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Carol's Labor Day Weekend |
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Monday, 01 September 2008 |
 Carol Brown
On Saturday I drove thru the old town of Mogollon to the trail head of Deloche Canyon Trail 179. I hiked up to the ridge and down to Whitewater Creek and back. A beautiful hike of five hours with no rain.
It did rain Saturday night, but I was snug, warm, dry, and comfy in my jungle hammock. I had my head lamp and a book to read titled Peacock Ore--a novel about Cooney and his life in the Army and mining in Mineral Creek.
Sunday morning I hiked Trail 801 almost to the creek and back, a three hour hike with no rain. In the afternoon I hiked the Catwalk trail and a little beyond of trail 207. Only when I was heading back out of the Catwalk did it finally start to rain a little. In frontier days this canyon was used as a hideout by both Butch Cassidy and Victorio's apaches. The Catwalk follows the path of the pipeline built in the 1890s to deliver water to the mining town of Graham. The pipe up Whitewater Creek was 18 inches in diameter and men who worked on it needed nerves of steel, and the balance of a cat to walk the pipeline, hence the name, Catwalk. In the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps rebuilt the Catwalk as a recreation area for the Gila National Forest. The Forest Service built the metal walkway in the 1960s. Parts of the trail have been rebuilt several times since, due to occasional flooding of Whitewater Creek.
Since I had hiked and seen the places I wanted to see and it looked like more rain may be in the offering, I packed up and headed home.
Hope you all are having a great holiday weekend, and be sure to take a look at my Picasa Photo Album for photos of this weekend.
Carol Brown
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 September 2008 )
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