Sunday, March 30, 2014

Ghost Towns

We're still in New Mexico and still loving it. We've spent most of the winter going back and forth between Elephant Butte State Park and Caballo Lake State Park. It has been a great winter...mostly warm, sunny days and cool nights. We'll probably be moving on soon. Caballo Lake was way too crowded the last time we were there so I think we are done with it for the season. I'm really going to miss this part of New Mexico but I'm looking forward to exploring some of the parks in the northern part of the state.
Caballo Lake before the crowds set in
 
Today's "postcards" are from a drive we took a few weeks ago to explore some ghost towns. We drove across the Black Range Mountains, crossed the Continental Divide and found ourselves in the Gila National Forest.


That's a map of the Sierra County Ghost Towns. We went to Cochillo, Winston and Chloride. Here is a link to a website with a lot more info...  Sierra County Ghost Towns


San Jose Church in Cuchillo



I made a friend.
 General Store in Winston. Ghosts need ice, too, I guess.

We spent quite a bit of time wandering around Chloride. There are still around 20 people living there now but we didn't see a soul. Chloride had between 1000 and 2000 residents in the 1880's. A couple from England bought several of the buildings not long ago and have been restoring them.


Ghost Kitty. We fed him cheese and crackers...from a distance.
The Hanging Tree (That's really its name.)


We saw signs driving out of town saying "Beware of Wolves" and I'm pretty sure this is a wolf skin hanging on this building...



We really enjoyed the drive. I love the diversity of the terrain around here...mountains, desert, lakes, forests. I'll end this with a picture from around our campsite. Thanks for stopping by.

Life is good