In and around Silver City, New Mexico

The past two days we've spent in a cute little log cabin in a KOA campground just outside of Silver City, NM. This is a new experience for us (just like the AirBnB, but at least this one we were aware of beforehand), and it's been a very good one. The campground is not overly big and at this time of year fairly empty still, it is very well kept, clean and reasonably priced. It's a nice change from the motels in the middle or at the edge of towns because it is nice and quiet, I can hear the red-winged blackbirds and other songbirds early in the morning already, and the air is fresh and clean. It's been truly relaxing for us here, and a good place for Johann to lay low for a bit to try and get over his cold.

 Silver City must have been a booming town in the late 19^th century because of its silver mining. It's well worth spending a morning walking through its nicely restored historic core and look at the buildings left from its heyday. Plaques describe the history of different buildings, and it's hard to imagine that this period of affluence lasted only a few years. Several economic crises, the most devastating the collapse of the silver market starting in 1893. Merchants built empires and lost them again in the span of a few years. It wasn't only the economic instability they had to deal with but also calamities like fires ravaging the wooden buildings in the city and a terrible flood washing away parts of downtown, creating a deep gully that cut right through the town. Today, this 'big ditch' provides an area for pleasant walks, which we were able to check out when we crossed the foot bridge not far from the attractive tourist office to downtown. 

The tourist office has ample parking space, and visitors to Silver City are encouraged to leave their vehicles there and explore the town's core on foot. Some neat restaurants and many art galleries can be found there; Silver City has developed into a thriving arts community since the seventies. There are still empty buildings around town, but it seems that it has found its new calling after the decline more than a hundred years ago. 

Yesterday morning we drove up the hill the WNMU (Western New Mexico University) to visit the university museum. It is located in a beautiful building that has seen many transformations since its beginnings in the late 19^th century. Most notably, maybe, it had a basketball court on the main floor with a gallery for spectators, while the chemistry labs were in the floor below. This former basketball court now houses a collection of the pottery of the Mimbres culture who lived in this area for about a thousand years and suddenly seem to have disappeared a thousand years later around 1100. The collection is so special because all the items come from a small area instead of having been brought together from different places further away. Bowls and containers of all kinds show the development of the techniques used to make them, some with geometric designs, others depicting animals and humans or Kokopelli, the humpbacked flute player. This godlike kachina spirit was supposed to have been responsible for bringing corn to the people and making it thrive.

Both afternoons we went on hikes not far from here. Two days ago our destination was the 'Big Tree', a 600 year old juniper. The trail led us through the typical landscape of shrub cedar, pinion pine, juniper evergreen trees with small hard, dry, pointed leaves that I still need to identify. 

The grass is still brown, but small plants are starting to green everywhere, and here and there verbenas are blooming. The juniper we had come to find was enclosed by a rail fence with an opening for people but not for animals: these grasslands are used by cows, plus, of course, deer, coyotes and other small mammals. I stretched my arms and measured: I needed four full arm spans to go around once, which means that the tree's diameter is at least two metres. What must that tree have seen already! 

Not far from it stood an oak, no smaller and likely no younger but no longer alive, the matriarch in this thicket of young oaks. A little creek trickled not far from it, and it was hard to believe that it could provide the moisture needed for all these big trees, the landscape along its banks completely different from the one we had traversed to get here.

It had been overcast, without any threat of rain almost a bit gloomy all day, but on our way back to the campground the sun tried to make an appearance, attended to by a sun dog or parhelion. I had observed that only once before, at home on a bitter cold day with ice fog. A nice way to end the day!

Yesterday's quest was a dragonfly pictograph along a trail of the same name. 

The trailhead was closer to our campground yet, and the landscape more open at first. This time the sun shone in a deep blue sky, and despite the wind it was quite warm. 

The trail, much better marked than the one the day before, descended to a valley with huge old cottonwoods after a while and led along a little creek making its way along big boulders. Following the signs we walked alongside it for a while, waiting for a marker that would show us the way to the pictograph, but in vain. 

After a while the trail climbed up to the dry, open flats again, and we realized we had missed it. I was a bit disappointed, but it had been such a nice walk that it was not worth getting upset about it. Still, it's hard to believe that whoever is responsible for marking the trail didn't point out its main focus.

Now we're getting ready to leave. We'll spend the next night in a tent at the Gila cliff hotsprings about an hour and a half north of here. I look forward to finding out more about that area with its cliff dwellings.