Sun Dial Springs, south of Glenwood New Mexico

On our way north from Gila, we stopped at Sun Dial Hot Springs. This is a really sweet place. Full hookups and pull throughs for 5th wheels like ours. Bath house. Several pools to soak in. It's located on a rise above the San Francisco River. To the west, on the cliffs across the river, you can occasionally see Big Horn Sheep. Once again, sorry, no telephoto! Sun Dial Hot Springs is open by reservation only, and pools are filled based on demand, so you gotta call ahead! Well worth the visit.

http://www.sundialsprings.com/

Silver City T.E.A Party

We stopped by the Silver City T.E.A party on April 15th. T.E.A stands for "Taxed Enough Already". The gathering was small, though part of a larger national effort. Parents were there with their children. If you have kids and you're not mad about the trillions of dollars of debt that the US Government is saddling your children with, you're not paying attention.

The Catwalk in White Water Canyon

While staying at Ceci's in Gila, we took a day trip to the Catwalk in White Water Canyon, just east of Glenwood. At one time, a large mill sat at the mouth of the canyon, powered by water piped down the canyon. The ruins of this mill are still visible. Frequent floods made the canyon a tough place to do business. We took the time to walk the one mile trail up the canyon narrows, it's well worthwhile. Whoever got the idea to install the catwalk, trail and bridges through this narrow canyon must have been crazy. The main structures are sound and *appear* to be above flood levels.

Ceci's Farm, Gila New Mexico

One day in Silver City, while we were buying fresh tortillas, we met a great lady named Ceci. Joanie and Ceci really hit it off. By the time we parted ways, we had her phone number and general directions to her place in Gila. About 10 days later, after we got down from Gila Hot Springs, we called and headed up to visit Ceci. After a whirlwind couple of days and late night meals with red wine, Ceci left for Colorado and we took care of her plants and animals.

Chickens. Eggs. Lots of eggs. Goats. Just weaned horses. Fruit trees. A green house full of young plants. Gardens. You get the idea. Ceci's farm. At first it seemed like alot of work, because we didn't know the ropes. By the time Ceci returned with her husband Wendel, we knew just enough to get it all done in just one hour in the morning and one in the evening. We enjoyed a great steak dinner with them after their return and then it was time for us to continue north, with fond memories of Gila.

Gila River

The Gila flows strong and surprisingly warm from the point where the three forks come together. We hiked down several crossings from the confluence. It was here that we came across the largest grapevines we’ve ever seen. The vine trunks were tree sized. Look closely and you’ll see where the beaver graze along the river.

If you don’t pull a trailer or drive a large RV you can access the Gila Hot Springs driving directly north from Silver City through Pinos Altos. If you do, make sure to stop off at the new Two Spirits café. The two fine ladies that run it serve great food.

Gila Cliff Dwellings

Not too far from Doc's, we visited the Gila Cliff Dwellings. These were built by the Mogollon people during the height of a long drought between 1275 and 1300. It's thought by some that the drought was so severe that the Gila River quit flowing during this time, and the spring fed stream on which the cliff dwellings are built was one of the few sources of water in the area. The dwellings may have been used for ceremonial purposes. At any rate, they were inhabited for only a brief time, perhaps only one generation.

Sometime after the Mogollon people left the Apache moved in. Geronimo claimed the Gila headwaters as his birthplace.

Gila Hot Springs

We made Doc Campbell's place our base of operations. Mornings were some of the coldest we've seen, they'd drop down into the teens. The heat tape and pipe insulation came in handy here.






Early each morning two dogs would show up from the ranch below us. That was the signal for the horses that pastured near us overnight to gather and walk down the road to the ranch. Each night they'd come on back. Darnest thing. No human involvement required.

Not too far from our camp, a large dead tree served as a rookery to 8 Great Blue Herons. They're paired up, though there's no sign of young ones just yet. Impressive birds to watch at a distance through the binoculars. Sorry - no telephoto lense, you'll have to take my word for it!

Doc's has an overabundance of hot water. The bath house is heated with radiant floor heat, which made showers a real pleasure on cold mornings. Out back of the bath house, in a small enclosed courtyard, we enjoyed a flow through hot pool. It was rather temperamental, it'd hit 110 overnight. With a little care, we were able to enjoy many good soaks, sheltered from the powerful spring New Mexican winds by the courtyard walls.

Gila Hot Springs, New Mexico - getting there

When we left Alamogordo, we headed south and west through Las Cruces, retracing part of the route on I-10 that we'd taken earlier when we left Arizona, thinking that we'd spend the night at an RV park in Deming, get some groceries, clean up a bit and then head north into the Gila. Bad idea. Deming was spooky. The wind was howling, dust was flying and the RV parks were disgusting. We checked two, then didn't even bother checking on the third. Instead, we headed north into Silver City. After Deming, the Silver City KOA looked like heaven. Friendly folks, a clean place. Silver City is a neat little town. We resupplied there and then headed north into the Gila.

We took the road east from Silver City, past the huge Santa Rita copper mine, through Mimbres and up into Gila Hot Springs where we spent the week. There are some steep hills to pull up and down, tight curves and narrow roads on 15 into Gila Hot Springs. We didn't have any trouble, though we did hear stories of folks burning up engines and transmissions and crashing off the road, so if you do ever take a big trailer in there, ya gotta be careful!

Once you arrive, the view over the Gila Valley is awesome.