Southwest Canyon downstream-Gila National Forest

Southwest Canyon

Seamus on a tailings pile

mine

We just needed to get away for few hours two Sundays ago, so we drove up to the foothills of the Black Range and did this little hike.  We had been to Southwest Canyon in February and hiked upstream. This time we decided to head downstream. Both times this hike has the advantage of being right off of NM 152 just a short ways past Kingston. No drive on the twisty turns to get over Emory Pass and no bumping down the rough FR 157 were necessary.
The hike in the streambed was mostly clear. There was a trickle of water in a few spots. Unfortunately there were very few deciduous trees, save for a few small oaks and lone cottonwood, to provide Fall color.

Still it was a pleasant enough walk passing through the layers of limestone, shale and sandstone. There was one old mine, that was flooded at the bottom of its shaft, but little else to show that people come here or came here.
When we reached a fence, which is just a short ways up from the Forest Service's Kingston Work Center, we turned around