High desert forests of piñon, juniper and stately Ponderosa pines hug the Trail of the Mountain Spirits National Scenic Byway in New Mexico. Silver City earned its name and boomed in the 1870s when silver was discovered behind the Grant County Courthouse. Today, it serves as a base with amenities and all manner of lodging for modern-day explorers wishing to learn the history of the area and enjoy recreational possibilities and the scenic wilderness vistas.
The Scenic Byway is a triangle winding through the 3.3-million-acre Gila National Forest between Silver City to San Lorenzo to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument and back to Silver City. From an overlook near San Lorenzo, visitors can view the Chino Mine, an open-pit copper mine. On NM 35, adventurers can visit Lake Roberts and crest the Continental Divide.
At the apex of the scenic byway lies the Gila Cliff Dwellings, structures built in caves above the Upper Gila River by different groups of ancient peoples over thousands of years. A short drive back gives visitors the chance to climb the steep 300-plus steps, walk through the dwellings or view them from the canyon valley. The climb down is more strenuous with a few feet of nearly sheer rock face, ladders and path. The cave structures feature soot-stained arched ceilings, structural timbers dating to A.D. 1200, ancient adobe walls and food remains from earlier centuries.
Ancient Puebloans built their pueblos within the cliffs using rock, mortar and timber in the 1200s and moved on around A.D. 1300, probably due to drought conditions. They hunted the forests for game and native plants and grew corn, beans and squash in the Gila River Valley. They were skilled at weaving and creating pottery.
The Chiricahua Apache migrated to the area in the 1500s, and their oral tradition claims the area as the tribe’s homeland. Their legendary leader, Goyahkla, known as Geronimo, was born in the early 1820s at the Gila River headwaters. With the silver and copper discoveries came miners and settlers and the U.S. Army to protect them from Geronimo’s attacks. By 1886, the Bedonkohe, the band of Apache of which Geronimo was a part, were forced from their ancestral lands to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, where Geronimo is buried.
Anglo settlements prospered in the area. Miners, homesteaders and ranchers poured into the towns of Pinos Altos and Mogollon. As the settlements grew, the forests began to be cut for timber. In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt approved the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument to protect the historically significant site. The Gila Wilderness was established in 1964. Today, picnic areas, camping, horseback riding and hiking trails exist through the wilderness. Hikers and bikers accept the challenge of steep grades, twists and turns on the roadways.
The byway’s triangle closes with NM 15 through Pinos Altos with its Buckhorn Saloon and Opera House. This leg of the byway is not recommended for long RVs, trailers or for squeamish travelers due to its narrow and very twisting pathway.
To polish off a visit to the area, hike the Catwalk in Whitewater Canyon. The canyon was used as a hideout for desperados like Butch Cassidy, as well as by the Apache. It was also the site of a pipeline laid in 1890 to get water to a now ghost mining town. Rebuilt in the 1930s, the Catwalk gives hikers beautiful views and ends at a swaying suspension bridge over the rushing waters of Whitewater Creek.
Photos by Virginia Riddle, LLC.
Sources:
1. “Off the Beaten Path.” Reader’s Digest, 2009, Pleasantville, New York.
2. “Guide to Scenic Highways & Byways.” National Geographic, Washington, D.C., 5th Edition.
3. “Southwest USA & National Parks.” Eyewitness Travel, 2018, DK Publishing House, New York, New York.
4. “Gila Cliff Dwellings.” National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Written by Virginia Riddle
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