June 10, 2025 • 24 mins
Note: Audio only, please see YouTube for video version.
Hidden within the rugged terrain of New Mexico's Gila National Forest lies an engineering marvel with a fascinating past. The Catwalk National Recreational Trail suspends visitors along sheer canyon walls, following a path first blazed by silver miners in the 1890s.
My journey begins at the trailhead where interpretive signs reveal the area's rich mining heritage. When silver and gold were discovered in Whitewater Canyon in 1889, ambitious prospectors built a wooden pipeline traversing three miles of treacherous terrain. Workers maintained this structure by balancing on narrow wooden planks that earned the nickname "catwalk" due to the cat-like agility required to navigate them. Though mining operations ceased by 1913, this remarkable pathway found new life decades later.
Walking the modern metal walkway, I'm struck by the dramatic juxtaposition of human engineering against raw nature. The first half-mile offers accessible, paved paths 40 feet above Whitewater Creek. Evidence of nature's power is everywhere—reinforced rock walls, mesh barriers, and countless stabilizing bolts testify to the 15 major floods that have reshaped this canyon over four decades. The 2012 flood destroyed the previous infrastructure, making today's trail a modern rebuild that honors its historic predecessor.
The canyon's volcanic geology tells an even older story. I examine fascinating formations, including pumice, lithics, and "stone bubbles"—gas pockets trapped in rock and lined with tiny crystals. The diverse ecosystem supports Ponderosa pines, Douglas firs, sycamores, and desert plants, creating a biological transition zone unique to this riparian corridor.
For those seeking adventure beyond the main attraction, the trail connects to the more challenging Whitewater Trail #207, leading deeper into the wilderness. This entire area once served as a sanctuary for Native Americans, including Geronimo, adding another layer to its remarkable story.
Whether you're fascinated by mining history, engineering achievements, geological wonders, or simply seeking stunning canyon views, the Catwalk Trail delivers an unforgettable experience that bridges New Mexico's rugged past with its preserved natural beauty. Bring proper footwear, water, and your sense of wonder—this hidden gem awaits your discovery.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here I am at the Catwalk National Recreational
Trail located in the GilaNational Forest of New Mexico.
Really a cool area.
Got a picnic area, checked outthe signage.
Half of it is paved, half not,some difficult sections.
But let's take a look at theCatwalk Trail.
One of the first things youmight be asking is why is this
(00:21):
here?
In the 1800s they did silvermining here this kind of talks
about it and the wagon trainstook the ore out, took it to
Silver City, and the reason theyhad this here, this here, what
(00:43):
they call the catwalk, isbecause they crushed that ore in
the ore crusher and took it bymail.
1889, in Whitewater Canyon,gila, they found silver and gold
, attracted by riches.
Several mines were developedLet me see on the sign here if
(01:05):
you want to pause and read aboutthat.
But they had an electricgenerator and they had to meet
the needs of the towns.
They had this pipeline thatwent about three miles up and
they had to build another one.
That one started in 1893.
They had to build another onein 1897.
And then they processed the oreat the mill in 1893.
They had to build another onein 1897.
(01:26):
And then they processed the oreat the mill in 1893.
They got to do 75 tons a day ofthe ore and they closed down in
the early 1900s 1913.
But they did work the mineuntil 1942.
And Diamond Jubilee put thissign up.
That was the New Mexico StateSociety of Daughters of the
(01:46):
American Revolution and the NewMexico Society of Children of
the American Revolution incooperation with the Forest
Service.
You can tell because I thoughtthis was etched on here and I
felt it.
The bottom part is the WhiteWater Canyon part on the Hila
National Forest, but everythingelse is painted on a picture of
the water flames in the mineitself.
Let's go down the trail andcheck it out.
I might be able to hear thewater flames in the mine itself.
Let's go down the trail andcheck it out.
(02:06):
Might be able to hear the waterrunning.
Whitewater Canyon I guess thisis Whitewater Creek.
The Apaches made their homeshere in the canyon Probably
flooded from time to time.
You can see where the creek canflow and it only takes a little
rain it to fill up like abathtub and become a foaming
(02:27):
torrent and carve the canyon.
In the last 40 years there'sbeen 15 major floods.
The original trail here wasbuilt by the CCC in the 1930s,
but it washed away in 2012 andwas rebuilt.
What we're seeing today is fromthat rebuild done in the
(02:49):
20-teens.
I just came around the cornerhere so other people hiking.
Today it's a beautiful day.
This trail, for the first halfmile is paved, so it's
accessible, and the other halfis not.
You can see they have retainingstructures because when it
begins to rain from the side ofthe hills there's a potential
(03:12):
for rock fall.
They built this reinforced rockwall with wire mesh to protect
us.
I'm going to continueInteresting views here as you go
into the canyon.
One thing I did notice theredefinitely is a concern with
rock fall because they have allof these areas here bolted.
(03:35):
There's bolts all over thisrock face to prevent it from
falling, or at least to try toprohibit it from falling.
It's probably going to fall.
I think that's prettyinteresting.
Nature is amazing.
If this video lifts you up andyou're enjoying it, make sure to
give it a thumbs up.
(03:55):
Let it get out to other people.
Thanks, this bridge was washedout in the mid-2000s, like well
2012, and water was actuallypretty high then.
Maybe it was lower at that time.
You can see how this stuff isattached onto the rock itself.
It's bolted on there and that'spretty amazing that they're
(04:21):
able to do that.
Let's take a look at what thesesigns tell us.
Stream power they built thatthree-mile pipeline, which is
why the catwalk was created inthe first place, to run that
steam engine that powered themill.
Pretty cool, engineering Wouldnot have been attempted today,
(04:42):
more than likely, becausethere's other ways they could
have done it.
But back in those days, late1800s, that would have been the
way to do it, and it was awooden deal.
They called it because of thecat-like balancing skills
because it had these woodenplanks on there.
You can see timbers and boltshanging from the walls.
In the 1890s here's what itlooked like the CCC transformed
(05:07):
it into a recreation trail andthen they replaced it in the
1960s and made it wheelchairaccessible in 2003.
Of course, as I said before, itwas made or rebuilt in 2012
because of the flood, and youcan see some old timbers from
back in the day.
Pretty cool.
Geologists believe this wasformed by volcanic activity.
(05:30):
It had several different formsthat we can see here in the
walls of the canyon as it's worndown with the water.
You have pumice, lithics, stonebubbles and ash just in this
little area the stone bubbleslook like gas bubbles trapped in
the rock, outlined with tinycrystals.
There's a bunch over here onthe wall on the side.
Stone bubbles and ash.
Just in this little area thestone bubbles look like gas
bubbles trapped in the rock,outlined with tiny crystals.
There's a bunch over here onthe wall On the side we kind of
have recessed areas Ash.
(05:55):
That's basically finely groundpieces of ash that have been
cemented together.
Yeah, pumice and sticks.
Maybe Some ash right here.
Pretty cool, some pumice.
I'm not a geologist but I canpick out some things.
Got all kinds of stuff in thisrock face down to the creek.
(06:18):
Amazing what water uncoversover time.
I think if we had a wheelchairhere it would be hard.
I'm trying to get my feet wet,but I might not be successful.
I might be able to rock hop andnot fall.
Oh, look at that, I made it.
One thing I'm noticing I'mgradually going up, so that's
(06:40):
interesting.
Up we go.
Here's some more traditionallooking bridges.
This one is similar to whatthey built originally probably
recycled plastic.
Let's continue.
All right, this is awesome lowbridge.
Watch your head.
Got a nice yucca plant there,big guy, let's see what he is
(07:05):
got a cross over the creek, theold trail.
You can kind of see it up inthe trees.
Probably can't see it too goodbecause it's in the sun, but it
looks closed.
Going to continue up the creek alittle bit further, see how far
I can get.
Probably not much further.
(07:26):
You can see there's some othertrails up there.
It is closed though.
So obey the signage, don't geton the closed trail.
Beautiful view of the streamhere.
I can probably cross withoutgetting my feet wet today, like
I can do it.
I should have brought my hikingpoles.
(07:51):
Yep, yep, I did it.
The water is flowing prettygood.
Walkway it's washed outcompletely.
Any place you see this pipeexposed or people have been back
here riding on it, graffitiingit like a bunch of goombas.
Don't do that.
Looks like this landing cameall the way down and you had the
(08:14):
stairway right there but itwashed out and they didn't
replace it.
Here's an old bridge or awalkway.
It would be hard to see in thesunlight, but it kind of looks
like a stairway to heaven withthe sun right here.
It's pretty cool.
Somebody's been laying somepipe.
Ha, so, per the sign,light-colored volcanic rock
(08:37):
across the canyon Hard to see inthe shadows, but there's
light-colored stuff right hereand I could say light-colored
over there too.
They're calling that ash flowtuff.
So it's thinner, dark coloredlayers of sandstone and
sedimentary breccia showed inthis area at least.
(08:57):
Volcanic eruptions depositedash flow.
During intervals, debris waseroded and deposited, forming a
discontinuous sandstone layer.
So, yeah, you can kind of seefrom the front here it's more
reddish, which is the presenceof iron, and then over here
you've got more reddish, whichis the presence of iron, and
then over here you've got moregrayish or darker colors,
(09:19):
indicating magnetite or biotite,according to the sign.
This may be an older sign, thatmay not be accurate anymore.
There may be updated science onthis now.
But very cool.
You can't quite see what I wasseeing over there, but there was
a bridge right across this gapon top of the creek that I guess
long ago washed out.
(09:40):
There was the footing on eitherside, but nothing in the middle
and a couple of cables crazy,imagine the force of water that
came through here.
Over here, on top of this rock,there's a metal bolt, a cable
tie, a little hoop.
The word I'm thinking of is notreally coming to my mind, but
(10:02):
anyway, there's that Beautiful.
Okay, I've officially gone pastthe end of the catwalk trail and
I'm on what's called theWhitewater Trail 207, which I
think is the same trail that youis the catwalk trail, but
continues on past the catwalksite.
(10:22):
Another trail went off to thenorth.
I'm using Natural Atlas and Igot this on a trial run for a
year, 25% off, which is $29.95.
I don't know if I can possiblydo that myself to share with my
viewers, but I got it from myLife Outdoors and if I can't do
(10:43):
it, I'll definitely share thelink with you.
The reason I wanted to try itis because not only does it map
for you, it knows where you areif you download the stuff and
will tell you things about yoursurroundings plants, geologic
(11:07):
formations, animals, that typeof stuff.
How accurate that is remains tobe seen, but so far we are
hiking for about an hour.
It's at about a mile and seventenths.
I'm gonna go a little bitfurther as far as I can turn
around.
If you want a separate video,leave a comment.
Okay, bye, I had to share thisbecause, wow, what a view.
(11:29):
Not sure what I'm looking atMountain range wise but isn't
that a pretty view?
This trail is a lot more ruggedthan the catwalk trail.
There's pieces of rock.
Not sure if this was hauled outhere or they broke it up.
I imagine they broke it up fromthe existing rock and made it.
(11:51):
It's a gorgeous trail.
Definitely put this one on yourlist.
So I'm way past the catwalk onthe Whitewater Trail which
continues behind me.
Powerhouse Trail, mom, which ismore like an old road, goes up
the side of this mountain hereto a trailhead which I'm not
(12:15):
going to be taking, at least nottoday.
I'm going to walk back to thefront where I parked.
I realize I did not bring verymuch to snack on.
I brought some craisins andthat was about it, and I didn't
(12:35):
bring my survival essentialstype gear.
Not a big deal.
I'll get out of here just fine,but not really super smart.
But look at this view.
This is amazing Quick historylesson in front of me.
Ponderosa pine Pine trees haveneedle-like structures, plump
(13:00):
like wild hares.
Ponderosa bundles of threeforms.
The needle cluster there,whereas you have a cousin here
which, even though it's calledDouglas fir, it's hyphenated, so
that means it's not a true firand it has slightly different
configuration.
So you see it's got moreindividual needles cones.
(13:22):
Let me find one.
There's one up here.
This is a younger tree.
I always like to say that theDouglas fir cones are giving the
bird.
Got a tree down here across thepath.
It's easy to step over it, butI was going to mark it with my
natural atlas.
Here's another Doug fir and wemight have some.
(13:43):
No, I don't see any cones justyet, but look at this guy.
This is a nice thick sycamoretree.
Typically we see cottonwoodswhich are similar, but I don't
think they're very closelyrelated.
There are both trees but Ithink they're in different
(14:05):
families.
But we're down here by theWhitewater Creek, walking back
out, and there you see some morewater loving plants, douglas
fir cones not the best example,but you can see it.
Has that little prickle,doesn't hurt, but it's a
identifying characteristic.
It looks like the middle fingergoing up.
(14:26):
So I've identified doug Douglasfir from other conifers.
In undergrad we had classeswhere we'd look at different
plant structures to identifythem, including cones, twigs and
leaves, along with a growthform.
Got some chola I'm not sure ofthe pronunciation Some agave, a
(14:49):
wide variety of stuff.
I'll have to verify this after Iget out of here today because I
don't have internet service,maybe the sycamores that are out
here.
There's some more that I'mseeing.
They have that slick lookingbark, that kind of sloughs off
but makes it real, real smoothand they are not unlike a
(15:12):
cottonwood.
Here's a really big one overthe trail.
If they have been around, Icertainly haven't seen them.
I'm going to have to dig intomy coursework to remember all
the things about sycamores, butthey're pretty prominent where I
went to college in East Texas.
In the eastern and central USyou've got sycamores everywhere.
Pretty crazy.
(15:33):
If you look at the bark, it's akind of very thin bark that
sloughs off and you get theselittle smooth like this one over
here.
You get that kind of smoothtrunk.
Isn't that interesting Really?
My only snack I brought on thishike was craisins, which are
(15:53):
dried cranberries.
They're pretty good, but I surewould like something more
substantial.
But until I get back to thetruck, this is what I got Dried
cranberries, sugar and refinedsunflower oil.
Okay, I'm almost back to thecatwalk trail.
This is Trail Junction.
(16:17):
This trail is tougher than Ianticipated.
Going on the whitewater Trailbehind me Keeps going into the
Gila Wilderness, but I didn'tmake it that far.
Another trail, though, you cantake and explore Gold Dust Trail
, number 41.
I'll follow 207 back to thecatwalk area.
(16:42):
Not sure what this sign said,but it was something important.
Might be a little hard to seehim.
There's a little lizard rightthere on the edge of the rock.
I believe it's a western fencelizard, but I could be wrong.
Got some more pipe hanging outright down here.
(17:03):
It's crazy.
We're back to where we left theend of the catwalk trail, more
or less.
I feel a little bit better now,as I can probably get back to
my truck pretty quickly becauseit's pretty flat now and on nice
level terrain.
But I think it's pretty flatnow and on nice level terrain.
But I think it's prettyinteresting that they turned
(17:25):
this from a mining project andthey made it into a recreational
trail a natural recreationaltrail, for that matter.
Now check this out, though I wasgoing to show you this before.
Right here in this vicinity youhave some old ironworks.
(17:46):
There was something right there.
Somebody put that in 2009.
It doesn't like it's in useanymore.
Not really sure what that is,or was Summer 2009,.
Katie Cola, anita, nicky, nick,chance and David did all that,
(18:09):
so I'm not sure if it was an SCAcrew, if you don't know what
that is.
That's the Student ConservationAssociation.
They do internships for peoplewanting to work in the natural
resource fields.
Looks like this thing brokequite a while back.
It's pretty interesting looking.
Here's one footing, here's somepipes over here, and then
(18:30):
here's another footing acrossthe way over there.
Isn't that wild?
Probably with some kind ofsuspension bridge at one point,
because you have these littletie off loops here with some old
cables and stuff.
Wild.
If you think water is not apowerful force, check out this
(18:51):
boulder.
That probably was more uprightso it could hold the pipes.
I don't see how they would makethose concrete pillars without
it being upright.
There is a little bolt.
You may not be able to see itclearly, but right below it, on
that rock below, there is a bolt.
Let me see if I can zoom in andadjust the camera down.
That's wild.
(19:15):
But at some point in the pastI'm imagining I don't know when
this has been here since the1890s the water was sufficient
enough that it moved.
That that's crazy to thinkabout.
Even in the 1890s, when you hadno heavy equipment whatsoever,
(19:41):
you had no really way to getthings in here other than
probably they moved it by horseand carriage these huge pieces
of pipe and other apparati intothis canyon to make this pipe
for water intake for the oredown there.
(20:02):
It's just incredible to thinkabout what an engineering feat
it wasn't obvious to you before.
You can definitely tell thissucker gets moving.
Look at all this debris piledup, all these old logs from who
knows how many years.
It's crazy, but it provides alittle bridge.
(20:23):
Walk across on the when thewater is manageable.
Now you can come back to thisjunction here and make it into
kind of a loop and come out overhere.
That's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to go this way, go upthe steps and out this way.
(20:43):
That should give a wonderfulview of the other side's catwalk
and seeing how high it is above.
Let's say it's about 40 feetabove the creek.
Give or take.
What do you think?
(21:05):
Let me know in the comments.
This tree is eating this pole,isn't that crazy?
Nom, I wanted to show you allthis at the beginning but I was
interrupted because of the a lotof people.
But you have an overview ofsome things to see in the area.
(21:28):
Going back out, you have theBighorn Campground there in
Glenwood, whitewater Picnic Areaand Cat catwalk, which is where
we are now, a little bit northof that mogollon cooney's tomb.
I'm gonna check those out,probably on the way back to
(21:49):
where I'm staying close toreserve in the wilderness.
You have three prominentmountains there.
You got more than that, butthree that are on the map west
baldy holt and neighbors.
There are three prominentmountains there.
You've got more than that,three that are on the map West
Baldy Holt and Neighbors.
So lots of things to check outin the area.
It does say on here and Iwanted to point that out earlier
you don't want to drink thewater out of the creek unless
(22:10):
you treat it first.
It does probably have Giardiain it and other baddies that can
make you very sick.
One thing to think about thiswas a sanctuary for the native
people as late as the 1800s Late1800s.
Geronimo used this as a refugewhen he was taking up arms
against the United States.
(22:31):
This was a place for him tohave safety and refuge.
And anyway, I hope you enjoyedyour journey today.
Make sure you pack out all yourgarbage and stay on the trail.
I pretty much made it out and Iwant to show you these benches
real quick.
I think these are cool design.
Right here you've got NewMexico Sun emblem.
(22:57):
On there, you got trees,flowing water, and over here you
have a similar design the NewMexico in each of the four
corners Two on that other one,four on this one.
You have trees.
Here you have the bridgerepresenting the catwalk and a
pepper it looks like it's achili pepper.
(23:19):
How cute.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed thistoday.
Hi, how are you good?
How are you not too bad?
And I hope you enjoy this today.
It's a pretty neat spot and, asyou saw from my video, you can
make it into what you want.
Do the easy trail on thecatwalk and just do the parts
(23:43):
where you don't have to crossinto the water or go past that
area, or you can go beyond thecatwalk area to another spot.
That's pretty amazing.
I think there's some other coolbenches over here.
I want to show you before I letyou go.
(24:03):
Well, let me know what you thinkabout this, leave a comment,
leave a suggestion, whatever youfeel like, let me know.
Pretty cool, got some sheepover here bighorn sheep,
petroglyph style, with someflowing water through the canyon
, more trees.
Then over here you have a gate,which I think is cool.
(24:26):
That's got some designs on itthat it combines everything.
How neat.
Anyways, don't forget the oldthumbs up.
If you liked it, think aboutsubscribing to the channel if
you want to see more contentlike this.
Until next time, I'll see youon the trail.
Bye, bye.
Here I am at the Catwalk National Recreational
Trail located in the GilaNational Forest of New Mexico.
Really a cool area.
Got a picnic area, checked outthe signage.
Half of it is paved, half not,some difficult sections.
But let's take a look at theCatwalk Trail.
One of the first things youmight be asking is why is this
(00:21):
here?
In the 1800s they did silvermining here this kind of talks
about it and the wagon trainstook the ore out, took it to
Silver City, and the reason theyhad this here, this here, what
(00:43):
they call the catwalk, isbecause they crushed that ore in
the ore crusher and took it bymail.
1889, in Whitewater Canyon,gila, they found silver and gold
, attracted by riches.
Several mines were developedLet me see on the sign here if
(01:05):
you want to pause and read aboutthat.
But they had an electricgenerator and they had to meet
the needs of the towns.
They had this pipeline thatwent about three miles up and
they had to build another one.
That one started in 1893.
They had to build another onein 1897.
And then they processed the oreat the mill in 1893.
They had to build another onein 1897.
(01:26):
And then they processed the oreat the mill in 1893.
They got to do 75 tons a day ofthe ore and they closed down in
the early 1900s 1913.
But they did work the mineuntil 1942.
And Diamond Jubilee put thissign up.
That was the New Mexico StateSociety of Daughters of the
(01:46):
American Revolution and the NewMexico Society of Children of
the American Revolution incooperation with the Forest
Service.
You can tell because I thoughtthis was etched on here and I
felt it.
The bottom part is the WhiteWater Canyon part on the Hila
National Forest, but everythingelse is painted on a picture of
the water flames in the mineitself.
Let's go down the trail andcheck it out.
I might be able to hear thewater flames in the mine itself.
Let's go down the trail andcheck it out.
(02:06):
Might be able to hear the waterrunning.
Whitewater Canyon I guess thisis Whitewater Creek.
The Apaches made their homeshere in the canyon Probably
flooded from time to time.
You can see where the creek canflow and it only takes a little
rain it to fill up like abathtub and become a foaming
(02:27):
torrent and carve the canyon.
In the last 40 years there'sbeen 15 major floods.
The original trail here wasbuilt by the CCC in the 1930s,
but it washed away in 2012 andwas rebuilt.
What we're seeing today is fromthat rebuild done in the
(02:49):
20-teens.
I just came around the cornerhere so other people hiking.
Today it's a beautiful day.
This trail, for the first halfmile is paved, so it's
accessible, and the other halfis not.
You can see they have retainingstructures because when it
begins to rain from the side ofthe hills there's a potential
(03:12):
for rock fall.
They built this reinforced rockwall with wire mesh to protect
us.
I'm going to continueInteresting views here as you go
into the canyon.
One thing I did notice theredefinitely is a concern with
rock fall because they have allof these areas here bolted.
(03:35):
There's bolts all over thisrock face to prevent it from
falling, or at least to try toprohibit it from falling.
It's probably going to fall.
I think that's prettyinteresting.
Nature is amazing.
If this video lifts you up andyou're enjoying it, make sure to
give it a thumbs up.
(03:55):
Let it get out to other people.
Thanks, this bridge was washedout in the mid-2000s, like well
2012, and water was actuallypretty high then.
Maybe it was lower at that time.
You can see how this stuff isattached onto the rock itself.
It's bolted on there and that'spretty amazing that they're
(04:21):
able to do that.
Let's take a look at what thesesigns tell us.
Stream power they built thatthree-mile pipeline, which is
why the catwalk was created inthe first place, to run that
steam engine that powered themill.
Pretty cool, engineering Wouldnot have been attempted today,
(04:42):
more than likely, becausethere's other ways they could
have done it.
But back in those days, late1800s, that would have been the
way to do it, and it was awooden deal.
They called it because of thecat-like balancing skills
because it had these woodenplanks on there.
You can see timbers and boltshanging from the walls.
In the 1890s here's what itlooked like the CCC transformed
(05:07):
it into a recreation trail andthen they replaced it in the
1960s and made it wheelchairaccessible in 2003.
Of course, as I said before, itwas made or rebuilt in 2012
because of the flood, and youcan see some old timbers from
back in the day.
Pretty cool.
Geologists believe this wasformed by volcanic activity.
(05:30):
It had several different formsthat we can see here in the
walls of the canyon as it's worndown with the water.
You have pumice, lithics, stonebubbles and ash just in this
little area the stone bubbleslook like gas bubbles trapped in
the rock, outlined with tinycrystals.
There's a bunch over here onthe wall on the side.
Stone bubbles and ash.
Just in this little area thestone bubbles look like gas
bubbles trapped in the rock,outlined with tiny crystals.
There's a bunch over here onthe wall On the side we kind of
have recessed areas Ash.
(05:55):
That's basically finely groundpieces of ash that have been
cemented together.
Yeah, pumice and sticks.
Maybe Some ash right here.
Pretty cool, some pumice.
I'm not a geologist but I canpick out some things.
Got all kinds of stuff in thisrock face down to the creek.
(06:18):
Amazing what water uncoversover time.
I think if we had a wheelchairhere it would be hard.
I'm trying to get my feet wet,but I might not be successful.
I might be able to rock hop andnot fall.
Oh, look at that, I made it.
One thing I'm noticing I'mgradually going up, so that's
(06:40):
interesting.
Up we go.
Here's some more traditionallooking bridges.
This one is similar to whatthey built originally probably
recycled plastic.
Let's continue.
All right, this is awesome lowbridge.
Watch your head.
Got a nice yucca plant there,big guy, let's see what he is
(07:05):
got a cross over the creek, theold trail.
You can kind of see it up inthe trees.
Probably can't see it too goodbecause it's in the sun, but it
looks closed.
Going to continue up the creek alittle bit further, see how far
I can get.
Probably not much further.
(07:26):
You can see there's some othertrails up there.
It is closed though.
So obey the signage, don't geton the closed trail.
Beautiful view of the streamhere.
I can probably cross withoutgetting my feet wet today, like
I can do it.
I should have brought my hikingpoles.
(07:51):
Yep, yep, I did it.
The water is flowing prettygood.
Walkway it's washed outcompletely.
Any place you see this pipeexposed or people have been back
here riding on it, graffitiingit like a bunch of goombas.
Don't do that.
Looks like this landing cameall the way down and you had the
(08:14):
stairway right there but itwashed out and they didn't
replace it.
Here's an old bridge or awalkway.
It would be hard to see in thesunlight, but it kind of looks
like a stairway to heaven withthe sun right here.
It's pretty cool.
Somebody's been laying somepipe.
Ha, so, per the sign,light-colored volcanic rock
(08:37):
across the canyon Hard to see inthe shadows, but there's
light-colored stuff right hereand I could say light-colored
over there too.
They're calling that ash flowtuff.
So it's thinner, dark coloredlayers of sandstone and
sedimentary breccia showed inthis area at least.
(08:57):
Volcanic eruptions depositedash flow.
During intervals, debris waseroded and deposited, forming a
discontinuous sandstone layer.
So, yeah, you can kind of seefrom the front here it's more
reddish, which is the presenceof iron, and then over here
you've got more reddish, whichis the presence of iron, and
then over here you've got moregrayish or darker colors,
(09:19):
indicating magnetite or biotite,according to the sign.
This may be an older sign, thatmay not be accurate anymore.
There may be updated science onthis now.
But very cool.
You can't quite see what I wasseeing over there, but there was
a bridge right across this gapon top of the creek that I guess
long ago washed out.
(09:40):
There was the footing on eitherside, but nothing in the middle
and a couple of cables crazy,imagine the force of water that
came through here.
Over here, on top of this rock,there's a metal bolt, a cable
tie, a little hoop.
The word I'm thinking of is notreally coming to my mind, but
(10:02):
anyway, there's that Beautiful.
Okay, I've officially gone pastthe end of the catwalk trail and
I'm on what's called theWhitewater Trail 207, which I
think is the same trail that youis the catwalk trail, but
continues on past the catwalksite.
(10:22):
Another trail went off to thenorth.
I'm using Natural Atlas and Igot this on a trial run for a
year, 25% off, which is $29.95.
I don't know if I can possiblydo that myself to share with my
viewers, but I got it from myLife Outdoors and if I can't do
(10:43):
it, I'll definitely share thelink with you.
The reason I wanted to try itis because not only does it map
for you, it knows where you areif you download the stuff and
will tell you things about yoursurroundings plants, geologic
(11:07):
formations, animals, that typeof stuff.
How accurate that is remains tobe seen, but so far we are
hiking for about an hour.
It's at about a mile and seventenths.
I'm gonna go a little bitfurther as far as I can turn
around.
If you want a separate video,leave a comment.
Okay, bye, I had to share thisbecause, wow, what a view.
(11:29):
Not sure what I'm looking atMountain range wise but isn't
that a pretty view?
This trail is a lot more ruggedthan the catwalk trail.
There's pieces of rock.
Not sure if this was hauled outhere or they broke it up.
I imagine they broke it up fromthe existing rock and made it.
(11:51):
It's a gorgeous trail.
Definitely put this one on yourlist.
So I'm way past the catwalk onthe Whitewater Trail which
continues behind me.
Powerhouse Trail, mom, which ismore like an old road, goes up
the side of this mountain hereto a trailhead which I'm not
(12:15):
going to be taking, at least nottoday.
I'm going to walk back to thefront where I parked.
I realize I did not bring verymuch to snack on.
I brought some craisins andthat was about it, and I didn't
(12:35):
bring my survival essentialstype gear.
Not a big deal.
I'll get out of here just fine,but not really super smart.
But look at this view.
This is amazing Quick historylesson in front of me.
Ponderosa pine Pine trees haveneedle-like structures, plump
(13:00):
like wild hares.
Ponderosa bundles of threeforms.
The needle cluster there,whereas you have a cousin here
which, even though it's calledDouglas fir, it's hyphenated, so
that means it's not a true firand it has slightly different
configuration.
So you see it's got moreindividual needles cones.
(13:22):
Let me find one.
There's one up here.
This is a younger tree.
I always like to say that theDouglas fir cones are giving the
bird.
Got a tree down here across thepath.
It's easy to step over it, butI was going to mark it with my
natural atlas.
Here's another Doug fir and wemight have some.
(13:43):
No, I don't see any cones justyet, but look at this guy.
This is a nice thick sycamoretree.
Typically we see cottonwoodswhich are similar, but I don't
think they're very closelyrelated.
There are both trees but Ithink they're in different
(14:05):
families.
But we're down here by theWhitewater Creek, walking back
out, and there you see some morewater loving plants, douglas
fir cones not the best example,but you can see it.
Has that little prickle,doesn't hurt, but it's a
identifying characteristic.
It looks like the middle fingergoing up.
(14:26):
So I've identified doug Douglasfir from other conifers.
In undergrad we had classeswhere we'd look at different
plant structures to identifythem, including cones, twigs and
leaves, along with a growthform.
Got some chola I'm not sure ofthe pronunciation Some agave, a
(14:49):
wide variety of stuff.
I'll have to verify this after Iget out of here today because I
don't have internet service,maybe the sycamores that are out
here.
There's some more that I'mseeing.
They have that slick lookingbark, that kind of sloughs off
but makes it real, real smoothand they are not unlike a
(15:12):
cottonwood.
Here's a really big one overthe trail.
If they have been around, Icertainly haven't seen them.
I'm going to have to dig intomy coursework to remember all
the things about sycamores, butthey're pretty prominent where I
went to college in East Texas.
In the eastern and central USyou've got sycamores everywhere.
Pretty crazy.
(15:33):
If you look at the bark, it's akind of very thin bark that
sloughs off and you get theselittle smooth like this one over
here.
You get that kind of smoothtrunk.
Isn't that interesting Really?
My only snack I brought on thishike was craisins, which are
(15:53):
dried cranberries.
They're pretty good, but I surewould like something more
substantial.
But until I get back to thetruck, this is what I got Dried
cranberries, sugar and refinedsunflower oil.
Okay, I'm almost back to thecatwalk trail.
This is Trail Junction.
(16:17):
This trail is tougher than Ianticipated.
Going on the whitewater Trailbehind me Keeps going into the
Gila Wilderness, but I didn'tmake it that far.
Another trail, though, you cantake and explore Gold Dust Trail
, number 41.
I'll follow 207 back to thecatwalk area.
(16:42):
Not sure what this sign said,but it was something important.
Might be a little hard to seehim.
There's a little lizard rightthere on the edge of the rock.
I believe it's a western fencelizard, but I could be wrong.
Got some more pipe hanging outright down here.
(17:03):
It's crazy.
We're back to where we left theend of the catwalk trail, more
or less.
I feel a little bit better now,as I can probably get back to
my truck pretty quickly becauseit's pretty flat now and on nice
level terrain.
But I think it's pretty flatnow and on nice level terrain.
But I think it's prettyinteresting that they turned
(17:25):
this from a mining project andthey made it into a recreational
trail a natural recreationaltrail, for that matter.
Now check this out, though I wasgoing to show you this before.
Right here in this vicinity youhave some old ironworks.
(17:46):
There was something right there.
Somebody put that in 2009.
It doesn't like it's in useanymore.
Not really sure what that is,or was Summer 2009,.
Katie Cola, anita, nicky, nick,chance and David did all that,
(18:09):
so I'm not sure if it was an SCAcrew, if you don't know what
that is.
That's the Student ConservationAssociation.
They do internships for peoplewanting to work in the natural
resource fields.
Looks like this thing brokequite a while back.
It's pretty interesting looking.
Here's one footing, here's somepipes over here, and then
(18:30):
here's another footing acrossthe way over there.
Isn't that wild?
Probably with some kind ofsuspension bridge at one point,
because you have these littletie off loops here with some old
cables and stuff.
Wild.
If you think water is not apowerful force, check out this
(18:51):
boulder.
That probably was more uprightso it could hold the pipes.
I don't see how they would makethose concrete pillars without
it being upright.
There is a little bolt.
You may not be able to see itclearly, but right below it, on
that rock below, there is a bolt.
Let me see if I can zoom in andadjust the camera down.
That's wild.
(19:15):
But at some point in the pastI'm imagining I don't know when
this has been here since the1890s the water was sufficient
enough that it moved.
That that's crazy to thinkabout.
Even in the 1890s, when you hadno heavy equipment whatsoever,
(19:41):
you had no really way to getthings in here other than
probably they moved it by horseand carriage these huge pieces
of pipe and other apparati intothis canyon to make this pipe
for water intake for the oredown there.
(20:02):
It's just incredible to thinkabout what an engineering feat
it wasn't obvious to you before.
You can definitely tell thissucker gets moving.
Look at all this debris piledup, all these old logs from who
knows how many years.
It's crazy, but it provides alittle bridge.
(20:23):
Walk across on the when thewater is manageable.
Now you can come back to thisjunction here and make it into
kind of a loop and come out overhere.
That's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to go this way, go upthe steps and out this way.
(20:43):
That should give a wonderfulview of the other side's catwalk
and seeing how high it is above.
Let's say it's about 40 feetabove the creek.
Give or take.
What do you think?
(21:05):
Let me know in the comments.
This tree is eating this pole,isn't that crazy?
Nom, I wanted to show you allthis at the beginning but I was
interrupted because of the a lotof people.
But you have an overview ofsome things to see in the area.
(21:28):
Going back out, you have theBighorn Campground there in
Glenwood, whitewater Picnic Areaand Cat catwalk, which is where
we are now, a little bit northof that mogollon cooney's tomb.
I'm gonna check those out,probably on the way back to
(21:49):
where I'm staying close toreserve in the wilderness.
You have three prominentmountains there.
You got more than that, butthree that are on the map west
baldy holt and neighbors.
There are three prominentmountains there.
You've got more than that,three that are on the map West
Baldy Holt and Neighbors.
So lots of things to check outin the area.
It does say on here and Iwanted to point that out earlier
you don't want to drink thewater out of the creek unless
(22:10):
you treat it first.
It does probably have Giardiain it and other baddies that can
make you very sick.
One thing to think about thiswas a sanctuary for the native
people as late as the 1800s Late1800s.
Geronimo used this as a refugewhen he was taking up arms
against the United States.
(22:31):
This was a place for him tohave safety and refuge.
And anyway, I hope you enjoyedyour journey today.
Make sure you pack out all yourgarbage and stay on the trail.
I pretty much made it out and Iwant to show you these benches
real quick.
I think these are cool design.
Right here you've got NewMexico Sun emblem.
(22:57):
On there, you got trees,flowing water, and over here you
have a similar design the NewMexico in each of the four
corners Two on that other one,four on this one.
You have trees.
Here you have the bridgerepresenting the catwalk and a
pepper it looks like it's achili pepper.
(23:19):
How cute.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed thistoday.
Hi, how are you good?
How are you not too bad?
And I hope you enjoy this today.
It's a pretty neat spot and, asyou saw from my video, you can
make it into what you want.
Do the easy trail on thecatwalk and just do the parts
(23:43):
where you don't have to crossinto the water or go past that
area, or you can go beyond thecatwalk area to another spot.
That's pretty amazing.
I think there's some other coolbenches over here.
I want to show you before I letyou go.
(24:03):
Well, let me know what you thinkabout this, leave a comment,
leave a suggestion, whatever youfeel like, let me know.
Pretty cool, got some sheepover here bighorn sheep,
petroglyph style, with someflowing water through the canyon
, more trees.
Then over here you have a gate,which I think is cool.
(24:26):
That's got some designs on itthat it combines everything.
How neat.
Anyways, don't forget the oldthumbs up.
If you liked it, think aboutsubscribing to the channel if
you want to see more contentlike this.
Until next time, I'll see youon the trail.
Bye, bye.
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