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Saturday, October 20, 2001 - Pinos Altos
50 miles. Silver City, NM to Casa Adobes RV Park, Mimbres, NM
We left a little later than usual but still early, and
climbed away from Silver City on NM-15 passing thru Pinos Altos, an old
mining town and at one time the biggest in the area. More climbing brought
us into the Ponderosa Pine Zone of 6,000 feet and up. The pines can grow
here because it is cooler with increasing elevation and the increased moisture
available from snow melt which can be considerable.
The road twists and turns sharply and traffic is light.
We reached over 7,500 feet and for the first time on the trip had a feeling that
it was actually Autumn. It was very cool all morning as we rode in the
shade of the mountain and a small deciduous tree contingent showed some Autumn
color. Yellow seems to be the only color available here.
A steep descent and we were at the junction with NM-35.
Here we could have continued on with NM-15 (spur road) to the Gila Cliff
Dwellings Nat. Monument. It is 19 miles one way and entails a major climb.
We opted out of this option and continued SE on NM-35. It twists and turns
and climbs very steeply away from a small reservoir on Sapillo Creek and then
gradually heads for the Continental Divide which we now crossed for the second
time today. Crossing the Divide you must then go down and we had an easy
coasting-pedal down descent along the shallow valley of the Mimbres River to our
campsite.
This turned out to be more windswept than any so far.
With the usual rock hard dirt and the wind we have not yet got the tent up yet.
Our one try resulted in the tent nearly becoming airborne.
By our crude and unscientific calculations we have now
ridden about 1,000 miles with probably over 3,000 to go. Now we finally
feel like we are getting somewhere. Like Joan said, we "We won't be
in New Mexico that long." Texas, however, is a much larger enchilada.
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