Phantom Ranch - Grand Canyon National Park

I was lucky to have gotten a walk-in permit from the backcountry office for camping at Phantom Ranch. I went down the South Kaibab Trail and went up the following day on the Bright Angel Trail. The hike was 16.6 miles, with an elevation gain of 4,747-feet.

Lightfeather Hot Springs - Gila National Forest

Lightfeather Hot Springs is also known as Middle Fork Hot Springs. It is situated in a steep canyon and flows from the base of a hill into the Middle Fork of the Gila River. The water pulses from the ground in about one minute increments and has a temperature of about 130 degrees. I camped for one night near the hot springs. The round-trip hike is 1.4 miles. It was a hot soak.

Lightfeather Hot Springs

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument - New Mexico

In the late 1200s, people of the agricultural Mogollon (Southern Ancestral Pueblo) made it home. By 1300 the Mogollon had moved on, leaving the walls behind.

Perch Creek Bridge - New Mexico

The Perch Creek Bridge is near Hillsboro. It was built in 1927, and bypassed in 1955. It spans a deep canyon (about 120 feet deep) of the Rio Percha. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

White Sands National Park - New Mexico

I had gotten a backcountry permit for one night in White Sands National Park. Nobody else was out there. I had the whole park to myself until they opened the next morning.