Meander down to Mimbres Valley: From Deming to Silver City, and the Gila to City of Rocks, this southern New Mexico area has much to explore

The Mimbres Valley of New Mexico is a land of spirits, where artists re-create designs that originated a millennium ago, museums celebrate deceased world champion cowboys, and soldiers – including African American soldiers who served in the Southwest during the 1800s – are laid to their eternal rest.

Much of the valley is dry, brush-covered and sandy. Dust storms can shut down highways when the winds are whipping along under dry skies. However, this land was once a cradle of civilization with trade routes with Mexico, irrigated fields and a prehistoric population that numbered roughly 5,000 individuals. Among that population were potters who eloquently captured their world of antelope, bighorn sheep, rabbits, quail and fish on black-on-white bowls and jars.

“The Mimbres were very great artists,” says Punkin Gose, director of the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum in Deming. “They painted with strings out of the yucca plants. It’s amazing how talented they were.”

Mimbres designs now appear on buildings, street signs, pot holders and marketing brochures. Academic study of this culture continues a century after early publications inspired interest in digging through the ancient pueblos of the valley. And despite the black-and-white nature of the pottery, this piece of the Chihuahuan Desert can come alive with colorful blooms and wild birds. A wet winter followed by a warm spring may result in yellow slopes of poppies on nearby mountains, and the blossoms of the ocotillo draw orioles to feed on crimson flowers.

Burial pots and whale bones

Finding a place to park your Airstream here isn’t difficult. Between Deming in the south along Interstate 10 and northern Silver City on U.S. 180 there are numerous private campgrounds and two state parks with hookups. The northern Mimbres country is surrounded by the 3.3-million-acre Gila National Forest, which is about 24% wilderness. Additional large chunks of wilderness and open space to the south are cared for by the Bureau of Land Management.

To fully appreciate this country, visitors should spend some time in Punkin Gose’s Deming Luna Mimbres Museum, 301 Silver Ave., Deming.

The Mimbres potters are considered a branch of the Mogollon (Mug-oy-own) culture, a prehistoric group commemorated by the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument some 45 miles north of Silver City off N.M. 15. Migrations of prehistoric cultures throughout the Southwest were common throughout prehistory; the movements probably due to the wide swings of climate that continue to occur in the region. When the streams, springs and wells dry up, it’s time to move on.

The Mimbres River’s headwaters are in the Black Range of the Gila National Forest. Pottery was recovered from numerous places near the headwaters and south to the Florida Mountains southeast of Deming. Deming was a railroad town made famous by the 1881 completion of the second transcontinental rail crossing.

The museum is in a red brick building that once was an armory. Entry is through the basement and is free, although donations are appreciated. The Mimbres Room has the second largest collection of this ancient pottery in the world, second only to the Smithsonian. Interesting as the pottery is, so are the whale bone bracelets included in the collection. The Mimbres people obtained the bones through trade with Mexican tribes and the bracelets were once whale vertebrae.

“All of our pots were donated to us by collectors,” Gose says. “We have several kinds of pots, including large ones decorated with beautiful geometric designs to utility pots that were used for cooking and are black from being in fires.

“We also have burial pots that were placed on the heads of those who died. All of the burial pots have holes in them so the spirits could leave the bodies.”

Much of the pottery in the museum was found in village ruins on private land throughout the Mimbres Valley. On one ranch 1,009 burials were discovered.

No one knows why the Mimbres stopped making the signature black-on-white pottery, but production appears to have ended about 1130 Current Era. It is believed the Mogollon/Mimbres people then separated and moved to other locations throughout the region, some going east to the Rio Grande. The pottery records show nearby villages subsequently increased their use of imported pots from other areas including Casas Grandes in Mexico.

In addition to the Mimbres pottery, the museum displays Apache artifacts, local rocks and minerals, and a Western section includes the saddle and boots of 1950s world champion cowboy and one-time Deming resident Harley May. May, who participated in the founding of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association in 1949, was raised in Deming. He was the country’s top steer wrestler in 1952, 1956 and 1965.

Another display honors the many soldiers from Luna County who died during the Bataan Death March of World War II, Gose says.

East of Deming sits the D.H. Lescombes Winery, the largest in New Mexico. The Lescombes family has been making wine for six generations on three continents. Hervé Lescombes originally made wine in Algeria, and then produced wine in France. In the 1980s he moved his skills and family to New Mexico when he discovered the climate here is similar to Algeria with hot days and cool nights.

The family has 200 acres of grape vines west of Deming, with up to 1,000 vines per acre. Rebecca Lescombes says the No. 1 selling New Mexico wine is Mimbres Red, bottled under the St. Clair label. The Deming winery offers RV parking, a wine-tasting room and sales. Today, the family has bistros and retail shops in Albuquerque, Farmington and Las Cruces.

Cloud blowers

Camping is a way of life for many folks who pass through the Mimbres region and New Mexico offers two nice state parks here.

Rockhound State Park is 11 miles southeast of Deming in the Little Florida Mountains. When the weather is cooperative, the rocky slopes may be covered in beautiful Mexican poppy blooms in and around the park. March can be the best month to enjoy the golden hillsides of the mountains and in all there are 276 species of flowering plants growing on these desert ridges.

Hikers at Rockhound are permitted to take a few souvenirs with them. Agate, jasper, quartz and perlite may be found on the Thunder Egg Trail. Thunder eggs are similar to geodes, although they have solid cores inside rather than crystals. Digging tools are limited to 12 inches in length, about the size of a rock-pick hammer according to manager Robert Apodaca.

City of Rocks State Park is adjacent to Faywood Hot Springs north of Deming just off U.S. 180. Faywood is a place to grab a hot soak and camping is available. When the hot spring was excavated numerous prehistoric Mimbres objects were recovered, including stone axes and “cloud blowers,” or pipes.

City of Rocks has limited hookups but off-the-grid campers will find plenty of nice sites among the volcanic boulders formed 30 million years ago. Trails are well maintained around the square-mile landscape and they are open to hikers and mountain bikers. Watch for rattlesnakes. Birdwatchers will especially enjoy the month of May when Bullock’s and Scott’s orioles build nests in the large yuccas in the campground and feed on ocotillo blossoms. Star parties at City of Rocks are special because a large telescope is permanently mounted in the group site.

Reservations for the winter and spring months should be made six months in advance for both Rockhound and City of Rocks, because snowbirds who spend the fall and winter in Arizona and New Mexico take full advantage of the desert warmth. Summer camping is not advised due to the heat.

Mountain spirits

What Deming is to the southern end of Mimbres Country, Silver City is to the northern end. Silver City, an 1880s mining boomtown, is home to Western New Mexico University, which also has a museum and a collection of Mimbres pottery.

Although Silver City was once the home of the notorious New Mexico outlaw Billy the Kid, today it is a haven for artists and retirees who like to take life slow. The town is part of the Trail of the Mountain Spirits National Scenic Byway, which offers numerous places where one may connect to Mimbres culture.

N.M. 15 connects U.S. 180 and Silver City to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument and the Gila National Forest. The monument, which commemorates the Mogollon people, is managed jointly by the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service. Hours and closure information are available at nps.gov/gicl.

There are 46 rooms in five caves there, and visitors should check for closures before making the drive. Interpretive panels may be found along the West Fork of the Gila River and a pictograph site is near Lower Scorpion Campground. The two federal agencies and the byway organizers encourage all visitors to this region to leave artifacts like petroglyphs, pictographs and pottery sherds untouched and where you find them. The Federal Archaeological Resources Protection Act makes it illegal to damage, deface or remove any cultural material found on federal lands or lands reserved for Native Americans. Preserve your discoveries only through pictures.

As one heads south from the cliff dwellings on N.M. 35, there is a short, paved interpretive trail at the Lake Roberts Vista Site and downstream lies the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site where classic bowls were recovered and prehistoric people are believed to have lived from 550 to 1140 Current Era. The heritage site is operated by NGOs and does charge a small fee when it is open. Check mimbrescultureheritagesite.org for fees, hours and events like hummingbird festivals.

The surrounding Gila National Forest is beautiful and rugged with almost 2,000 miles of hiking trails. The Gila made history of its own in 1924 when the world’s first designated wilderness was established there. Renowned conservationist and author Aldo Leopold was a driving force behind the creation of the 558,065-acre Gila Wilderness. Leopold’s conservation spirit is memorialized by the 202,016-acre Aldo Leopold Wilderness which sits atop the crest of the Black Range. Similarly, the author of “Sand County Almanac” is the namesake of the Leopold Vista Picnic Area 14 miles south of Glenwood off U.S. 180. Leopold lived and worked in New Mexico between 1910 and 1924 when he was in the employ of the United States Forest Service before moving to Wisconsin.

Hikers need to be prepared for a wide range of weather and elevations. The Gila rises from a low of 4,200 feet elevation to 10,900 feet. Being unprepared for summer rains in the heights can result in hypothermia. Hiking in the low lands without sunscreen, hats and lots of water is a recipe for heat-related illnesses. Heavy rains can result in flash floods and camp-raiding black bears are dangerous if they are habituated to human food and do not fear us. Keep a clean camp.

Despite the risks, the Gila is a magic land of elk, deer, cougars, wild turkeys, javelina, bald eagles, endangered Mexican wolves, coatimundi and Gila monsters, a large, colorful lizard.

The Trail of the Mountain Spirits reconnects to Silver City by heading west on N.M. 152 and U.S. 180. It’s on this stretch where historic Fort Bayard was built in 1866. Fort Bayard initially housed African American Buffalo Soldiers sent West to protect miners and homesteaders from roaming Apache bands.

Fort Bayard became a hospital treating tuberculosis patients after the last of the Apache warriors, including Geronimo, were captured.

Among the 6,000 soldiers buried at Fort Bayard is Sergeant Alonzo Bowman who received a Medal of Honor for his meritorious action during the Indian Wars in the Arizona Territory. Also interred there is U.S. Army Wagoner John Schnitzer, who won the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Indian Wars in New Mexico.

The people who continue to live here still follow trails made by prehistoric potters, soldiers, cowboys, foresters, miners and railroaders who once called the Mimbres Valley home. It’s a long trail that leads through time, and maybe it’s a wonderland you want to see for yourself.

Meander down to Mimbres Valley: From Deming to Silver City, and the Gila to City of Rocks, this southern New Mexico area has much to explore