Silver City, New Mexico & the Trail of the Mountain Spirits

July 27th -29th, 2023 Thursday-Sunday

$579 Per Person (Based Upon Double Occupancy) $134 Single Supplement

Day One: We’re traveling the Old West Highway, on our way to Silver City in southwestern New Mexico, situated just east of the Continental Divide. This boyhood town of Billy the Kid is rich with Old West Heritage, a vibrant arts community, and incredible scenery. Along the way we’ll enjoy several stops, including one for lunch on self, in a region that is famously home to some of the most delicious Mexican food in the country. We’ll check into our hotel and after a refresh and our own Happy Hour, head into downtown Silver City for dinner, on self, with several restaurants to choose from.

Day Two: We’ll enjoy breakfast, included, at the hotel, and then it’s back on the Transits to drive the Trail of the Mountain Spirits Scenic Byway. We’ll travel through the beautiful Mimbres Valley, into San Lorenzo, a quiet village and home to the historic San Lorenzo church, said to be the site of an actual miracle. Further into the Mimbres Valley, we’ll take the cut-off to beautiful Bear Canyon Lake and head for the famous Gila Cliff Dwellings. For thousands of years, nomadic people used the caves of the Gila River as temporary shelter. By the late 1200’s, people of the Mogollon Culture settled into this region, building rooms in the cliff dwellings for a brief period of about 20 years, then moving on. We’ll enjoy a picnic lunch, included, at the Gila Cliff Dwellings trailhead, a gorgeous setting overlooking the ruins. If you’re feeling ambitious, a 2-minute walk will take you to a wall of pictographs, a 5-minute walk will take you to a three-room dwelling, and an uphill climb that is equivalent to 18 flights of stairs will take you into the Gila Cliff Dwellings. After lunch, we’ll continue past lush green fields and grazing horses, with plenty of scenic stops along the way to enjoy the butterflies, 337 different species of birds, and abundant wildflowers. We’ll stop at Lake Roberts, where it is very common to find whole herds of deer grazing along the road. From here we’ll head for the old mining community of Pinos Altos, where gold was discovered in 1860 and many of the buildings from that era are still standing. Continuing on the Trail of the Mountain Spirits, we’ll stop at an overlook to explore a panoramic view of the Chino mine, one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world. From here we’ll head back into Silver City for a refresh at our hotel, then it’s downtown for dinner on self in a town that is famously fun.

Day Three: We’ll enjoy breakfast, included at the hotel. After breakfast, it’s bags out, and we’re off to explore Catwalk Recreation Area, a half-mile-long bridge dramatically suspended along a beautiful canyon, over a cool creek that borders the Gila Wilderness. The Catwalk follows the path of the pipeline built in the 1890’s to deliver water to the mining town of Graham. Workmen had to enter the canyon by crawling atop the narrow pipeline named the “Catwalk.” In the 1930’s the Civilian Conservation Corps rebuilt the Catwalk. Metal walkways were bolted to the narrow canyon walls where there was no room to cut a trail, creating an easy walkway that is universally accessible for all visitors. Here’s your opportunity to explore the canyon once used as a hideout for both Geronimo and Butch Cassidy! Later back in the Transits, we’re headed for home with plenty of great