Tuesday, January 31, 2012

City of Rocks State Park

The first view of a few of the pinnacles for which the park is named.
The rocks were formed 35 million years ago when a large volcano erupted.
Erosion over those millions of years since have formed the pinnacles.

City of Rocks in the distance. 

Many of the pinnacles are 40 ft tall - the height of a 4-story building!






Great place for a campfire.

 
The campsites and picnic areas are awesome.




Lanes or roads between the pinnacles complete the city.






 
The park is near the Mimbres River.  The city was once home to the Mimbres Indians as it provided shelter from the elements.
Here are grinding holes, more proof that they were here.





In my estimation this is the best campsite in the place.
Imagine spending the night here.

 
At a rest stop on the way back to our campground we saw these bushes.
Vic calls them New Mexican topiaries.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Mimbres Cultural Site

We headed out for the day to find a herd of approximately 100 deer about which Vic had been told.
We didn't find the deer but, we came across a Mimbres Cultural Site where we explored.
Remains of their pithouses built after 550 A.D. are found on this bluff just above the Mimbres River floodplain.
These dwellings tended to be circular and dug to a depth of 3 feet. They were then covered with a dome-like frame of wood that was filled in with sticks and a heavy layer of mud for insulation.
Now there are just mounds.  It appears to have been excavated or, at the least, scavenged by looters.

The trees in the distance line the Mimbres River.
The 'village' covers at least 100 yards on a side.


In early Mimbres burials a bowl was broken and the sherds were scattered on the grave.

In the final period a small piece was drilled into or broken from the bottom of the bowl which was then placed over the face of the deceased.  This may have been to allow the spirit to escape.

"It is in the field of Black-on-white ware that the ancient Mimbrenos reached an artistic peak that has seldom, if ever, been surpassed in the medium of pottery."
Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui


The Mimbres painted their pottery with geometric designs and figures of humans and animals, fish and insects.
 There were birds of all kinds, frogs, toads, turtles and lizards, rabbits, snakes and other familiar local wildlife.


Somewhere between 1130 and 1150 A.D. these people disappeared.
Archaeologists have many and varied theories.

Vic found this rock that was possibly used as a tool, perhaps a hoe.


I mentioned the looters.  Here are the remains of a litterer. 
Too bad that all folks don't respect our land and it's wonderful history.
Was there really a need to drink beer here and leave the evidence behind?

Nearby, maybe 1/2 mile, we came across this cemetery.
There are 6 graves in this photo alone and maybe another dozen or so.
A private family cemetery?

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Old Hachita

West of Deming, NM, about 30 miles or so, we turned south on Route 146
and traveled 19 miles in a straight line
- no wiggles or curves -
to Hachita.


Through grasslands
antelope habitat
Seeing these graceful animals is always a thrill for me.

We have been told about Old Hachita a few times.
We had no idea that the ruins were so extensive
nor so widespread.


Hachita was founded as a mining camp around 1875.

Love the bird's nest!



Silver and copper were the main ores mined here in the
Little Hatchet Mountains.
We have been told but have not confirmed that turquoise and gold
were also mined.


Slowly the adobe walls are melting into the desert.




Note the double wall construction. 
This small building would have housed the dynamite.
Double walls kept the structure from overheating.


All the mines we found, dozens of them, were vertical shafts.
Vic dropped a rock and listened to 'hear' the depth.
Most all of them had water at the bottom.




The mining area covers miles.  We drove from site to site.


Watch your step!




The population swelled to 300 by 1884.




"Soon after 1900, when railroad tracks were laid nine miles east of Hachita, a new settlement sprung up drawing away residents and dividing the community into
New Hachita
and Old Hachita"
-
from the historical sign in New Hachita

Someone with a sense of humor lived here!


And the straight road once again - back to Deming.