We are back to the Silver City area to collect some data on roads that were closed during September’s flooding.  Parts of those still need months of repairs as we saw firsthand today.

On the west side of the Gila Mountains, tucked in a narrow valley is a tiny, mostly abandoned mining town called Mongollon.  A hundred years ago, they pulled a lot of gold and silver from the mountains around there, but during all of our lifetimes, Mongollon has been an out-of-the-way tourist curiosity; home to but a small handful of year round residents.  It’s connected to the outside world via a windy, often one lane road that tries to distract the driver with its impressive views.

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=33.39540,-108.79885&z=15&t=T

Back in September, however, heavy rains lead to some devastating flash flooding in Mongollon, completely obliterating the one road and damaging historic buildings.  The flood also beat up some old mining relics.

I challenge anyone to look at that and not think of the Temple of Doom and the mine cart chase.  How awesome is that?  That’s our collection van sitting where the road used to be.  Heavy equipment has made the route just barely passable since the flood.

That track leads out of this old mineshaft behind me at this spot.

Apparently they have a long history of getting smacked by floods in this valley.  I’ll put up some pictures of the town later.

Reporting from Silver City, NM.  (Oh and props to the Econolodge for having grills available to use.  We made our own meal tonight)