Canyon Creek pack trip

Pack trip to Canyon Creek on the Gila wilderness.  180 miles north of Silver city on the roads then 10 more miles by mule.  Geronimo was born in this canyon.

Trailhead Loco Tanks

Riding Slim Jim

Cliff Dwellings not on the map

Lake Valley rockhounding outing

 Rockhounding in the ghost town of Lake City.  The location of the most pure silver deposit ever found on earth.  One piece of silver weighed over 4000 lbs.  14,000 people lived here in the heyday.

 Pam in the black picking rocks

New House

Well we moved across the valley to a new house.  Our last place was quiet but now after being here at the new place quiet has a totally new meaning.  The house has horses in the front yard and the back is the boundary of Gila National Forest wilderness.  Lots of deer in the yard almost all the time.  Birds galore, News of mountain lion, panther, bear sightings a lot in this neighborhood.  We have not had any encounters but the yard has a 6' fence around it to try and keep the deer out of the gardens.

Back yard patio

Back yard

Back yard

Patio looking towards house from back of yard

Side yard

Patio looking from side yard back 

Side yard with all the rocks and rock saw in foreground

Front yard where we park

Front yard looking out

Horse pen in front yard

Looking back at house. Front entrance to the left of garage

Front yard

Big open Living room

Kitchen adjacent to living room

Looking out to patio

Hallway to the 4 bedrooms

Looking out garage to side yard and rock saw

Looking out garage doors

Front yard looking out dining room

They call it the lower box of the Gila River Petroglyphs

We went on an outing with two other couples which was supposed to be no more than a mile hike to see some petroglyphs.  This is an extremely off the beaten path location and Steve, our guide, was a retired sheriff and a local historian.  He was taking us to a site he had been to many years ago and not too many folks have been there.  So we drove 2 hours out of Silver City on dirt forest service roads through 2 mountain ranges.  Into the flats we drove about 20 miles more on dirt roads, then we entered the dry creek bed.  Good we had Pam's 4 wheeler as we really needed it.  10 miles at least down the creek till the boulders got too big to drive over.  Then we hiked about a mile to the destination.  The hike was like stepping onto the moon with the crazy rock formations from previous flood rains.  The Petroglyphs were fantastic.  In such a beautiful place it is easy to see why the indians favored this place, worshiped it.  There were so many petroglyphs that is was like indian billboards.  Then 100 yards from all the indian art was the Gila River with plenty of water.  A stark contraction to the desert we drove and hiked through.  A must do for visitors who can handle a moderate hike with dry sand and up and downs.  The couple who took us were both over 70.