11/6/18 The Catwalk

     I have been hearing about a place called The Catwalk since arriving at the Cliff Dwellings last August, so today I drove to The Catwalk to check it out.  It's about 65 miles west/northwest of Silver City and just before you get to it, there's a sign that says, "Road May Flood."

     Just my luck that there would be water on the road today! It just so happens that last week I was talking to a visitor at the Cliff Dwellings who felt inspired to inform me about the dangers of water on the road. She said before you drive across water on the road, try to determine how deep the water is, how strong the current is, and whether there are rocks, or debris, in the water.

      The water looked to be about a foot deep, the current looked strong, but there didn't seem to be rocks, or debris, in the water. In addition, I could see the tracks left by other vehicles that had recently driven through the water on the road and made it to the other side, so I decided to take my chances and cross it.

These gorgeous red sumac bushes were waiting for me on the other side!

So were these trees along the banks of the river.
The Catwalk trail starts here. Parts of it are wheelchair accessible. 

Very soon you are walking in a canyon with steep rock walls towering above you on either side.   (Geronimo, a famous Apache, and his band, hid out in this canyon in the 1800s! Pottery of the type made by the Cliff Dwellers has been found in this area also.)

     Soon the earthen trail is replaced by a metal catwalk. As you walk, you can see the stream rushing through the canyon about 30 feet below you.

As it travels through the canyon, the stream rushes over rocks making many small waterfalls.

The catwalk winds through the canyon.

     The U.S. Forest Service is working to make as much of the trail wheelchair accessible as possible, but you can see what a difficult task that will be! Here, the engineers built a sidewalk under two huge boulders and then they built stairs on the other side.

The Catwalk  trail is a loop about 2.2 miles long. 

As you can see in this photograph,

the trail ascends and descends along the river.

 There were a surprising number of trees and shrubs still in summer green in protected areas along the bottom of the canyon. 

This photograph shows the reflections of the trees in the river near the beginning of the Catwalk trail.

Though The Catwalk Trail is on the western edge of the Gila Wilderness, the mountains in the distance look similar to the mountains near the Cliff Dwellings.

     I took this picture on the way back to Silver City, but the vegetation looks the same as that on the TJ Trail near the Cliff Dwellings.
     Now I can understand why people have been encouraging me to go see The Catwalk! Next on my list is City of Rocks State Park near Deming, New Mexico.