Day 6, Sunday, June 7 - Las Cruces to Silver City

Hiking day:  Our first stop was Rock Hound State Park, where visitors can walk off the trails and pick up rocks.  Walking up the trails entails going uphill, looking at the ground the whole time for something that looks like a geode - and maybe for something that rattles.  Mostly, the rocks are just rocks, but there's a lot of jasper there.  We picked up rocks that looked interesting, took a lot of pictures of the area, then Sandra found what she hoped was the biggest geode ever.

Then we headed for Gila Cliff Dwellings Nat'l Monument, only about 100 miles away.  The first 80 miles took  about 90 minutes; the next 20 took about an hour.  We hiked about 1/2 mile uphill to the ruins, then another 1/2 mile back down.  Well interpreted Mogollon culture site, worth the adventurous ride.  Then on to Silver City, 43 miles in 90 minutes.  Hey, hills, curves, hilly curves, and plain old mountains. 

At Silver City, we stayed at the HIE, and ate at La Cocina, a popular restaurant we found first time through in 2002.  Had some problems with wifi at the hotel, so didn't get this post done until Monday evening.  232 miles for the day.