Last week we went back to the Cosmic Campground on the western edge of the Gila National Forest. (Don't go there. It is a terrible place.) 

Dennis taking a break along the trail. 

The town of Gila, NM - at the foothills of the Mogollon Mountains

Mike hiking along the San Francisco River.

The old Cooney family homestead - beside Mineral Creek in the Cooney Canyon. 

The tomb of James Cooney. He settled in this Canyon in the 1870s, ranched and mined silver and gold. He was killed by Apaches in 1880 and was entombed in this large bolder by his family and fellow miners. The tomb has become surrounded by a family graveyard. 

Up into Cooney Canyon along the Mineral Creek.

Bark on a Cottonwood Tree.

A bare Cottonwood in the creek bed. 

The view westward from our campsite - before it began to snow on us. 

Snow.

After the snow had passed us and was over the mountains to our east.

The next morning we had ice on the inside of our windows at sunrise. Maybe we should have left the heater on overnight. 

On our way to the Dry Creek Canyon and a hike into the Gila Wilderness. 

The Bride of Frankenstein. Or maybe it's Nefertiti. 

In the Gila Wilderness - along the Dry Creek Trail. 

A heart of Stone.

Signs of Spring.

Lichen on a boulder. 

Dry seed pods on a Century Plant.

Rocks in Dry Creek. 

Red-naped Sapsucker.

Bridled Titmouse. 

And another sunset from our campsite. (We keep telling you - a terrible place.)

 

 We were able to spend a few days last week on the western edge of the Gila National Forest, just inside of New Mexico along the Arizona border. 

Cottonwood Creek - about 20 miles north of Glenwood, NM

In the Apache National Forest - 

A fireplace and chimney from a long gone cabin, with a pink teddy bear, a bouquet of dead flowers, and a couple of smaller toys in it. 

And several Acorn Woodpeckers

A long abandoned bridge, overgrown by bare cottonwoods, on the San Francisco River.

On the road to Mogollon - 

Mogollon was once the center of activities for a cluster of gold and silver mines. It is now a tourist ghost town along a terrifying, one lane, winding mountain road. 

Mountains and ranches along the way to Mogollon.

The old entrance gate for the village of Mogollon - and then the village.  

And then, we moved to Cosmic Campground. It is a Gila National Forest campground about 10 miles north of Glenwood, NM, and is recognized by the International Dark Sky Association as one of the darkest night sky sites in North America. It is a small simple campground with pit toilets and a few concrete pads for setting up amateur telescopes. It was a lovely and isolated place in the high desert, surrounded by mountains - the Mogollon to the east and the Blue Ridge Primitive Area to the west. The night sky was wonderful.