Trapped indoors and in cars for weeks at a time by single digit temperatures, Cabin Fever forces the mind into strange places. One begins to believe in legends, especially now. Because on February 2 the legendary Punxsutawney Phil can loosen winter’s stranglehold — if he so chooses, by missing or otherwise ignoring his shadow. Having actually witnessed the Groundhog Day celebration on Gobbler’s Knob in person I can say unequivocally that Phil really is a groundhog, but the prediction is a hoax, and the Bill Murray movie is absolutely nothing like the actual event. Still, the chill in the air and the motorbike mothballed in the garage make me want to believe.
While the new riding season seems far away, all there is to do now is count backwards to the last ride at season’s end.
Autumn in the mountains of southern New Mexico is as beautiful as you might imagine. The morning air is crisp with September temperatures and the afternoon thunderstorms race in, rain hard, and run away from the cool, clear nights. Too soon the motorbike will be destined for its winter nap, tethered to its computer-controlled battery charger while it dreams of springtime dirt roads and a new menu of BMW rallies. Time to add miles and exercise the camping gear one last time, and what better place than the Gila National Monument just north of Silver City in south-central New Mexico.The plan: ride south from Santa Fe to Truth or Consequences on Interstate 25, stopping only for food and gas, so as to limit time “on the slab.” Take State Roads 152, 35, and 15 into the Gila Mountains, dead-ending at the Gila Cliff Dwellings welcome center. As they say, you can’t miss it. No dirt roads on this trip, but plenty of well-maintained asphalt creatively configured by highway engineers into ribbons of heart-thumping up-and-down looping and s-curving fun-on-a-stick.
Breakfast on day one consists of genuinely delicious green chile, blue corn, huevos rancheros at the Range Café in Bernalillo – a must stop at any mealtime, but particularly good for breakfast. If you’re tempted by sugary sweets, avert your eyes as you pass the display case upon entry to this eatery – you will not set eyes upon a more visually delectable selection of cakes, pies, cookies and pastries. One hundred sixty two miles later lunch was supposed to take place at the best steak house in T or C, the famous Los Arcos. Yeah, well, Los Arcos is a dinner-only place so a culinary change of venue is granted and results in a Big “A” Burger with Big “A” Fries at Big “A” Burger just down Main Street from Los Arcos. Don’t know what the “A” stands for, but do know that, although delicious, only a few Big “A” Burgers would quickly result in a Big “A” Backside.Just south of T or C, the Hillsboro/Kingston exit for State Road 152 welcomes the motorcyclist to some of the best that State Roads everywhere have to offer. After just a few miles the road will elicit a permanent smile on any rider’s face. By the time you get to Kingston, a reclaimed coalmining ghost town turned into a tiny artists’ community, you’ll be thinking the road can’t get much better. But it does. As you begin to climb into the nearby Gila National Forest, the hills get hillier and the curves get curvier. You’ll be on and off the throttle and brake like lightning and left-to-righting through multiple hairpins and sidewinders that snake through dappled sunlight and some of the most beautiful mixed conifer forest around. On an early Friday afternoon in late September the road was very nearly deserted. The few automobiles encountered were typically gracious, pulling over almost immediately upon detecting fast-mover motorbikers in their rear view mirrors and letting the two-wheelers fly by.
After 45 minutes or so it’s best to pull over, take a deep breath, and laugh uncontrollably to burn off some adrenaline — no really, it helps.
The Gila National Monument and Cliff Dwellings are exceptionally well maintained and staffed by the National Park Service. There are plenty of campsites, amazingly clean bathrooms, and challenging hiking trails … but no garbage cans. However you visit the Gila, think about ways to minimize and contain how much trash you might generate, because you’re going to have to haul it all away when you leave. The nearest hotel, food, and beverage service is in Silver City, an hour’s drive away, which is also where the nearest public dumpster can be found.
The Cliff Dwellings themselves are a beautiful easy walk and a fascinating glimpse into the lives and living spaces of the region’s “ancient ones,” sometimes called the Anasazi; Native Americans who lived in the Four Corners region some 1,000 years ago. The knowledgeable and nice folks at the Monument’s welcome center will also kindly recommend a wide variety of hiking trails for experts and beginners.
The long ride home from the Gila was made shorter by the knowledge that this would be it for several months. The memory of 2007’s last ride is still fresh, but the mind wanders, eager to believe that Phil will limit this exceptionally chilly season to just six more weeks, and that the next ride could come as soon as the next 40 degree morning.
