The last time we hiked around Knight Peak, we got caught in a freak snowstorm. We returned on a much nicer day. Maybe a little too nice. it should not be 70° in the middle of December!
We were crestfallen when our long-planned train trip to Seattle fell apart the day before our departure. But after a day or so of moping, we concluded that the best remedy was a road trip.
A few photos from our latest trek to a minor peak I call "Quartz Mountain." It's one of the favorites for Gila Hikers, and we have we have photographed it many times. The gleaming white summit makes a great subject, especially viewed against New Mexico's azure blue skies!
We have visited the well-known petroglyph sites north of Deming numerous times. Years ago I ran across brief mention and vague directions to another, smaller site in the same area.
A few photos from Fall along San Vicente Creek. It's a wonderful in-town hike, and there are several new trails in the area.
As election day approached, we decided to escape the news cycle by heading to the lower Gila Box and the eastern Chiricahuas, narrowly missing a massive snowstorm in central and northern New Mexico.
Everyone who hikes with me knows I've been jonesing to get to Sapillo Box for a very long time. But access is difficult.
Last year, for my 70th birthday, we celebrated by booking the parlor car on the run from Antonito to Osier. It was so much fun that we decided to do it again from the Chama side, repeating that ride from 38 years ago.
We've been itching to return to the Sawtooth Mountains ever since we washed up there after our disastrous foray into the Withington Wilderness.
When our intended destination didn't work out, we "settled" for a delightful meander along the Gila River.
A few of us got together to explore a "trail" that leaves from Mogollon Box and leads over a ridge to drop down to the Gila River.
It was just a day hike with Gila Hikers, but when it turned out to be just Ken, Dennis and me, we decided to go adventuring. Instead of our planned Signal Peak/Black Peak loop, we headed down the CDT "Classic" from Signal Peak Ridge.
Dennis and I joined in a work day with the Continental Divide Trail Coalition near Signal Peak. Delighted to discover an abundance of great hiking nearby, we returned the following week with the Gila Hikers.
When it was time to take a high elevation break from a solid month of working in the heat to complete our our new porch, we headed for the Magdalena Mountains.
It's nothing special, but on a warm summer day, in the middle of monsoon season, it's the place to be.
We've always said that our Silver City house was definitely not our "dream house", but it checked a lot of boxes. However one box it failed to check was a porch — a feature that was very high on my list of priorities. Looking at it from the front, it was like the house had one eye closed. There was an entrance on the right, but the left side stared blankly at the street.
I may have overcome my fear of Signal Peak! Although the trail is unrelentingly steep, the grade is reasonable, with many switchbacks, and it is nicely forested all the way to the summit!
Year 'round residents of the Southwest desert know that the only way to survive June is to get the Hell out of town. With forecasters predicting an abnormally hot summer of 2024 throughout the Southwest, it was clear that our traditional retreats weren't going to cut it. We needed to get above 8000'.
For our second backpacking trip of the year, we opted to skip the long hot water carries and maximize our time on the scenic Middle Fork Gila River.
We have hiked this canyon so many times, but it's probably our all-time favorite hike. Today was perfect: 80° a light breeze, and just enough water to keep things exciting!
It had been two years since our last backpacking trip, so we decided to break up the roughly 15-mile trek into three relatively equal sections.
Working with Gila Trails and the Backcountry Horsemen to clear part of Wood Haul Wagon Road. It was a lovely day to be outdoors, and it feels good to help care for our wonderful trail system!
