—quiet, pristine, and teeming with wildlife and now the fall bringing out the luminous gold leaf Cottonwoods.

fall colours in a gulch along Geronimo's trail

From the Jornada del Muerto (Journey of the Dead Man)—the roughest and deadliest part of the historic Camino Real, which served as the main route north between Mexico City and Santa Fe—the Byway rises to more than 8,200 feet in the Black Range Mountains.
Emory Pass Vista in the Black Range Scenic Area reveals a magnificent view to the east for more than 40 miles.

View from top of Emory Pass

Going East you will descend into two ghost mining towns that once had up to 9,000 people living in the area.

Hillsboro General Store Cafe

Now Hillsboro has less than 150.  We found a very old General Store that is decorated in the local antiques and has a small cafe with all the old time accents.   There is a tiny little old post office from the 1800's which still serves the population.

Hillsboro Post Office

Our ride back to Silver City on the same route was just as great; odd how it always looks different going the opposite direction :)  Silver City is the perfect spot to explore all of this area.  Glad we found our way here.

Serious Strip Mining

Nov 1/17  Weather 70, 40, sunny. 

Santa Rita/Chino Strip Mine

300 ton mining trucks - look like ants in the roads

Little did we know that this area is huge mining country.  With the name Silver City we assumed there would be some old ghost mines but we were so wrong.  There is a mining scenic tour of 16 different mines in close proximity.  The Santa Rita/Chino Open Pit Copper Mine is the 3rd largest in the World!
The southern New Mexico mining town of Santa Rita no longer exists, even as a ghost town, except in the memories of those who lived there.
The ground beneath Santa Rita has been blasted, shoveled and trucked away over the last century to feed the world’s demand for copper, leaving a hole a two miles wide and 1,500 feet deep.   It is so large it can be seen from outer space. 
Since the mid 1800's the Apaches, Spaniards, Mexicans and now Americans have all obtained native copper and copper ore from this site.  There are silver, gold, zinc, copper and iron ore mines here.  

aerial shot of the mine

In the campground there are maybe half a dozen of us (siteseeing) and the rest of the sites are all miners.  The fellow camped next to us is here for 17 months fixing equipment while the company is opening up a gold mine that was previously closed.  His company is from Arizona and he has been all over the world - Indonesia, Africa, Brazil and now here.  He leaves everyday at 4 am and comes back about 6 pm, pretty dirty!  He loves his work, he has long days for several in a row then he will be off for days..... then back to the grind again.  Sounds like it pays real well and he had only good things to say about his profession.

trucks are over 300 tons and dwarf a regular size pickup

Trail of the Mountain Spirits & Gila Cliff Dwellings

Oct 31/17 Weather sunny, high 60's to 70 for the next week so we are destined to get to Silver City, New Mexico; elevation is just under 6000 feet.  With the warm autumn season we will not have frost at night and fairly nice riding weather during the day.   Leaving interstate 10 the road is quite good for a motorhome (north US180) and about an hour later we arrived at Silver City KOA.

our map for the ride

the byway is back and forth; sensational motorcycle road

Our main reason to camp here was to ride out to the Gila Cliff Dwellings.  These interlinked cave dwellings were built by ancient Puebloan people in the cliff alcoves between 1275 and 1300 .  Archeologists have identified 46 rooms which they believe housed up to 15 families.   Plan on 6 to 8 hours on The Trail of the Mountain Spirits Scenic Byway.  It crosses six climatic zones and a broad swath of the Old West territory made famous by the daring exploits of Native Americans, Buffalo Soldiers, frontier families and scurrilous outlaws (Billy the Kid). 

the dwellings from a distance on the hike up

think about how they built the inside structures into the cliffs

walking inside the rooms

From the trail head station it is a mile hike with some steep rock climbing.  Instead of hiking boots we had our motorcycle boots and that was a good thing as it is a bit rocky and rough.  We saw a few little lizards and a snake (eek!!!) on the trail.

this little guy blends right into the rock

You can walk into several of the cave dwellings and ponder how these ancient people built these rooms and structures with no tools.  Hard to imagine life almost 800 years ago here.  

Billy climbing down the ladder from the dwellings

Taking a picnic lunch would be a smart thing.... but on our Harley we had a couple bottles of water and a bag of Frito Scoops!!!   When I put the chips in our backpack Billy was laughing at me; but he was glad we had them.  There is no place to eat out there!!!    The ride back gave us time to think about how fascinating the ancient people of  the West were.  Did you know the Mogollon - early Puebloan's were a very small people.  The men were 5 feet at the most and the woman were 4' to 4' 5".  Obviously small but "mighty".   They are known for their unique pottery style  - Mimbres black and white. 

Mimbres pottery