On Thursday, Thomas emailed me from work and said he wanted to take Friday off and asked if I wanted to take a road trip and do some letterboxing. No thinking about it needed - I was ready to go. We decided on a trip to the
Gila Wilderness area. More specific - Mogollon, Reserve and Silver City. So I spent Thursday afternoon mapping things out and getting ready. We decided to spend the night in Silver City so I booked a hotel and packed everything. Yesterday morning we were up early and on the road by 6:00am. Leaving this early got us through Albuquerque before the morning commute. When we got to Socorro we stopped at El Camino Restaurant & Lounge for some breakfast and coffee. After a nice relaxing and delicious meal it was time to get serious about some letterboxes.
We continued our trip on US60 and drove west to
Datil. In Datil we turned onto NM12 and headed southwest and made our first stop at a circle drive near the elementary school. I followed the clues for Datil Dog by Kit and easily found the box. It was a bit chilly so I took the box back to the car to stamp in. I was the first finder for the box and I got a nice patch. After stamping in and replacing the box we continued our drive down NM12. Somewhere in the vicinity of
Old Horse Springs we stopped at the Continental Divide Trail kiosk and looked for Schism at Nag's Fonts by Wronghat.
Another easy find and I again stamped in while sitting in the car. The wind out there was terrible. I was the first finder on this box and I got a First Finder card/LTC. I replaced the box and we continued our drive and eventually made it to
Reserve. In Reserve we stopped and got a snack and some gas at Black Gold Emporium. Then we found the
Elfego Baca statue and looked for Desperado by Wronghat. Finding this box took some time. First, there were two sheriff deputies standing near the statue. After they left I started my search. I had to really work hard to interpret the clues. After about fifteen minutes I had an 'Aha!' moment and found the box. I stamped in and then replaced the box. Happy to have found this one - and I was the first finder, again - three first finders today! We left Reserve still driving on NM12 and when we reached the junction of US180 we stopped at the historic marker for Reserve. Here I looked for and found Reserve by Sunny Delight. Another quick and easy find and before long we were back on the road.
We continued our drive on US180 heading in a southernly direction to
Alma. We turned off of US180 and onto Mineral Creek Road. We drove the well maintained gravel road for about five miles to the
tomb of Army Sergeant James C. Cooney. There was a letterbox at the tomb but I had heard it was missing but I decided I wanted to see the tomb anyway so we made the drive and looked for the box just in case. We didn't find Cooney's Tomb by Sunny Delight but it was interesting seeing the tomb and other gravesites behind it. We also drove to the end of the road (just a short distance from the tomb) to the
Mineral Creek Trailhead. It was a beautiful drive and we are glad we took the detour. After our visit we made our way back to US180 and continued to NM159. We followed NM159 to
Mogollon. The first four miles of the road are good and two definite lanes. After mile four the road narrows to a little more that one lane and in spots is degrading.
It is also a very winding road and it took us some time to reach Mogollon. Once in the [ghost] town we turned and traveled up Fanny Road. This road was extremely bumpy with lots of rocks. Glad we were in a high clearance vehicle. A short way up the road we encountered a fallen tree across the road. So we stopped and got out of the truck and moved it off to the side and then continued to our destination. We traveled about .8 miles up this road to a stone structure in ruins. Here we found SAGE (Save a Galgo Español) by Dawgdok - another first find for me. I stamped in and then replaced the box and we took our return trip back down Fanny Road. Once back in the town we parked and walked around a bit, not much to see but I am glad we made the trip - this was on my New Mexico bucket list. We left Mogollon and drove back to US180 and then made our way to
Glenwood and NM174. We took NM174 for five miles to
The Catwalk National Recreation Area. (Another place on my New Mexico bucket list.)
We parked and paid our fee and then headed out to explore the area. First, we wanted to look for two letterboxes. I followed the clues for The Cat Who Came to Breakfast by Silver Eagle. This box was placed nine years ago and the area has had some problems (fire, flash floods) so it may have changed a bit and I had problems with the clues and didn't find this box. The second box we looked for was The Catwalk by Twinville Trekkers. We followed the clues and when we got to the end of the catwalk and went down the stairs we couldn't cross the creek. Too much water and we didn't have any other socks or shoes to change into if we got wet, so we didn't look for this box. We made our way back up the stairs to the catwalk and tooks some time to walk around and enjoy the area. Now, it was time to hide two boxes I had brought with us. So we started at the beginning of the trail and placed a two box series -
Catwalk. Once these two boxes were in place and I had made notes so I could write the clues later we headed back to the car and made our way back to US180.
We now headed for
Silver City. We had about an hours drive and just before we got to town we stopped at the Continental Divide to find Continental Bisect by Wronghat. A quick drive-by box and once I had stamped in and replaced the box we continued on. We took the Truck Bypass Road to get to NM90. On NM90 we headed south to
White Signal. A little south of White Signal we turned onto Chisom Trail and found the trail marker for the
Jack's Peak Trailhead. Here we found Continental Divide Trail by Wronghat. I sat and stamped in and realized it was getting cold and the wind had picked up again. So I hurried along and got the box back in place and walked back to the car. We decided it was time to call it a day since it was 6:00pm and we were both getting hungry. We had only had breakfast and a snack all day. We drove back to Silver City and went to
Vicki's Eatery. We shared spaghetti and meatballs and a small pizza. It was nice to sit and relax out of the wind. We had a delicious meal and talked about a great day of driving and boxing. We went to three places we had never been before - Cooney's Tomb, Mogollon and the Catwalk. An excellent day - we looked for ten boxes, found seven boxes and planted two boxes!
Now it was time to head for the hotel. First order of business was to take showers. After that was done I logged in my finds and my new plants. We were both tired so we turned off the lights and went to sleep.
This morning we were up early, again! There was one more box to find and then we needed to be in Albuquerque by 2:00pm. So we got our things packed and into the car, checked out of the hotel and headed out. A short distance from our hotel we stopped at the
Dragonfly Trailhead to look for Dragonfly by Dawgdok. This was a quick and easy find and in a short time we were heading home. We drove back along NM152 through Emory Pass, Hillsboro and Kingston to I25. It was a beautiful morning drive. No traffic, peaceful and quiet. Once on I25 we stopped in Truth of Consequences to fill the truck with gas and then decided to have some breakfast. We ended up at Hodges Corner Restaurant in Elephant Butte. After eating and relaxing a bit we got back on the road to Albuquerque. Once in Albuquerque we headed to UNM and Popejoy Hall. We had tickets to see
The Book of Mormon and we were going to the matinee at 2:00pm. We made it with an hour to spare.
We enjoyed the play (we have seen it before a few years ago), it is funny and entertaining. After the play and once we were back in the car we both realized we were tired and ready to be home. We had a great two days, saw some incredible places, found some nice boxes and had a wonderful time in the Gila area of New Mexico.
I drove up to the Aspen Vista Picnic Area. This area has a picnic area and is the start of the Aspen Vista Trail and the Alamo Vista Trail. I stopped here to check on my Trembling Poplar letterbox. It is approximately 300 steps up the Alamo Vista Trail. I walked slowly up the trail (and it is all uphill) to the area where the box is hidden. For me it is easy to find this spot because the trail levels out a bit and there is one large ponderosa pine tucked in with all the tall aspens. The box isn't hidden at the pine, it is to the left of the pine but using the pine as a landmark works well. I am happy to report that 'ALL' is well with this box. So I returned to my car and headed back down the mountain.
So I walked along the trail and found the main box for the series. I was surprised and happy to find that the box was there and in good shape. When I opened the box I found the stamp and logbook but there was no ziplock bag. Thankfully, inside the box was completely dry and that means the logbook was also dry. Unfortunately, I didn't have a baggie so I will have to go back and fix that. From this box I went to check on the charms. I had a note that one of them was missing. I found five of the charms and one was missing. I found an empty film canister but couldn't find the stamp anywhere. I decided I wanted to hide these differently. So I have taken all the charms and marked the clues as unavailable. I need to recarve one of the charms and then decide how to rehide them. I am hoping to get this done in the next couple of days.
