The high valley in which the tiny town of Luna, New Mexico, sits is surpassingly beautiful. The San Francisco River courses by under enormous cottonwood trees, and the green valley stretches between piney mountains. Luna itself, rustic and basic, could hail from an era when cowpokes rode alongside their herds, ropes a-twirl, spurs flashing in the sunlight. Actually, an even more radical time shift is required of the visitor who would take in everything Luna has to offer. With the re-opening of the Hough Ruin (pronounced HUFF), one must stretch one's imagination 700 years back in time, when another civilization peopled this lovely valley.

The Catwalk, a National Recreation trail along the canyon of Whitewater Creek, is a unique feature of southwestern New Mexico. Located five miles east of Glenwood (take Hwy. 180 to 174), it presents an always vibrant journey along a path reflecting the region's mining history. The canyon was used as a hideout by both Geronimo and Butch Cassidy. The Catwalk follows the path of the pipeline built in the 1890s to deliver water to the mining town of Graham. Workmen who had to enter the canyon by crawling atop the narrow pipeline named the route the "Catwalk."

The Bursum Road runs through the middle of Mogollon. Photo by Carla DeMarco One of my favorite drives is along the Bursum Road, which turns east from Hwy 180 about 4 miles north of Glenwood and climbs to Mogollon, Willow Creek, and Snow Lake. The Bursum Road takes the traveler from desert heat at the San Francisco River to alpine woods of aspen and fir in the Mogollon Mountains. It came as a surprise to find out that not everyone finds this enchanting drive the perfect summer outing. What's the problem?

January, the start of a new year, a new century, a new millennium. A year, a blank slate in which the furnace hasn’t yet broken, the road hasn’t mudded out, the chimney hasn’t caught fire, the pump hasn’t quit. All these joys of winter life in Datil’s Swingle Canyon are yet to come.

If the perfect dayhike combines beauty, drama, and moderate physical activity, then a dayhike to the Frisco Box is perfection. The drive to the trailhead is scenic. The walk is pleasantly level. And the 3 mile trek climaxes in a startling box canyon the width of a large living room. Through this room flows the San Francisco River. Craggy rock walls rise above the stream bed, which in many places is also the canyon bottom. Amid this harsh geology, cottonwoods and alders have found a foothold, adding further lushness to the green of Virginia creeper, grapevine, willow, and wild rose.

It is winter in Mogollon, and in winter it becomes readily apparent why Mogollon is a ghost town. At last measurement, the snow on the shady side of the street was eighteen feet deep. This measurement was taken by having Joe Malloney, who is six feet tall, stand with a surveyor's stick on his head. Unfortunately, Joe froze stiff, and while the local rescue crew was digging him out, the surveyor's stick got lost in the snow. It is probably deeper by now, though no further measurements have been attempted.

The road to Mogollon is justly notorious. It is not a bad road...not especially rough. And it has been worked on recently. It is not even all that steep. (At least some of it isn't.) However, with the exception of one flat stretch over the top of Whitewater Mesa a third of the way up, all of it is a grade. And all of it is narrow and twisty, with solid rock straight up on one side for hundreds of feet and straight down an equal or greater distance on the other side. The Mogollon Road rises about twenty-five hundred feet and then drops back about twelve hundred - all in the space of nine miles. It makes for wonderful views.

Twenty-six people attended the annual meeting of the Silver Creek Temperance Society. That is more than the resident population, let alone nondrinkers. And two of those present did appear to have been exhumed for the occasion. Elvira Sonderfeld hosted the event, as usual. Her cooking undoubtedly drew the crowd. Everyone was on their best behavior too because liquor makes the bears ornery.

As most people in the Mogollon area are aware, there is lots more silver and gold in the ground here. However, several high tech, and no doubt high priced, tests have concluded that most of it is either spread too thin or too deep to be worth the cost of getting it out. At least that's what the big companies thought. Local folks figured there had to be a way to get some of that ore close enough to the surface to make it profitable.

This past weekend, Armand Tremolo received a visit by his niece, Martina Solari, and her nine children, of Tucson. Armand, at fifty-seven, has never married. There are no children currently living in Mogollon. Armand is not used to kids. Things generally went all right, however, till Martina realized she had forgotten to bring an extra box of pampers. She took the baby with her. The oldest girl, Natalie, rode along too, to get in a talk with her mother. This left Armand with seven children ranging in age from just two to thirteen.

This winter, Joe Malloney decided to go into the ice business. He was well situated with the creek handy and some tanks on the shady side of the street. There was even an abandoned mine behind his house he could use for storage. Ice looked like just the sort of business he could do pretty well in: Low capital investment. - Just a saw to cut it into hundred pound chunks. He welded up a set of ice tongs out of scrap. Next summer he figured he'd put up a sign and sell his ice to the tourists going camping in the forest or fishing at Snow Lake.

The last twelve feet of snow melted off in Mogollon in hardly over a week. Seems like spring has just come on in a hurry. The creek only came up about a foot though and didn't carry off much. Several tires washed through town and one chainsaw. Joe Malloney retrieved the chainsaw, but he didn't like the brand, so he tossed it back.

You can tell it's spring. Flowers are blooming. Birds are singing. Days are getting longer. And the wind is blowing. Armand Tremolo stepped out for a breath of air the other day. However, the air in the vicinity happened to be moving about seventy miles per hour. Unbeknownst to Armand, at the very moment he was perusing the world famous Mogollon skyline, the fragrant spring breeze was removing the cap from his stovepipe.

Bulldog and Petunia are back after nearly a year away. They went up to see Petunia's sister, Sue-Jean, at Hungry Horse, Montana, the first of last June, but about the time they got ready to come back, Petunia wasn't feeling well. Turned out Petunia's ailment was morning sickness. Bulldog got offered a good job at a sawmill. What with one thing and another, it has taken them till now to make it home.

The Bloated Goat Saloon closed for the season Thursday before Memorial Day. Some folks might think it contrary to shut down a public establishment just when tourist traffic is picking up. Some folks don't know Jim and Melissa Farnsworth, the proprietors. According to Jim and Melissa, the Bloated Goat just is not big enough to accommodate the number of people who would want to use it in summer. There is not enough space for parking either. This may be true, but everyone in Mogollon believes the real reason they shut down is politics.