Another Grand Hike
Hiking to the Prospector's Cabin, on Little Dry Creek
 The beginning of the trail. As you can see a difficult trail at best. At the beginning of the trail there is a sign that notes, No Maintenance. Of course not. It has become patently obvious to this hiker that the only places that actually get money for maintenance are those that cater to the thundering hordes. Many peoplefrequently don't appreciate what is there in the first place. |
 The Cholla with many arms. The better to stick you with, my dear. |
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 An Agave according to my local expert |
 This old soldier chose a very bad place to start life, and paid the price as you can see |
 A interesting hill, geologically. In New Mexico you never know what type, or color, of rock or dirt is going to be poking out of the hillside |
 More rocks raising their granite heads. The hill in the left side of the picture apparently got involved in one of the recent Gila Wilderness fires |
 It may be getting up to the 80s during the day, but the trees still are painfully aware that it is November! |
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 When I was here in February, one had to navigate around this tree, and because of the topography, it was a bugger. Some helpful soul has taken it upon him/herself to do some trail clearing. Thank You! |
 The prospector's cabin. It is falling into great disrepair, and the folks that come here are certainly not helping the process. There is a whole lot of the garbage inside of this cabin that was NOT some of the prospector's possessions |
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 We have bid the cabin goodbye, and started back down the trail. There are points on this 'trail' that to call it a 'trail' requires a great degree of imagination. Much of it goes down the drainage by means of rock hopping |
 There isn't a lot of water, but what there is, is incredibly clear |
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 Everything is subject to Maxie's inspection (& approval) :-) |
 Invisible from the trail, I found this 8' or so waterfall in my explorations |
 When first spotted, this boy looked very much alive. Closer inspection deduced that he was very much dead. How? Who knows. He looks like he was just stading there waiting to say hi. Do squirrels have heart attacks? |
 These two will likely become unfriendly neighbors as they grow :-) |
 A metamorphic looking plume poking out of the hill |
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 According to the local expert, this is a sotol. |
 This cactus was very attractive with the setting sun glowing through its side |
 Ever inquisitive, smells everything. The dog Maxie |
 A rather attractive area of erosion. Doesn't show up well in this picture |
 The last hurrah. From here it is down the trail from he-- to the magic carpet |
'Little Dry Creek' is a bit of a misnomer, at least when you get up around 6500' in the hills. The water starts appearing about that point, and there is a steady trickle until it blunders lower and sinks into the rocks