Silver City, New Mexico

 

Looking southwest down Highway 90, the road connecting Silver City to Lordsburg. Desert mountain ranges stretch southward through New Mexico's "bootheel" and into Mexico, waiting to be explored. 

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Ellen and I moved from Laramie to Silver City, New Mexico in August (2023). After over 40 years in Wyoming, I never thought I’d leave, but once the notion of a new geography got a toe in the door, it grew into a plan and culminated in a summer of packing, house-selling, and Uhaul-driving. Once moved, we weren’t in Silver City for long before we left to spend October in Utah (more on that later), so we are only now settling into our new home for the “winter.”

 

At about 6,000’ in the foothills of the Gila National Forest, Silver City has winter, but it’s shorter than Wyoming’s and maybe less windy (we’ll see). It snows, but not a lot, and the snow doesn’t stay around too long (we’re told). We’ll miss the skiing, but my knees are happier hiking, and the diversity of trails, plants, and animals in this ecotone between deserts and mountains is remarkable. We miss our Wyoming and Colorado friends more than the skiing, but a few of them already live here having migrated south before us, and we hope others will visit.

 

It's invigorating to make a new home in an unfamiliar place. The Gila National Forest, with over 3 million acres of mountains and canyons and the first Wilderness Area in the U.S., is on our doorstep. It’s laced with 2,000 miles of trails, including part of the Continental Divide Trail that passes within a few miles of our new house on its way north, eventually crossing Wyoming before reaching Canada. South of Silver City, the Chihuahuan Desert extends through the New Mexico “bootheel” and into Old Mexico, with innumerable mountain ranges waiting to be explored. The Sonoran Desert (saguaros!) is not far to the southwest; White Sands National Park, the Organ Mountains, and West Texas are not far to the southeast. 

 

With the upheaval of moving, I haven’t taken many photographs yet, but I’ll post a few below with some first impressions of Silver City and SW New Mexico. I’m looking forward to more focused (no pun) photography missions in the months and years to come.

Ellen on one of our early hikes here, off-trail, approaching the summit of the north Twin Sister Peak which overlooks Silver City. Shortly before taking this picture, I was buzzed by a rattler. Shortly after taking it, Ellen was buzzed by a different rattler. We aren't in Laramie anymore! Since our heads were higher than the summit, we decided to turn back. That counts, right? 

Silver City is thick with Mimbres archaeology, including settlements, rock art, and artifacts. The Mimbres were well aware of rattlesnakes too, but they're famous for their exquisite pottery (see below). We joined the local archaeological society (GCAS) and look forward to field trips and talks.

A Mimbres bowl featuring a turkey morphing into a rattlesnake. This is housed in the museum at the Western New Mexico University campus in Silver City. Unfortunately, many (most?) Mimbres sites have been looted, so many artifacts lack provenience (information about their origin). 

Mimbres grinding holes south of Silver City. These are deeper and more vertically-sided than the grooves we often see in SE Utah. Perhaps the Mimbres were grinding different seeds (mesquite?) than the corn that was commonly ground in Utah?

More recently, Apaches dominated SW New Mexico, and they also left pictographs. The Apaches tried to hold onto their land, particularly in the late 1800s when mining for precious metals drew a rush of newcomers to the Gila country. David Roberts' book, "Once They Moved Like the Wind: Cochise, Geronimo, and the Apache Wars", tells the story well, and is recommended even if you don't live here.

Speaking of mining, Silver City is adjacent to enormous open-pit copper mines, and the mountains are riddled with small prospects (and ghost towns) from the days of silver and gold mining. This image shows a portion of the Santa Rita mine east of town. The Tyrone mine, also huge, is southwest of Silver City. 

Before industrial mining, individual prospectors tried to make their fortunes in the Gila. This adit is near the Cooney mine, named for a soldier who found silver in Mineral Creek while on patrol in 1870. After leaving the army, he successfully mined in the area until he was killed by Apaches and interred inside a nearby boulder, hollowed out for that purpose by family and friends. "Black Range Tales," by James McKenna, paints a vivid picture of mining towns in the late 1800s. 

A cemetery near the Santa Rita mine east of Silver City.

Another cemetery in the Lower Mimbres Valley, SE of Silver City. 

There are interesting towns nearby. Lordsburg is about 50 miles SW of Silver City. Motel Drive in Lordsburg is lined with old motels, many abandoned.

Deming, about 50 miles to the SE, is bigger and more prosperous than Lordsburg. North of Deming in the desert I ran across this less than prosperous old mining facility (I think). 

But the mines, abandoned motels, and cemeteries aren't why we moved. Instead, it was the diversity of hiking, biking, flora, and fauna that drew us here. The landscape ranges from sparse Chihuahuan desert, to pine forests and lush riparian zones where streams flow out of the mountains. Here Ellen enjoys fall colors along Mineral Creek.

Looking south from the Mimbres Valley to Cooke's Peak (the pointy one), a prominent landmark between Silver City and Deming. We look forward to climbing it now that it's cooled down. 

We've never been birders, but SW New Mexico and Southern Arizona are hotspots, and we're trying to learn. Here, a Swainson's Hawk perches on a yucca near New Mexico's City of Rocks between Silver City and Deming. The Chiricahua Mountains, less than 2 hours southwest of Silver City, attract birders from all over the world. 

We're learning new plants too. Agaves, though not new to us, are a favorite, even when they are past their prime. 

Riparian areas are surprisingly lush. This sumac lit up our recent hike into Mineral Creek.

Silver City is not a rock climbing destination, but there is bouldering at City of Rocks (New Mexico, not Idaho) just south of here and potential for routes in canyons near town (yet to be explored). Truth or Consequences has established climbing, Tucson is less than three hours away as is Hueco Tanks, and there are many other areas within easy weekend distance. Here our friends Bret and Judy Ruckman boulder at the City of Rocks. 

An unclimbed spire in the Gila, or is that a mine adit two-thirds of the way up?

And, it's beautiful here. Another fall shot from Mineral Creek.

A sycamore tree, also in Mineral Creek.

And finally, a shot from a recent (mid-November) walk along the Gila River not far west of Silver City. We've barely begun to scratch the surface.