New Mexico ghost towns – weekend excursion

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desertrefugee

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As the weather cools, rides out of the desert become a much more pleasant endeavor. This weekend a very spontaneous ride to Silver city, New Mexico popped up. As it turns out, there are lots of old mining ghost towns in that area and the plan is to visit several of them. Google Mogollon, NM. Fascinating little place and there are others.

Today we took a leisurely trip across US 60 and 260 in eastern Arizona through Globe , Pinetop/Lakeside. Elevation was 9400 feet past Mount Baldy and the temperature dropped to 58F. Trust me that felt cool after recent consistent highs still in the 90s. Aspens are blazing yellow! Stopped in Alpine, AZ for the night. Headed for Silver City, New Mexico tomorrow morning.
 

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It's not all desert. The Mount Baldy Wilderness area is one of many beautiful high country alpine areas. Went through this afternoon.

I'll update tomorrow.
 

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We're in Silver City. Late start today. (Don't ask). Mogollon NM was a blast. The road in was a blister. One lane, blind curves, 300 ft drop offs, pea-sized gravel in hairpin turns. Hair raising. Wait! I don't have hair. Not for the faint of heart. We stopped into the Catwalks in Glenwood, but didn't go up. Was out of water, starving and the Valk was smelling like gas.

But Mogollon was definitely worth the trip.
 

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We had a nice lady at the motel last night in Alpine. Of course, she knew we came in on motorcycles. We didn't think much about it too we got to the room. I was still outside of her my buddy laughing like hell. I went in and quickly found out why. Both beds, wall hangings all over - even the shower curtain! We almost asked for our money back. (They get a lot of bikers during the summer running the Devils Highway.)

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And this one is for William. The wall outside the restaurant where we had dinner tonight. Diane's on Hubbard Street in Silver City comes highly recommended, by the way.

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Back in Phoenix. Whirlwind trip - into an area that really needs more time for exploration. Rest assured, I will be headed back into that region. Some incredible motorcycle roads and quite frankly some that should be on any riders bucket list.

Case in point - US HWY 191, formally part of US 666 (The infamous Devils highway). I have both riden and driven the Tail of the Dragon through Deal's Gap. Other than good marketing, 191 from Morenci up to Alpine is much longer, just as challenging and offers spectacular scenery. In many places, there are no shoulders and no guard rails - between you and oblivion (hundreds of feet to the bottom). No novice should EVER venture here!

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I'll post a couple links later to some GoPro video of some choice curves.
 

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I've never been a huge fan of watching long riding videos, but if you're one who is, here are a couple taken from my buddy's Goldwing during our trip. The better of the two was taken starting just north of Morenci, AZ on US HWY 191 (old Devil's Highway). This is a beast of a road. The Dragon got nothing NOTHING on this road. From Morenci to Alpine is ninety (90) miles. By the time you're to Alpine, you're ready to be off this road. Trust me. This clip shows an elevation change from about 5000 feet to 7000 feet. The road climbs to around 9200 feet near Hannagon's Meadow. A crazy good motorcycle road that's a bucket item for sure. Note the no-shoulder-no-guardrail-drop-offs I mentioned (first half of video). This run is no joke.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6sdcm1r6Y8&t=19s[/video]

A shorter video and a different kind of good road is next. Hwy 60/77 east of Globe, AZ crossing the Salt River Canyon. Still a good cycle road, this one is high speed sweepers and several hairpin turns as you drop into the canyon. I'm in the lead on this one.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mvCFz7IRbc&t=2s[/video]

Sorry for the long videos, but he just turns on the GoPro and we GoGo.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=196912#p196912:14rz5mjo said:
wedoo2 » Tue Oct 17, 2017 5:53 pm[/url]":14rz5mjo]
Huggin that center line my man.

Great video.

lol. That's my riding buddy. I'm the "other bike". I already busted his chops over it. I'll give him a pass. He's been from Alaska to Key West to Nova Scotia. And he's old.

Thanks though. It was a good ride.
 
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