We saw a sign for the Catwalk Trail when we visited the Mogollon Ghost Town last week. So Thursday, we decided to visit. The US Forest Service has done a great job. At the entrance, these two rocks have signs on both sides, to be seen both entering and exiting.
The mills for crushing the rocks from the mines needed water, so that is why there were pipes bringing water through Whitewater Canyon.
Apparently, the flood of 2013 that damaged the town of Mogollon alsos damaged the trails in Whitewater Canyon.
The creek was quiet when we visited, but it was easy to see what could happen, as damage to the old trail was still visible and the new catwalks shows what has been done since the flood.
New bridges and the catwalk are much higher and more easily accessible than the old trail.
There were warnings for bear, cougars and even rattlesnakes. None deterred us or other hikers.
Some of the canyon walls had chain link fencing to hold back falling rocks.
Other sections had Gabion Cages.
And then we got to the new catwalk. It was easy hiking and you could look down to the creek and up to the canyon walls.
In some sections, they had put long threaded bolts into concrete in holes drilled into the rock walls, then used nuts to hold plates in place to help hold the rock wall above the catwalk.
You could look through the flooring of the catwalk to see the creek below.
Looking across the creek to the other side of the canyon you could see the old trail (or what was left of it).
In places, the new catwalk is on both sides of the canyon.
After a half mile, the new catwalk ends and you are on your own.
We continued on what was the older trail.
Evidence of the power of water was everywhere.
Patty helped put some of the rocks into place.
We were not alone, even meeting two women, one of whom was from Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix.
We eventually got to a point where I felt uncomfortable as we had to cross the creek on rocks and logs - being more than a mile from the start, I was not worried about getting wet, but rather that a twisted ankle (or worse) could be a big problem to recover from.
So we stopped and took a break by the creek.
Then it was time to retrace our route. As we exited the park we saw that there were fish brought here from the fish hatchery we passed as we left the main road and traveled out to the Catwalk Trail.
That evening we had a pleasant evening outside, watching the sun set to the west ...
clouds to the south ...
colorful clouds to the east ...
and even a forest fire in the mountains to the north.
The mills for crushing the rocks from the mines needed water, so that is why there were pipes bringing water through Whitewater Canyon.
Apparently, the flood of 2013 that damaged the town of Mogollon alsos damaged the trails in Whitewater Canyon.
The creek was quiet when we visited, but it was easy to see what could happen, as damage to the old trail was still visible and the new catwalks shows what has been done since the flood.
New bridges and the catwalk are much higher and more easily accessible than the old trail.
There were warnings for bear, cougars and even rattlesnakes. None deterred us or other hikers.
Some of the canyon walls had chain link fencing to hold back falling rocks.
Other sections had Gabion Cages.
And then we got to the new catwalk. It was easy hiking and you could look down to the creek and up to the canyon walls.
In some sections, they had put long threaded bolts into concrete in holes drilled into the rock walls, then used nuts to hold plates in place to help hold the rock wall above the catwalk.
You could look through the flooring of the catwalk to see the creek below.
Looking across the creek to the other side of the canyon you could see the old trail (or what was left of it).
In places, the new catwalk is on both sides of the canyon.
After a half mile, the new catwalk ends and you are on your own.
We continued on what was the older trail.
Evidence of the power of water was everywhere.
Patty helped put some of the rocks into place.
Eventually, even the old trail was wiped out and we resorted to scampering over and around rocks.
We were not alone, even meeting two women, one of whom was from Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix.
We eventually got to a point where I felt uncomfortable as we had to cross the creek on rocks and logs - being more than a mile from the start, I was not worried about getting wet, but rather that a twisted ankle (or worse) could be a big problem to recover from.
So we stopped and took a break by the creek.
Then it was time to retrace our route. As we exited the park we saw that there were fish brought here from the fish hatchery we passed as we left the main road and traveled out to the Catwalk Trail.
That evening we had a pleasant evening outside, watching the sun set to the west ...
clouds to the south ...
colorful clouds to the east ...
and even a forest fire in the mountains to the north.
