Catwalk National Recreation Trail

We left City of Rocks after one last tour of the rock playground. As we traveled north on US180, we found several interesting places in Gila National Forest. The first stop was Leopold Vista. We stopped to eat a picnic lunch. The interesting thing about this stop was the number of cars in the parking area--six, and of those, five had Florida tags!

From Leopold Vista we continued on to the ranger station outside Glenwood, NM. Bob and I wanted to walk Catwalk National Recreation Trail. The ranger assured us there was a national forest campground that could accommodate our rig just north of the road to the trail. We found the campground with ease and we were the first to arrive. The campground was free, but it didn't have hook-ups. We found a great spot near a dry stream bed.
After setting up camp we drove to Catwalk Trail. The trail follows the sides of the mountains up into a canyon. The area was once used by miners and was also a CCC project.The first half mile of the trail is wheelchair accessible. The next .6of a mile is pretty strenuous as it climbs the canyon walls.
In some places, the catwalk hangs between two rocks with Whitewater Creek flowing under the walkway.
There were several places where Chris and DeAnna could do their favorite activity--throw rocks in the water.
We made it the 1 mile marker and decided to keep going to the end (1.1. miles).

We saw rushing water the whole way.
When we got to the end of the trail Chris was disappointed that the trail didn't go further! Under the overhang, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees.

We enjoyed our walk and our drive to Catwalk. We had to go through 2 fords to reach the trail. Here is the one nearest the trail.
Since there is no cell phone or internet connection in Glenwood, we spent a quiet evening around the campfire. Everyone enjoyed eating s'mores and marshmallows.
Friday we would move on to Petrified Forest National Park.