Day trip to Chloride NM

Another blue sky day today. A fellow in the campground recommended a trip to Chloride so off we went. 

This was going to be a bank originally, but was never completed.

 

Chloride is an active partly-restored almost-ghost town, population 11. A very interesting lady (Linda) gave us a tour of their museum, with a donation box. The town is largely owned by her father Don, who is gradually restoring buildings (he’s done 7 or so over the past few years, and I gather owns all that he has restored). Don’s a retired IBM’r, and this is his retirement project. He loves doing it and loves to talk about it, and we loved to visit it. 

Then we headed on past the town on to a National Forest trail that crossed and re-crossed a little creek, did some mild 4wd stuff. All new for C&J though. Great fun!

The Elephant Butte campground was a great place to stay. The cg itself was ok, just graveled but nicely arranged and landscaped. The washrooms were limited – only one toilet and one sink for each of men and women. No men’s urinal. Two showers, one regular and one handicapped. But clean, and the people there made it great. 

A fellow named Gary held court in the lounge each morning from 8-9, and often guided an expedition out from the cg after that. Small groups usually, 3-4 vehicles. No charge, he gets a special rate from the cg for living there, and we’d go back because of his trips.

One of the appealing things about the area is the large amount of public land nearby. The Gila National Forest is huge, and also many BLM lands. Lots of old roads, drivable even with the Tahoes (would be more fun in a lifted Jeep Cherokee or a Yamaha Rhino ATV though).