Let's Just Go Somewhere: Day Trip on New Mexico Scenic+ mi

A friend of Ken and Bonnie's had recommended us taking a day trip that involved driving the New Mexico Back Country Byway and the Geronimo Trail Scenic Byway. Because this was going to be a 170+ mile day, we decided we better pack lunches and leave around 9 am.

As we began our daily adventure traveling northeast on Hwy 26, we drove by this wind farm to the west in front of an old farm.

Ironically, there was an old abandoned windmill on the farm with the paddles removed.

We went through the town of Nutt when we turned north on Hwy 27. The town of Nutt is so small that we had gone into it and out of it before we had time to take a picture. Pretty deserted out here!

We saw a few pronghorn antelope along this stretch of road. In fact, one almost jumped out in front of us but by the time we stopped, he had run off behind a dirt hill. These two pronghorn were way out in a field.

Our first official stop of the day was at a ghost town called Lake Valley.

Unlike Terlingua in Texas, Lake Valley is a true ghost town that has been completely abandoned with its last resident leaving in 1994. It is now managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Mr. & Mrs. RV Workcamper who serve as caretakers for the BLM live behind the old school.

We asked him if he ever gets lonely and he says they don't get lonely because of the visitors who come to see Lake Valley. The schoolhouse which was built in 1904 is in the best shape of all the buildings and serves as kind of a museum.

With the exception of the church building, most of the buildings in the rest of the town were gone or in such bad shape that you could not go inside them. Lake Valley was founded in 1878 after silver was discovered. Like so many mining towns, it became a major town with a population 4,000 people, 12 saloons, 3 churches, as well as stores and hotels. A vein called the "Bridal Chamber" was one of the largest lodes of silver ever discovered producing almost $3 million which was a lot in 1878!

Hard to believe 4,000 people once lived here.

We began a walking tour of the town from the old school that first led us to what must have been the town dumpsite.

Recycling in 1878???

Old abandoned car.

But what is one person's trash becomes Bonnie's treasure. There was ghost town glass and pottery everywhere.

Of course, being that this ghost town is managed by BLM, we were not allowed to remove any artifacts. So we just took a picture of some of our findings. Bonnie was so sad. :(

The old church building was originally a home but was later used as an Episcopalian chapel. It was built in 1920.

Next, we walked by the Nowlin house. Slim Nowlin was the railroad superintendent and his wife, Blanche Nowlin, became the local dealer for the Continental Oil Company (Conoco). Even after Mr. Nowlin's untimely death in 1937, Mrs. Nowlin stayed in Lake Valley until her death in 1982.

Nowlin House

I wonder whose handprints these are?

The Nowlins' neighbors were Pedro and Savina Martinez. Pedro Martinez arrived in Lake Valley in 1904 at the age of 2 and lived and worked in Lake Valley for 90 years dying in 1994.

Martinez house

Below was the location of the Keller-Miller Store who were the largest merchants in Lake Valley. In 1895, the mercantile store sold what would have been the equivalent of $1 million in goods in 2002 and this was despite a devastating fire in June of 1895!

Part of this old stone building was all that was remaining...

...and this old safe was surrounded by a landscape full of ghost town glass and pottery.

It's hard to imagine this ghost town was once a bustling town of 4,000 people! After leaving Lake Valley, we headed further north on Hwy 26.

Love the beautiful yellow flowers!

A few cattle ranches here and there.

We reached the town of Hillsboro...

...which was another mining community but it had a little more success because its economy was based more on gold than silver. It now only has a population of a little over 100 people but does have some art galleries, gem shops, and a few restaurants...

...like the General Store Cafe.

As we headed west out of Hillsboro, there were some Burma Shave signs on the side of the road.

At this point, we were now on Hwy 152 and entering the Gila National Forest where we encountered what was probably the curviest road that we have ever been on.

As soon as the road curved to the left, it would then curve to the right, and then back to the left and then back to the right.

Parts of this forest have experienced a pretty significant forest fire in recent years as we could tell by the charred wood.

We stopped at Iron Creek picnic area and campground to eat our picnic lunches.

After we got back on the road again, we noticed these cows walking along the steep hills and rocks. What cows are these? Mountain Cows??

Our curvy (but beautiful) drive continued throughout the rest of the Gila National Forest. Do you want to ride with us for a few minutes? Watch!

After leaving the Gila National Forest, our next stop was the Santa Rita Copper Mine.

The Santa Rita Copper Mine was once the largest copper mine in the world.

The mining here occurs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year! And they use those big huge trucks to haul the ore and rocks out.

They had a tire from one of those big trucks on display at the viewing point.

Can these two strong girls move this big tire?

Or what about this big strong guy??

This mine produces about 100 million pounds of copper a year!! No wonder they need all those big trucks.

After leaving the mine, we drove to Silver City, parked the car and walked around the town a little bit. Most of the stores were closed on Sunday so the town was kind of slow today.

What was most unusual about the town was the 2 feet tall curbs built for the monsoon season in the spring when the town is known to flood.

After leaving Silver City, we rode 55 miles back to the campground with a quick stop at Wal-Mart in Deming for just a couple of things. It was a long day but a terrific day full of ghost towns, beautiful mountain drives, and lots of fun with Ken and Bonnie!