Tell me about Silver City and the Southwest please!
Hola!
My girlfriend and I plan to visit Silver City next month as part of a larger trip through New Mexico and Arizona. We'd love to meet up with folks and would very much appreciate your tips on how best to enjoy our travels down that way!
To get things starting, please tell us what you recommend for:
Hikes, hot springs & neighborhood walks?
Hangouts & places to meet nice folks?
Vegan meals, farmers markets & natural food stores?
Tea houses & cafes?
Bookstores & libraries?
Flea markets & thrift shops?
Your suggestion here?
Bonus points for free & low-cost options!
Thanks in advance! :-)
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Hi there! I am a visitor in Silver too but I can tell you what j have found. Faywoof hot springs is great and about 40 minutes outside of town. Gila Hot Springs is really wonderful. Very low key with great pools and the tastiest water I have ever had at a hot springs. You are also very near to the cliff dwelling and camping and soaking is $6 a person.
There is a great food coop in Silver on The Main Street. Tons of great thrift stores too. The curiosity shop was my favorite.
There is a great retreat house on AirBnB if you don't want to CS.
Enjoy!
Faywood is what I meant. Also, meeting nice people is incredibly easy. They are all over the place! Diane's, the Toad, Javalina and the Yankie are good places to hang out.
Jeremy, Thank you very much for your reply! How long are you in the area for and what brought you down there? I can't wait to visit next month! :)
You are most welcome. I am traveling by feel and intuition on a walkabout so I can't say how long I will be here. So far I have spent about 25 days wandering in New Mexico. I love this state!
Jeremy was my guest in Silver City, so I'll just add a few things to his comments on Silver City.
Hikes:
Dragonfly Trail, just south of Silver City off Hwy. 180. It's a loop trail, and the treat is that there are petroglyphs at the mid-point by a bend in the creek/stream. Be sure to start out at the left-hand fork just beyong the first part of the trail, so you won't miss the poster on a tree trunk that says "Who Passed This Way?" and designates the spot where the petroglyphs are--on rocks just above the bend in the stream. Not a difficult trail--1st third is flatish, then drops down to the stream valley for 2nd third, then back up to the plains for the last third to the parking area. Do park in the 2nd parking area for "small cars" unless you have a horse and trailer.
Gomez Peak, 5-8 miles from Silver City. Take a right off Hwy. 180 a block from where it curves to the right, onto Little Walnut Road. This will take you into the Gila National Forest and Gomez Peak. You'll see the large parking area after the first sign showing you are in the forest. You can take one of two start points for a loop hike from there. This is beautiful forest hiking with views and vistas of other mountains at the top.
In town, Boston Hill. Boston Hill is a unique set of trails on a hill overlooking the town of Silver City. There are trailheads from either Market Street or Cheyenne or Cooper streets. All will take you to small canyon-like dig areas with slag heaps from past mining. Be careful where you walk. Some collections of large boulders may cover an old mine entrance. There are some signs and some posts to let you know about these spots, but you're really on your own to be careful. Still, going off trail and exploring the slag heaps and small canyons is really great! You can find what one artist here calls "the most beautiful rocks int he world" there. All kinds of crystals that appear in layers. They are sort of like geodes, only the crystals are on the outside. If you find them, there are some lavender flourides? Iron and magnesium were mainly mined, but there may be flecks of silver in some rocks. Cover the shiny parts with your hands and if they are still shiny, maybe they are silver. It's also an overlook of Silver City.
La Capilla is another overlook a little closer to the town, but in the same area as Boston Hill, off Cooper. It's a small chapel, with a winding brick-walled sidewalk (lots of old real rock masonry in Silver City, walls of houses, fences, etc.--check it out!).
The Big Ditch. Right behind the "downtown" which is basically Bullard Street. The Big Ditch also has charming masonry and park-like accoutrements. It's really a ditch! It was made when a couple of big floods went through in the 1910s and 1930s, pretty much taking out the former main street of the town. Now, the San Vicente Creek behind the newer downtown area is a city park, very pretty for a light stroll.
Silver City Food Coop, on Bullard. Has been here 40 years and still going strong.
Guests and community members alike are free to tour the Western New Mexico University (WMNU) library and student center. The library is on the 3rd and 4th floors. Great views of the town from the windows of both these floors.
Free wifi in the Public Library on the corner of College and Cooper (near Bullard downtown). Free wifi at the McDonald's on Hwy. 180. Free wifi at WMNU.
Silver City has a combination of big-city chef-owned restaurants, some small cafes and coffeeshop (you'll find most of them on or near Bullard Street or the side streets nearby). There's one neat gelato place, Alotta Gelato, also on Bullard. As is one of the 3 local community and/or PBS radio stations! For a small town, there are a lot of "amenities."
Visitor Center is on Hwy. 90 otherwise known as Hudson Street past where Hwys. 180 and 90 fork. Take the left fork onto Hwy. 90 which is Hudson. 201 Hudson. Maps, trails, restaurant guides, etc. there. And the Visitor Center is also a short walk across a bridge to the Big Ditch park.
Farmers Market every Saturday outside the Blue Building, currently owned by the Silver City Food Coop. Saturday is the big day in Silver City for all things downtown. Loads of art galleries, etc. downtown and around town as well.
If you're interested, there's also an interesting organization, the Volunteer Center, located a block or so behind the local grocery, the Food Basket, off Hwy. 90 (Hudson). This is a sustainable gardening center that grows its own for a food pantry which twice-monthly distributions (food is provided by self-selection, though the "commodities" are only given to those on SNAP rolls--the food includes produce from the gardens when crops are available), holds classes in gardening and straw baie construction, etc.
There's a new yoga center downtown as well, the Lotus Center. Very reasonable and adjusted prices. Meditations, yoga, dance, tai chi, etc.
There is also a community online bulletin board with a calendar of event on the right hand side of the page. That will give you an idea of the incredible variety of activities for a town of 10,000. Here is the link: http://www.gilacommunity.net
hey there! Gila hot springs have my favorite soaking pools by far, located in the heart of the Gila Wilderness. Also, the Buckhorn Saloon in Pinos Altos (on the way into the wilderness) has a rockin open mic night on Monday nights and is really my favorite spot for eating and kickin back. They have music most Friday and Saturday nights as well.