Traveling Square Dancers: Exploring on the Geronimo Trail National Scenic Byway

Who We Are

We sold our home in June, 2007, and spent the next 7 1/2 years traveling full time in a Cross Roads Fifth Wheel. (We had been traveling during our summers for several years before going full time.) We loved the full-time lifestyle! Each summer we spent a month or two volunteering in State Parks, first in Indiana at McCormick's Creek State Park, near our family, then in later years as the grandchildren got older, at the Bluewater Lake State Park in New Mexico. We spent 6 months each winter at Cactus Gardens RV Resort in Yuma, AZ, where I worked mornings in the park office. The remaining months were spent on the road, seeing this great country of ours. Our favorite places are our National Parks. Anita loved photography and the freedom of digital photography, taking sometimes hundreds of photos in a day. We hiked as much as our legs will allow. We also really enjoyed square and round dancing as we travel across country, and meeting all the wonderful people who dance and/or travel.

But as in all things, there comes a time for change, and we decided it was time to create roots once more. In the fall of 2014, we purchased a home in Cactus Gardens, and in the spring of 2015, sold the 5th wheel. Anita also retired in the spring. We will continue to travel each summer, but for a shorter period of time. We hope to continue blogging about those trips, but it will obviously be on a more limited basis than in the past.

Please explore our past posts if you are interested in traveling this great country. You'll find an index in the left column. We hope you enjoy our blog, and appreciate all comments

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Exploring on the Geronimo Trail National Scenic Byway

On Sunday, we decided to go for a drive over the Mimbres Mountains. Highway 152 stretches 89 miles between the two towns, but we were told to allow at least 2 hours driving time, due to the many curves and steep grades. Stopping often for photos and to look around, we took that long just to drive the 60 miles or so to Kingston.

At the town of San Lorenzo in the Mimbres River Valley, the highway becomes part of the Geronimo Trail National Scenic Byway.

As you drive, always climbing, you leave behind the gentle slopes of juniper, cedar and scrub oak, and entering a rocky mountain terrain dotted with towering pines overshadowing the road.

At the crest of the mountain range is Emory Pass, at an elevation of 8,828 feet. The pass was named in honor of Lt. W. H. Emory who passed by here with the Army of the West in 1842. His report is the earliest scientific account of the region, then a part of Mexico. A narrow road leads up to a viewpoint, affording a panoramic view of the valley below, including Caballo Lake, more than 50 miles away.

Dropping nearly 3000 feet during the next 9 miles, the road leads to Kingston, another town of the 1880s, with a reputation for wild and wooly ways. A booming silver mining town of more than 7,000, Kingston died as suddenly as it had been born, when the depression of 1893 sent silver prices plummeting. Not much is left of Kingston today.

We decided to turn around at Kingston, and head back for Silver City.

We had our “tailgate lunch” at a pull-off, then discovered we were at the entrance to a cemetery, almost hidden in the trees and grass. Unlike any cemetery we’ve ever seen, this one is laid out in a most haphazard manner, with little fenced in plots dotting the hillside.