Cloverdale and the Animas Valley...

[Sunrise]

...are located in southern New Mexico. We went over Geronimo's Trail, out of Douglas, Az and across the Peloncillos. A tough road

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While crossing over we met these critters:

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They sure are cute when they're young

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Just entering the Animas Valley, a Mulee

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The Animas Valley, mostly owned by one very lucky man, from profits derived from the sale of many many beers.

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All that is left of Cloverdale is this lone mud and stone building. The graveyard is a little further south, inaccessible without permission from the beermeiser.

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The other side

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Barn owl coming to roost

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Some repairs have been made, more should be made...

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The Animas Valley is vast and beautiful, a real pleasure to visit.

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Wish I could meet all the characters that have set boot in here

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Black and white and color

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A nearby modern steel barn

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Wildlife are everywhere

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From about 20 feet away

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No wonder I got so close, here's her little one

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And a duck flyby

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Meanwhile a storm is brewing down in Old Mexico

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And a large group of deer contemplate their next move

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up and over

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A little further down the road: is this how the notouriously skittish antelope are supposed to behave?

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thanks for the shots, hope we didn't disturb you

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The Animas Valley is my new favorite place, pristine and teaming with critters and very few people.



Adios!

[Flatiron]

Sunrise.............Thanks for all the great photos. It looks like I've got another place to add to my list for this winter. That's an especially nice shot of the "bookends" antelope in the road. :p

[Joel]

A very neat place! Hard to believe that it's so peaceful on the border after reading the papers.

[Norman Johnson]

I love the way you tell the story with your photo's. Beautiful. NJ

[Vulture]

Sunrise, your photo's capture the great American southwest as to make yesterday come to life.
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"There were big stretches of wild country in Arizona in the 1880's & one might ride horseback for days without meeting any human or habitation.

Going eastward from Tombstone you cross the Dragoon mountains into the big Sulphur Springs valley, thence through the Chiricahua mountains into the San Simon valley, then through the Stein peak mountains into Animas valley of New Mexico-and right there under the shadow of Animas Peak is a big green meadow of about one thousand acres which was, at that time, covered with red top clover and watered by numerous springs or eyeholes, as they were called. These holes were deep and apparently part of an underground lake.

There was a story that a rider once came to one of these holes and took the bridle off his horse to allow him to drink. The horse stepped in, disappearing at once from sight, leaving the rider standing there with the bridle in his hand, and nothing else to show that he ever had a horse.

This was the spot we had picked for a cattle ranch, and it seened just right for the purpose. That green spot was surely a cheerful sight to one accustomed to the dry, dusty surroudings of Tombstone."-When all Roads led to Tombstone, John Pleasent Gray

[Sunrise]

"There were big stretches of wild country in Arizona in the 1880's & one might ride horseback for days without meeting any human or habitation."

His freedom was not merely an abstract idea- John Gray was a lucky man.

Thank you all for the kind words.

The first visit I left Douglas at 7:30, did not see a car until 2:30. First person I met was a Border Patrol man. He told me the Animas Mts are well used by illegals, narcotraficantes and bandits that prey on either /or and that they are likely glassing me talking to him at this very moment.

A local cowboy told me that at Cloverdale there were foundations that were recently removed, for reasons neither of us understand.

There are several no tresspassing signs and visitors are not especially welcome. I don't much care, I welcome myself to the pleasures of most of this and some of that.

[Tsarevna]

Lovely pictures, thanks for sharing. :)

[Sunrise]

Thank you and nice to make your acquaintance.

[LV Caretaker]

Thank you, Sunrise. These photos are absolutely stunning. One more beautiful than the next. You have shown the true beauty of the desert.

Kathy

[Sunrise]

Thank you for the kind words.