~ The Catwalk ~

There's a tiny little town in New Mexico called Glenwood. It's a cute little town, but nothing spectacular unless you know its secret. It's called the Catwalk and I highly recommend you take a visit.

The Catwalk follows the path of the pipeline built in the 1890s to deliver water to the mining town of Graham. Workmen who had to enter the canyon by crawling atop the narrow pipeline named the route the "Catwalk." Metal walkways are bolted to the narrow canyon walls where there was no room to cut a trail. One expanse of the walkway is on girders stretched across the canyon. Between the creaking metal grates of the Catwalk you can see the swiftly running water below. In other parts the walkway hugs the canyon wall. The rock, worn smooth by years of erosion, arches over the pathway.

There are a couple surprises - one being the swimming hole accessible by a steep metal staircase leading down from the path, and the other is a cave large enough to stand up in that water races through. It's a day well spent. I'd like to go back in the spring when it's not so hot and the river is raging beneath the Catwalk.

Here's a shot of a section of the suspended path.

Mike enjoying the swimming hole. The water was as refreshing as it looks.

The cave was amazing and it was cool in there!

About ten feet above my head inside the cave is a bunch of tree trunks
that get caught when flash floods roar through the area. All I could
think about was if a flash flood came through while we're in there, we're dead.

The New Mexico sky peeking through the top of the cave was gorgeous

More shots of the path. The bridge was made of metal
grating so if you look down, you feel like you're suspended over the river in midair.