Boxing NM 15, Trial of the Mountain Spirits and Big Tree Trail

We have a couple of things planned for today and you can read about that at Ruins and an Alligator. Along with these plans we also wanted to find a few letterboxes. Thankfully the letterboxes were around and in the areas we had planned to visit.
Our day started driving along NM 15 (part of the Trail of the Mountain Spirits).

View from Copperas Vista

The first letterbox we found was at the Senator Clinton P. Anderson Scenic Overlook (Copperas Vista). After taking in the scenery I went in search of Azroadie's Gila letterbox. This was a quick find. I took the box back to a place where I could sit and stamp in - this place also happened to be at a spot with a grest view. After stamping in I returned the box to its hiding spot.

We then continued along NM 15 and stopped at a pullout with an interpretive sign for Alum Mountain. From the sign I had to walk uphill on this two track road to a two trunked tree. It was only a short walk and I had no problem finding the box. I sat on the road to stamp in and again I had a great view. An added bonus was that the area under and around the tree was covered in morning glories. Once the box was back in place we continued to the Gila Cliff Dwellings.

I know the rule that letterboxes aren't allowed in National Parks but I didn't plant this one, I was only looking for it.

Gila Cliff Dwellings from the Trail

The clues were a little off and I had to back track a little bit to find the box. There was just one part of the clue that was backwards. Anyway I found the box and took it to a bench to sit and stamp in. Thankfully it wasn't that busy at the park and the trail was deserted when I found the box and again when I put it back. Azroadie also has webboxes at different National Parks and there was one here at Gila. For these boxes there isn't an actual box. What you do is find signs and collect words and then plug those words into a url to get an image. I was able to find both signs and get both words while walking along the trail. So that was all the letterboxes for this area.

The last box that I wanted to look for today was Big Tree by ArnoldZiffel.

Trail to the Big Alligator Juniper

This box is hidden near the second largest Alligator Juniper in the country. So to get this box we had to hike about two and a half miles to the tree. It was an incredible hike - oaks, maples and tons of wildflowers. And the fact that it was a beautiful afternoon made it all that much better. I found the box and took it to a picnic table near the tree. We sat in the shade of the tree and other trees and stamped in. I returned the box to its hiding spot and then Thomas and I sat at the picnic table and just enjoyed the peace and quiet.
Forty-five minutes later we headed back to the car.

We are now relaxing in the hotel room and talking about what we are going to do tomorrow. This trip has been incredible and we have had such an enjoyable weekend.

Stones, a Pig, a Byway and a Burro

So we are in Silver City and today our plans were to go to the Visitor Center and then head out to Reserve, Alma, Mogollon and Glenwood for some sightseeing and letterboxing. Again, this is just the letterboxing part of our day and if you want to know what else we did you can read all about it at A Town of Stone, a Scenic Byway and an Old Mine.

At the Visitor Center we talked with the woman working there (who was extremely nice and knowledgeable) about things in the area and we picked up a map and some brochures. When we were getting ready to leave we mentioned we were heading up to the Catwalk and the woman said "No, you aren't!". When we asked why, she told us that they had some bad rains last night and there was too much debris on and around the Catwalk that they closed it for the weekend. This is the second time we made plans to visit the Catwalk and the second time we were deterred. The first time happened years ago and I will forego that long and embarrassing story for now. So with this news we made changes for the day. We decided to start our day at City of Rocks State Park. This is a place we have been wanting to visit but never made the time. Now was the time. There was also a letterbox there which just added to the trip. When we arrived at the park we were going to look for the letterbox first but there was a man weed eating the exact area we needed to be. Since we couldn't get to the box we decided to head into the park and spend some time exploring the area. We spent about two hours walking around and then on our way out we stopped to find the letterbox and thankfully the coast was clear. The box is hidden near the entrance to the park and could potentially be a very busy spot. But I didn't have any problem finding the box or with anyone near us. I ended up taking the box back to the car to stamp in. After stamping in and replacing the box we headed out to continue our day.

City of Rocks is off of NM 61 on City of Rocks Road. We had come from the west to get to the park and when we left we headed east on NM 61 to the junction with NM 152.

Trail of the Mountain Spirits - View from the Car

We turned left on NM 152 and only drove a short distance before turning right onto NM 35. At this time we were on the Trail of the Mountain Spirits National Scenic Byway. I had decided that I wanted to plant my box for this byway on NM 35 so I asked Thomas to keep an eye out for a good spot. First we stopped for a bite to eat and once we had our fill we continued our drive on NM 35. We had two goals - plant a letterbox and find a letterbox. We were enjoying the drive and when we got to mile marker 16 we encountered a nice Trail of the Mountain Spirits Welcome Sign. So we stopped and inspected the area. I was able to find a good place to hide my box. I took some pictures and made notes so I could write up the clues. Then we returned to the car and drove on. So if you are driving along NM 35 and reach mile marker 16 and the Welcome Sign stop and look for NM Scenic Byways: Trail of the Mountain Spirits.

We continued our drive looking for the landmark for the letterbox we wanted to find. We found the sign we needed and turned into a picnic area to find the box. We followed a road and ended up at Lake Roberts where we took a short walk along the lake. There were no other landmarks for the box so we figured we were in the wrong spot. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of NM 35 - the clues were written coming from NM 15 and we were traveling in the opposite direction. We soon realized our mistake and crossed the road into a parking area where there was a small trail. We took the trail and followed the rest of the clues and found Pig in Purgatory by wandaandpete.

Flower along the Purgatory Chasm Loop Trail

We actually looked under a couple of rocks because we didn't find the box under the rock that was mentioned in the clues. But we ended up looking under the first rock again and Thomas actually found the box, which is a tiny, one inch by two inch camo bag. Now that we had the box I found a nice flat rock that I could sit on to stamp in. The trail we were on was the Purgatory Chasm Loop Trail. Once I stamped in and we replaced the box we headed back to our car. We didn't actually hike the entire loop, we just found the box and then returned the way we came.  Once back at the car we finished the drive on NM 35 to NM 15 and on to Silver City.

There was one more letterbox we wanted to find before calling it a day. This box was a little south of Silver City near the town of Tyrone. We drove down NM 90 and turned right onto Tyrone Thompson Road (aka Tyrone Road, Burro Mountain Road or FR 136). There is sign at the corner of NM 90 and Tyrone Thompson Road for Burro Mountain RV Park and this area is rich in mining history. The road is dirt and pretty well maintained (there were parts of the road that had washboard ruts but not too bad). We followed the road for the noted mileage but we didn't see a marker that we were looking for and continued driving thinking that the mileage was off. But after six miles we turned around and headed back. Still we didn't see the marker but we noticed a side road.

Cave Along the Trail Near Burro Mountain

So we turned on to that road and then found the next marker we needed so we figured we were in the right place. We parked and started our walk to the box. For the first part of the walk we were okay but then we couldn't find a sign we needed for the next part. We continued walking and the trail ended up crossing a stream and we figured we had gone too far because the stream was suppose to be on our right and now it was on our left. So we turned around and headed back. We had noticed a sign earlier in the walk but it was before the next landmark, not after it, so we continued on. When we returned to that sign we looked at the next part of the clue which was a gate and then a sign on a pine tree. So we went through the gate and stopped at the first pine tree and then followed the rest of the clues and we found the box - Azroadie's Burro Mountain. I grabbed the box, found a nice spot to sit and then stamped in. After replacing the box we headed back to the car and then back to Silver City. We had a great day letterboxing and visiting places we had never seen and we still have tomorrow for more fun.