Silver City Hikes

December, 2020 - January, 2021

It's now two months since we made the move to Silver City, and while we spend most of our time working on our new home (aka "The Bungle-oh", we've still managed to squeeze in a few local hikes, expertly guided by our old friend and new neighbor, Ann H.

San Vicente Creek

hikers along San Vicente Creek

Our very first hike as residents was a stroll along San Vicente Creek, a perennial stream that runs through the heart of downtown Silver City.

Boston Hill

view from Boston Hill

In addition to near-perfect weather, Silver City offers endless opportunities for urban hiking, including a huge network of trails that criss-cross an old mining site on a hill overlooking the town. The nearest trailhead is less than a mile from our house, so several times a week we hike up and over, returning via downtown, usually with a stop for coffee at Tranquilbuzz or the Javalina.

McComas Peak

view from McComas Peak

Just a short drive from town is McComas Peak, an easy hike to a 7861-foot summit with astonishing 360-degree views, from Cooke's Peak in the east, through the Burros and west to the Pelloncillos and beyond.

Dragonfly Trail

three friends

There's another popular local network of trails near Fort Bayard, a worthy destination in its own right.

Marion and Ann

Ann and me demonstrating proper masking, social distancing and (c)attitude.

petroglyphs

In addition to lovely, gently rolling high desert terrain, Dragonfly also features some intriguing petroglyphs.

Rabb Park

Rabb Park trailhead

We did not adjust for the elevation on our first foray into Rabb Park, so we had to cut the hike short.

frozen creek

It is certainly an enticing area that we look forward to exploring in warmer weather.

icy waterfall

Water trickling under ice — what a great sound!

Little Cherry Creek

walking across a frozen creek

We are very surprised by the variety of terrain in the Silver City area, including this well-watered narrow canyon north of town.

hikers in narrow canyon watercress in the creek

Cherry Creek

hikers along frozen creek

Heading south along the main stem of the creek we hiked the previous week.

pussy willow in snow

An actual pussy willow! I hadn't seen one in decades!

bark pattern

Tree bark art

leaf dander in pond

Just some leaf dander suspended in a bottle green pool.

Pictographs

hiking to an overlook

In an area where I expected nothing but flat and featureless ranch land, we stumbled upon this curious ridge of tortured tuff.

rocky ridge in distance approaching the ridge deeply veined rock

The rock has a crust of travertine and is pock-marked and veined as if it spent a good bit of time underwater.

pictographs

Pictographs on some cliff faces may be Apache in origin.

hiker reclining under rock arch

Chacmool.