Still out in New Mexico

If you get a post in your email click on the Title of this post STILL OUT IN NEW MEXICO to go to the Blog site, this is when you can click on the pictures and see more info on all the photos.

City of Rocks State Park, Faywood, NM

Hello everyone, We are staying at an RV Park in Silver City, NM now. We camp hosted at City of Rocks State Park the end of August to the middle of November. The park is an awesome place to stay and hike through the rocks in the park, which we did while hosting there. I did get some real nice sunrise pictures and some sunset pictures. The place is perfect for star gazing because of no light pollution at all. We were supposed to camp host till February, but things just didn’t work out for us. We weren’t appreciated and the park tech had a big chip on his shoulders. We’ve had enough “gigs” to know how volunteers should be treated and that place is NOT it. So, we just moved on.

Rose Valley RV Ranch, NM

We do like the park we are in now, Rose Valley RV Ranch in Silver City. We are here till mid-January. This RV park used to be a dairy farm back in the early 1900s, then it became an RV park about 2000. We head to Sierra Vista, AZ from here for a month and then Tucson, AZ for a month. We will arrive in Colorado for our summer volunteer job at the fish hatchery in Bellvue, CO. It’s just down the road from Lory State Park where we volunteered at two summers ago, outside of Fort Collins, CO. We are looking forward to getting back to Colorado.

While we have been here in Silver City, we went to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, Established 1907 by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Gila National Forest is north of Silver City, NM. These cliff dwellings are one of only a few in the world that you can actually climb up and explore the dwellings. Archaeologists have identified 46 rooms in the five caves o Cliff Dweller Canyon, and believe they were occupied by 10 to 15 families. Mogollon Culture people are believed to have inhabited the region from between 1275 and into the early 14th century, during the Pueblo III Era. 

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, NM

Just FYI, if you want to check these cliff dwellings out, you will be in for a big surprise when you drive to and from the Gila National Forest to get to the cliff dwellings. It’s a very slow-going road for 44 miles starting in Silver City, NM. Route 15 is a windy and curvy road to take to the cliff dwellings as you can see from the picture below. When you leave, you may want to go Route 35 to 152 to get back to Silver City, that way is not so bad. It’s very scenic but most of it is a white-knuckle drive for many many miles. It’s worth the long two-hour drive when you get to see those Cliff Dwellings.

Chino Mine also known as the Santa Rita Mine

On our way home from Gila Cliff Dwellings, we went by the Chino copper mine, also known as the Santa Rita copper mine, located in south-western New Mexico, in the US is one of the oldest copper mines in North America and one of the first low-grade, open-pit copper mines in the world. It seems they do tours only a few times a year in big groups.

Day of the Dead Parade / Christmas Parade

Gila National Forest Whitewater Canyon (Catwalk)

Just 65 miles north of Silver City up in Gila National Forest is a place they call the Catwalk through a canyon. 2.5 mile hike, plus a nice picnic near the water.

Silver City, NM Murals

Throughout the town of Silver City, there are a lot of beautiful murals, on buildings, playgrounds and walls.

Rock Hound State Park, NM

Stayed at Rock Hound State Park before we went to City of Rocks State Park. A very nice park

We are here in Silver City for the holiday season, so hope all is well and that you have a great, safe, healthy, and festive Holiday season. Take care and stay in touch by making comments on the photos or posts we do and I will be sure to answer you back.  Miss you all and hope to see you all again on the road in the future.

Bobble Head Travelers Jodi and Mark