River Hike, Ghost Town & Cheeseburgers in New Mexico

Alma, New Mexico
BLM Boondocking 

The second hike we had planned for this area was up the Mineral Creek Trail.  Trail 201 takes you up a mountain canyon system with very colorful rock formations and the historical mining town of Cooney if you hike up far enough. There are many creek crossings so wear appropriate footwear. Since you are hiking in a narrow canyon you must be weather aware also.

Some history:

Sgt. James Cooney was in the area in the army when he discovered a vein of precious metals. He kept quiet about it until he was no longer serving, at which point he opened and began operating a mine. By 1880, the mine had become a very profitable producer of silver ore.

Three years earlier, Chiricahua Apache Chief Victorio and a band of followers had escaped their reservation in Arizona and returned to the area with the desire to be allowed to live there. Getting no response from communications with the US Government, Victorio and his men attacked Cooney's​ mining camp and the nearby town of Alma in what became known as the Alma Massacre. Many of the residents survived, though Sgt. Cooney was one of the casualties. His mine continued in operation until the discovery of larger veins meant the mining operations largely moved to Mogollon.

The water crossings happen quickly.  There are may different accounts of the trail that give it 5 - 13 miles out and back, depending how far you go.  I hear it goes on further too.  We knew we probably wouldn't make it to what remains of the Cooney ghost town, but we went as far as we could to make sure we could get back before dark.

The late day sun really lit up the upper portions of the canyon.

The colors were gorgeous and very striking!

Mineral Creek Canyon.  River hiking.

 (Click HERE if you don't see the short video above)

A heart shaped hole up on the canyon wall.

This was one of the larger waterfalls along the way.

The rock in this part of the canyon looked like the Virgin Mary in a Nave when I first looked.

Then another look when I got a bit closer looked like an alien head.

We hiked about 5 miles and had a great time.  We've heard of mountain lions in the area.  Happy to report we neither heard or saw any!

A nice warm fire to wrap up the day.

We woke up to some new friends getting ready to take their horses out for a day ride.

Our last day was up to the old mining town of Mogollon.   It was founded in the 1880s at the bottom of Silver Creek Canyon. The "Little Fannie" mine became the most important employer for the town. During the 1890s, Mogollon had a population between 3,000 and 6,000 miners. Because of its isolation, it had a reputation as one of the wildest mining towns in the West.

 An old western called My Name is Nobody, starring Henry Fonda, was filmed in Mogollon in 1973. A saloon and general store in the town were built as part of the movie set. Today the town is privately owned and some of the buildings are being rebuilt The town is the location of several small businesses, including the Silver Creek Inn, which operates in a former boarding lodge called the Mogollon House built by Frank Lauderbaugh in 1885.

During WWI, the demand for gold and silver dropped, and many of Mogollon's mines shut down. The population in 1930 had dropped to a reported 200.  It came back in the late 30s but after WWII it died back down.

If you have a high clearance vehicle you can drive all the way to the cemetery.  Otherwise you can park and hike the one mile up.

1856 was the earliest date we coud find.

We love old cemeteries and enjoy walking around in them reading the headstones and imagining what it was like to live here in those times.  Many unique headstones have been added over the years.

Some are very simple, and some are very ornate.

Beautiful views from up here.  Doesn't it seem that cemeteries sit up above towns usually with the best views?

There are about 15 residents that live here off and on during the year.

The old Phannie Mine, now boarded up.

Tailings of another mine.

View from above before you dropdown into the town of Mogollon.  This is at 6854 feet.

Watch Momma Cow give Steve the Stink-Eye at the end!

(If you don't see a short video of a cow above click HERE )

On the drive back down the windy, narrow road we noticed some fluffy white stuff on the red rock.  Not sure what it was.  Reminded me of borax we've seen other places.

Just before dropping back in the valley you get a great view of some of the ranches.

One last cemetery to visit in Alma.

I was curious about the last line on this headstone, "and I did tie a knot in the Devils tail", so I looked it up.  It comes from a cowboy poem by Gail Gardner of Prescott, AZ and is summarized:

After a night of imbibing in Prescott’s 40 saloons along Whiskey Row, the two cowboys were heading back to their ranch in the Sierra Prietas (Sierry Petes) when the Devil jumped out and tried to gather their souls. They took out their ropes and heeled Lucifer, necked him to a blackjack oak tree and proceeded to brand him. Before riding off, they added to the Devil’s indignity by tying knots in his tail.

Deming, New Mexico

Rockhound State Park

Off to the other side of New Mexico brought us to Rockhound State park.  We only planned a couple of nights and ended up having a great time.  What a beautiful little park!

W/30a/Dump, $16

Our spot sat up high in the back.  The sites are huge!  That entire area is ours.  We were in site #16.

Rockhounding is popular here and you are allowed to keep several pounds.  We didn't do any though.  We just hiked around a bit and took a day trip to Hatch and the surrounding area.

We drove up Rt. 26 to Hatch, up to I-25 then back through Las Cruces and home via I-10.

As we drove around we passed some solar farms.  This one had some of the largest panels I've seen!

We took a stroll through the church of St. Francis de Sales.

We finally were able to get our Hatch Green Chili Cheeseburger at Sparkys.  The other two times we've been here it was so packed we couldn't find a place to park.  Maybe with Covid still keeping people away, this made it easier.  Far less people.  

The burger was delicious as were the fries.  The red umbrella we were sitting under gave things a reddish hue.

Cute quirky place.  Definitely a place to visit if you're nearby as Hatch is the pepper capitol!

Steve found a friend.

We enjoyed our stay in New Mexico and we'll be in Texas next as we drift over to Florida for our niece's wedding.