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Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - Through the Needle's Eye
48 miles. Junction 191 and 78, AZ to Buckhorn RV Park, Buckhorn, NM
Normally a 48 mile ride, even with packs, might not be
considered difficult, but when it includes at least 4,500 feet of climbing the
assessment changes. We got up an hour before dawn and it was cold, about
40*. We put on a lot of clothing before we ate our breakfast of cream of wheat.
It turns out that Cocoa Wheats are not available in this part of this
great nation so we must go ersatz.
Two and one half miles along the Gila River
brought us to S.R. 191 which then starts a 20 mile climb up into the Big Blue
Mts. The climb is gradual and then becomes very steep and the road undergoes
some crazy gyrations as it switches back and forth upon itself as it
climbs Black Jack Canyon. At one point it almost completes a figure eight.
All in all it is a masterpiece of highway design.
Eventually, after climbing 3,000 feet the road reaches the Needle's Eye. Or
where it once was. The Needles Eye was a creation of the ADOT when 191 was
first built back in the '20's(?). Instead of blasting all of this rocky
protrusion away they instead blew a one lane hole thru it and that became
"the Needle's Eye." During road rebuilding it was treated with the
same irreverence as was Route 66 and today it was there in spirit only as we
looked back upon the climb that had taken us all of the morning.
Turning the bend and a short descent brought us into a forest
dominated by Ponderosa Pine, the first extensive stand of trees encountered
on the trip. We coasted down thru these and had our lunch of Summer
sausage, cheese, and bread under a twin Black Jack Pine. Ponderosas are
sometimes referred to as such because of the black striations between the orange
plates of the bark.
Coasting on we then had to climb up into New Mexico and then
down again thru and out of the Gila Nat. Forest to Mule Creek which had water in
it, mules, and a post office, nothing else. That's a trifecta in my book!
The country was now fenced rangeland of BIG hills for
the next six miles, each hill requiring shifting all the way down to climb.
Finally came the expected drop which was a perfect coast down to NM-180.
As we coasted we finally saw three groups of cattle, all of which stopped
grazing to watch us go by. The last group, at the intersection with 180,
watched us pass and then turned and ambled off in unison and it was curious to
see their black, they were angus cattle, contrasted with the brown of the sun
seared pasture.
After a snack of canned apricots we then burned on in
to Buckhorn, NM (pop, tiny) to camp for the night. The RV park has a great
little restaurant and we polished off a large meal of Mexican food and had great
repartee with some locals afterwards. It is amazing what they know,
everything that you do not. Tomorrow we cruise on into Silver City (only
2,000 feet of climbing) and a richly deserved day of rest.
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