Pinos Altos means tall pines, and the little old mining town above Silver City lives up to the name. It sits at about 2,000 metres in the Gila National Forest, in a cool bowl of ponderosa pine and oak, and the main street has the unhurried, slightly crooked look of a place that has seen a gold rush and decided to stay on. The first strike was made here in 1860, drawing prospectors and a ragged frontier population, and for a while it was a hard, violent camp, fought over by miners and the Apache, on whose land they were digging.
Today Pinos Altos is a gentle spot, with a few dozen residents, an old opera house and a saloon, a historic log building that houses a museum, and a couple of galleries and cafes. The old wooden storefronts, the dusty road and the pines overhead make it an easy place to pause. A short way along, the mountains rise toward the Gila Wilderness, the first area in the world to be officially protected as wilderness, set aside in 1924 largely through the efforts of Aldo Leopold, a forester and pioneering conservationist.
The road north is the start of the Trail of the Mountain Spirits Scenic Byway. New Mexico Highway 15 climbs from Pinos Altos in a narrow, winding ribbon through the forest, with many tight bends, blind corners and steep sections, and it is a motorcyclist's delight. It takes a couple of hours to cover the forty-odd miles to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, and the signs advise against trailers and large vehicles. The surface is good but narrow, with few barriers. Fog is possible, and snow can close the road in winter, but spring and autumn are glorious, with crisp air and clear skies.
Silver City, about twelve kilometres south, has fuel, supermarkets, motels and good coffee, so fill up there before heading north. Pinos Altos has a restaurant and a few small shops, but petrol is not reliable. There are no more services on the road, and the nearest stations beyond are on the far side of the mountains. Bring water, a layer and a good map. The night sky here is among the darkest in the country, and the stars are worth staying up for.