Silver City, New Mexico

Rose Valley RV Ranch
Silver City, NM
November 8-15, 2019


Silver City sprang to life during the summer of 1870 when, you guessed it, silver was discovered.  Miners and merchants flocked to the newly discovered boomtown located in southwestern New Mexico in the foothills of the Pinos Altos Range.  

The town's founders decided that Silver City would be "built to last" and in 1880 passed an ordinance requiring masonry construction for new buildings.

Despite all their careful planning,  a series of floods between 1890-1910 washed away the original Main Street.  It left behind a big ditch 55 feet lower than the original street. 



The Warren House was the only brick building along Main Street to survive.  





Today, in historic downtown Silver City, the streets are lined with art galleries and studios, restaurants and coffee shops, a university, and museums...mostly in the buildings that were  far enough away from Main Street and have withstood the test of time thanks to the 1880 ordinance.

November 9 : Our morning started at the Visitor Center.

We took a few minutes to enjoy the beautiful tile work that was on both sides of the entrance to the building.




In the 1970s the big ditch was slated to to be paved over to add downtown parking.  A group of citizens decided they wanted to create a green space and preserve the area.  Bridges were built for walking over Big Ditch...  

and trails were made for walking along Big Ditch.

 Big Ditch Park was also developed just below the Warren House.   I think this is much better than a paved parking lot ! 

One thing we found interesting while walking around town are the high sidewalks...some even had stairs.  The person responsible for them is Elizabeth Warren (she lived in the Warren House that survived the flood).  When her husband died, she had many different jobs.  


One of those jobs was a general contractor and she oversaw the shoring up of the sidewalks and buildings against the floods. 



Silver City is home to more than 50 murals.  Many of them were completed by the Mimbres Region Arts Council Youth Mural Project. 





 The Silver City Museum (admission is free, donations appreciated) is located in a restored home that was built in 1881.  

One exhibit of interest explained about the flooding in Silver City complete with actual pictures showing the devastation. 

But our favorite exhibit was Ranching in Grant County.  

The exhibit presents historical photographs, artifacts, and family histories to tell the stories of how ranching in Grant County has changed over the years. 










Families migrated to the area from Mexico, Texas, California and the Great Plains bringing with them diversity and traditions.  Raising livestock in this area continues to play an important role in the economy and culture of the region today.

Nearly half of Grant County's 4,000 square miles is home to livestock.  

November 12 : We also enjoyed time at the Western New Mexico University Museum.  WNMU has been an important part of Silver City since 1893.  






Flemming Hall was completed in 1917 to house a gymnasium and science department. Today, the 100+ year old National Register of Historic Building is the home for the university's museum. 

The museum is an open, light and climate controlled environment that houses the largest, most comprehensive collection of scientifically excavated prehistoric Mimbres materials from a single Mimbres site.  

The excavation site, located 40 miles away is NAN Ranch (NAN Ranch Ruin has also been added to the National Register of Historic Places).  Excavations began two decades ago.  Artifacts date back to ancient Mimbres culture the thrived in the area about A.D.600 to 1140.  The ruin offers the clearest picture to date of who the ancient Mimbrenos that were in relation to their Anasazi and Hohokam neighbors.  The picture below tells how Dr. Shafer almost declined the offer to excavate at the ranch...





Joe and I moved quietly and solemnly from shelf to shelf...totally in awe of what we were seeing and totally amazed at what we were reading.

Sometime after A.D.1128, the Mimbres had a room dedicated for brewing maize beer.  The large vessel shown here holds 147 liters...that is 39 gallons of beer !  

The lower floor is available for visitors as well.  There is a room with cabinets full of pottery that was not identified. 
And another room with baskets, candles, awls, cloud blowers, arrowheads, cuffs, etc.  I was particularly drawn to the baskets...


and sandals.  

I didn't get info on how old the basket is or the material used.  

But the sandal is dated 1050 with a  checker weave using a whole narrow yucca leaf.

There is no admission (donations accepted) to visit the museum.  If you are interested in pottery, artifacts, lots of information, and ancient cultures this is definitely a worthwhile stop when in Silver City.  We almost missed the museum...we had planned to go to the Catwalk Recreation Area (which we will have to do next time we are there) but woke up to a very chilly morning and decided on an indoor activity instead.  Afterwards, we had lunch as Jalisco Cafe.  We enjoyed that too !

Up next a National Monument and a State Park so stay tuned.  Until then, 

HAPPY TRAILS !

A Sunset

Gopher Flats
August 2019
Moab, UT

Living at Gopher Flats is perfect when you love red rocks, visiting with friends, nice sunsets, cool evenings and just being lazy.  The down side...it is hot in the summer !  We returned from our vacation to hotter temps than we had before we left.  In all the years we have been here, I can't remember an August being so sweltering as this past August was.  The great news is that those triple digits are all behind us and September and October promise to be gorgeous !

We were excited to get back to Moab.  Not just because it is Moab and we were happy to see Dee, but also because we had friends visiting from Saskatchewan.  This has become one of the highlights for us for the past 3 years...just an awesome group of people full of fun and excitement and boy do they love wheeling !  Their two weeks here flew by way too fast and we are already looking forward to 2020.  

Marc and Janelle (we all call her Nellie),

Marc's jeep returned to Moab this year with 40" tires.  He is an awesome wheeler.

This was the first year Nellie brought HER jeep.  We saw lots of smiles as she made her way (sometimes with Marc's help) on some pretty hard trails!

Luc,

Luc built this Cherokee and it's a very capable machine.  He always makes obstacles look so easy.  

Phil,

Phil takes his truck on all the trails...except Pritchett.  It is also very capable.

Kelsey and Scot

Kelsey never shies away from a challenge...always taking the hardest line. 

We read the best book The Longevity Paradox...How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age  by Dr. Gundry.  My blood work last March was not the best with high "everything" and I was told I was pre-diebetic.  That was a shocker...I thought I was pretty healthy !  Anyhow, in March we started making changes to our diet by eliminating sugar, enriched flour, and pasta. We didn't eat rice so that was easy.   Now we have stepped it up with less animal protein and adding more greens, beets, and olive and avocado oil.   Fasting is also an important part of his plan...basically, 14 hours between your last meal of the day and your first meal of the next day.  Joe and I do want to be healthy at a ripe old age.  We have been thrown some curve balls with Joe's diagnosis of cancer in 2014 and both of our parents died with Alzheimers.  To date, I have lost 16 pounds and shrunk 2 sizes in my waist and hips.  Joe has also slimmed up.  We have settled into a nice routine of going to the gym four days a week and hope to dust off the hiking boots very soon !  I promise I will not be "preaching" about diets anymore...we are just so jacked to be feeling better (and my high blood pressure is not high anymore) and to have more energy.


BUT wait...what is this ? A very weak moment after a long week of sweltering temps and mostly staying inside.  Date night in Moab is always tasty and beautiful. 

A gorgeous drive through Arches at sunset has a way of restoring my soul !  

We hiked up the short trail at the Windows section to sit and watch...so beautiful and peaceful !

Until next time,


















HAPPY TRAILS !

Grand Teton NP: Glacial Lakes...Part 2

Colter Bay RV Park
July 9-22
Grand Teton NP

On the way home from one of our hikes, we stopped at Jackson Lake Lodge.  Lodge ?...ummm...not like any lodge we have ever seen.  It is very elegant and grand.  They do offer lodges (cottages) near by as well as rooms on the 3rd floor.  There are restaurants (4 choices...fine dining with a view in The Mural Room, The Blue Heron Room for beer and burgers, Pioneer Grill for breakfast, lunch & dinner in a classic 1950's-style service, and Pool BBQ with music nightly) and shopping in the upper lobby.     

We were not interested in the dining or shopping, but we were wowed by the views from the 60-foot floor to ceiling windows which frame Jackson Lake and the Teton Range beautifully!

 We also made a pull-out stop at Oxbow Bend.  It is perhaps the most photographed place in the entire park.  The images of Mt. Moran reflecting in the Snake River are "famous". 

 Every drive we took, I was snapping away (thanks to Joe who kept the windshield spiffy clean) mostly with the phone. 



























Teton Park Road was my favorite route.  It took us to just about every place we wanted to go.  It goes right over the Jenny Lake Dam.

  And what a treat to have it all to ourselves most mornings !

This was taken on our way to hike the Taggart Lake/Bradley Lake trail.

Glacial Lakes part 2 begins with the 4th and 5th lakes in one hike.
 Taggart Lake/Bradley Lake (July 20)

The trailhead is on Teton Park Rd.  The parking lot is big and we had no issues getting a space, but when we finished, the lot was full with vehicles parked along the sides of the road in both directions.  We hiked 7.1 miles RT on this gorgeous loop trail.  There were several highlights of the day with the first being the roaring Taggart Creek as if made it's way through a forest of spruce, fir and lodgepole pines (Oh, how I miss that evergreen smell !) and some aspen groves. 

What the way to get the day going!

What a sound...

 Another huge highlight and a first for us was a bear encounter.  For some reason, I walk in front of Joe.  As we crested an incline and turned a corner, Joe quietly said "There's a bear."  I had walked right past it !  It was a juvenile black bear...quite a sight to see.
















He/she completely ignored us...

The Beaver Creek Fire in 1985 burned more than 1000 acres in the park.  It is recovering nicely...and offers outstanding views of the mountains.

The center peak is Grand Teton at 13,770 feet.

As on the other glacial lake hikes, these lakes were also gorgeous !  As were the reflections...

Bradley Lake

We did the loop in a counter-clockwise direction and reached Bradley Lake first. 

A zoom with the camera...

It is the smallest of the glacial lakes and is fed by Garnet Creek which flows off Middle Glacier.







Instead of continuing on the loop, we added a couple of miles to see where Bradley Lake begins.





Back on the loop, we veered right and climbed the moraine between the two lakes.  It was a good, steady climb before we reached the north edge of Taggart Lake



and headed back to the trailhead.

6. Phelps Lake (July 22)
Phelps Lake is the southernmost of the glacial lakes left behind by the glacier that formed Death Canyon.  It is a great choice for a quiet hike and even a better choice because it can be accessed at the Lawrence S. Rockefeller Preserve.  More on the Preserve later.  

Since this was our last day in the Tetons, we decided to do an in-out hike from the Preserve to Huckelberry Point on the Lake Creek Trail which was just over 6 miles RT. The trail however is a loop that circles the entire lake if you have time and energy. 

The trail isn't called Lake Creek for no reason.

Another gorgeous day!

Just past the bridge, we crested a hill and this time I was on my A-game!  Of course how could I miss.  A bear strolled right across the trail in front of us.  I felt quite satisfied with myself as I said, "Joe, there is a bear.".

 There is something very exciting about these sightings. My heart pounds and it takes a few seconds to compose myself so pictures are not that great.  And we don't linger for better ones !  This was our third encounter.

We slowly continued on our way (after thinking about turning around) as the bear moved on enjoying breakfast.

The forest part of the trail was green and thick...

  ...and we were very glad when we reached the clearing.

From here, we followed the trail to the juncture for Huckelberry Point, turned right and headed that direction.

It was easy to climb up that huge boulder, but how do I get down?

The views were incredible...

Looking to my left...

...and looking straight ahead.

I am so happy we decided to do these trails.  I had done a lot of research before we left.  Three of them were on our "to do" list.  It's nice to have plans and even nicer to change them sometimes !

I still have several more posts from The Tetons.  I haven't decided what to post next so stay tuned.  Until then, I'll close with a few favorite pictures.

 

Twinberry honeysuckle (Joe called them jelly bean bushes)

Cow parsnip

Wild roses

 HAPPY TRAILS !


FYI...