The Peloncillos are a small mountain range in the bootheel of New Mexico. This range is perhaps one of New Mexico's least traveled mountain range. There are no designated trails. The US Border Patrol is busy in this range as the mountains originate in Mexico.
The Geronimo Trail is Forest Road 63, a wide, well-graded road wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other safely. We accessed the road east of Douglas off 15th Street, just north of the municipal airport. A few miles further east, the road became a gravel road.
The historic Slaughter Ranch is on this road, straddling the US-Mexico border. We could see large cargo trucks speeding down Mexican Highway 2 from our standpoint.
Other than two Border Patrol vehicles, we saw no one once we entered the Forest Road and ascended into the arid hills of where Geronimo hid from the Union Army. I wanted to find a route that led us to the surrender site of the fabeled Indian Chief, but there were no route, no directionals anywhere in the Coronado Forest. The Arizona-New Mexico border was at the ridgeline of the highest peaks, and the surrender site was at least five miles across steep terrain to our north.
The only signs we saw were two separate signs indicating former rest camps of the US Mormon Battalion, moving west on its way to California in 1848 in search of gold.
I wanted to find a north-traveling path that could take me to Devil's Kitchen, small crags near the surrender site. There were no paths indicated on my gazetteers, nor where there any on the actual road. We saw several south-bound trails and paths but no north-bound ones near the state line.
We finally found one short trail going north for ¼ of a mile, stopping at “Geronimo’s Seep Fence” where the dogs enjoyed a frolic in the stocked waters and I saw great specimens of petrified wood aged into sedimentary layers.
There was also a lot of Onion Weed at the pond, a weed that the Forest Service wants to eradicate. Onion Weed is a prolific weed that has been chocking out more native grasses in Arizona.
Once we left the Seep Fence pond, we found one more jeep trail that took us to another arid outcropping of alkaline rocks and grasses. From here on east the trail descended into the Animas Valley, a rather sparse valley of a few open-graze ranches and rolling hills. We saw cattle and distant ranch houses, but not a soul.
We saw not another human until we stopped at the Rodeo Bar back in the community of Rodeo, where an elderly woman served us a few beers each but told us the kitchen was closed for a wedding reception. Ben and Blanca were getting married today and the wedding party didn’t arrive until after 4:30pm.
We settled for a quaint Mexican restaurant in Douglas on the border, “Los Alamos.” I ordered my menu in Spanish—un burrito de pollo desabrado, una margarita con limon—and Kevin had his carne asada. It was a delicious meal for under $26. We can’t even get that kind of meal in our town anymore.
Gasoline in Douglas was down to $3.39 although the news later on reported of a price hike of seven cents overnight thanks to Hurricane Ike that had ravaged Houston yesterday and tore two drilling platforms from its hold in the Gulf of Mexico. Eight people are confirmed dead, three million have no electricity, 2000 homes have been destroyed and the city of Galveston has been so ravaged it’s been closed by the mayor both for the residents and for tourists.
Orange, TX was 40% flooded, Bridge City 80% flooded.
I got Kevin interested in learning Spanish since I told him yesterday I needed to learn Spanish better in order to work in Bisbee as a Spanish teacher. I picked up a few words this morning on a bilingual program on Fox for Kids, “Bruja Mala,” the Wicked Witch and the story of Haensel and Gretel. Except in the Mexican version the gingerbread house is a house made of tortilla crispas y queso.
In a few mnutes he had forgotten how to saw Witch.
“Bolo…?”
“No, Bruja, BROOHA! Roll the /r/!”
“I’m from Massachusetts, we don’t say the /r/!”
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