Datil Well campground is a real find. Nice sites, fresh water and you can dump you grey on the ground. And they have wifi. How nice is that.
Datil Well is on the historic "hoof highway" that joined Springerville, AZ to the railroad at Magdalena, NM, a distance of 130 miles. Wells were drilled every ten miles to water the cattle and sheep driven over this trail. In the peak year, 1919, 21,677 cattle and 150,000 passed through here.
Down the road is the Daily Pie Cafe in Pie Town, NM. The New Mexican Apple Pie was featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate. The pie is named New Mexican because it is made with pine nuts and green chiles for a little extra zip. I am looking forward to dessert tonight.
The camp host at Datil told me that they like the pies at Pie-O-Neer better. But they were not open today, so I could not make a comparison.
I read that Catwalk trail was a great two mile hike. The catwalk goes up a beautiful canyon where there was once a pipe line that delivered water to power a silver stamp mill at the base of the canyon.
Remains of the old stamp mill
About a quarter mile up the canyon the trail ended. Beyond this point the deck and side rails have been removed.
This was done because New Mexico's largest forest fire had burned the watershed upstream. The Forest Service thought there might be a 100 year flood and the metal structure would be swept downstream, damning the channel and causing an even larger flood. I hope they reinstall the catwalk so I can hike it next time I am through here.
How long will you be there?
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