Memories of Glenwood Catwalk and the Glenwood Fishery

My first visit to the Catwalk at Glenwood New Mexico was in August 2003. I was new to bird photography, and I remember meeting my first Summer Tanager there. It took me 17 years to return. I tried visiting several times, but a flash-flood destroyed the catwalk. They finally completed rebuilding it, and in 2020, while traveling into Texas for my first visit there, I enjoyed the new and improved walkway.

2020-11-29 Sunday At The Catwalk

I left Arizona on Saturday and drove over a series of mountain ranges, hoping to visit the Catwalk in New Mexico near Glenwood. I always enjoy the scenery on the road from Thatcher into New Mexico, especially the road north over the Gila Mountains. I visited the Catwalk once in August 2003, but several times I traveled along this road only to learn my timing was bad, and the trail was inaccessible. When I arrived in Glenwood, there was still enough light, and I could have made a trek up Canyon. Instead, I spent the night plugged into power in a nearby RV camp, and got caught up with my yarn spinning about my time in Pima Arizona.

The Catwalk has its origins in the mining industry. In the late 1800s, miners discovered mineral deposits up the canyon, and in 1893, they built a mill at the mouth of the canyon to process the ore. Much of the river flow disappears beneath the surface at the mill’s location, so they built a pipeline and brought a reliable supply from more than a mile upstream. To maintain the system, they built a narrow wooden plank walkway over the pipeline, and the workers named it the “catwalk”, because it required cat-like skills to navigate.

The mining operation lasted only 10 years, and in the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (or CCC) rebuilt the walkway for hikers. Over the years, the Catwalk has had several upgrades, and today a new steel walkway, wide enough for wheelchair access, carries visitors safely up the canyon.

Catwalk Trail – Scenery

Birds were scarce, but the scenery was not. My early morning hike along the Catwalk Trail above Glenwood New Mexico was cold, but beautiful, though few birds.

The Whitewater River Canyon is deep and narrow, and the early morning sun is slow to penetrate onto the floor below. When I arrived at the canyon it was cold, perhaps too cold for common sense, a quality I occasionally abandon. This was one such occasion. But I dressed warmly, and it was worth the suffering. Less than halfway to the end of the Catwalk, I met the best bird of the day (there were only a few bird species there), a Townsend’s Solitaire. Ruby-Crowned Kinglets were everywhere. I estimate their numbers at somewhere between 1.07 gazillion and 6.02 times 10²³ (my apologies to Avogadro).

On my hike out of the canyon, I spotted six Mule Deer descending from the higher elevations on the opposite canyon wall. I watched them work their way down the slope and concluded that they were heading to the river to quench their thirst. My plan to move down the canyon to intercept them was successful. I met them unseen as they reached the bottom of the trail on the opposite side of the canyon. It was my good fortune that they lingered to drink just below my position. I remained still until they finished drinking and then walked over the bridge before me. When they heard my steps, they bound away in a hurry and climbed out of the canyon.

2023-04-12 Glenwood Fishery

Invited to my friends’ New Mexico digs in Apache Creek, I drove east from the Safford/Thatcher region of Arizona. My route carried me through the upper basin of the Gila River and past Glenwood, home of the famous “Cat Walk”. I had toured the Catwalk in the past, and was not planning to explore there on this day. Instead, on advice from my friends in Apache Creek, I drove to the Glenwood Fishery, only a quarter mile from the highway I traveled. 

As many times as I explored this area in past years, the Glenwood Fishery escaped my notice. And that is a shame, because it is a worthwhile place to meet birds. Not quite time for the winter visitors to leave, I found Chipping Sparrows, White-Throated Sparrows, and resident Song Sparrows here.

I spent most of my efforts during this brief visit exploring the trail past the southern shore of the pond at the low end of the compound. There, I enjoyed American Wigeons, Cinnamon Teal, and Common Mergansers. With the early morning light at my back, the birds on the pond looked especially nice to me.

Yellow Warblers trilled their songs from nearby high trees, and Pine Siskins sang their buzzy songs from high in the surrounding canopy, but were content to remain beyond my camera reach. I was lucky to capture a Yellow Warbler as it descended to the saplings at the pond’s edge. Black Phoebes patrolled the shores, as is their habit in such environments.

I left the hatchery after about an hour and resumed my journey northeast to spend time with my friends in Apache Creek.