The Cat Walk -- a hike to remember

So it's a 3 1/2 hour drive from Socorro to the Catwalk. That is quite a ways. But it's such an awesome hike, and so perfect for kids, you have to fit it in somehow. It is actually an ideal stop on the Socorro to Tucson drive (the back way). The Catwalk started it's life as a mine sluce -- water from the Whitewater River was diverted down the sluce to bring the ore down to the bottom of Whitewater canyon for processing. When the mine was closed the sluce was a daring, scary way to hike up the canyon above the river. Now run by the US Forest Service, the structure has mostly been replaced with an open-mesh walkway with safty rails.

During the spring the river is roaring and the walk is especially exciting, but later in the summer as the river dies down there is more appeal in splashing in the river, especially near the parking lot where it runs broader and shallower. Unlike many New Mexico rivers I've never heard of this river running dry.

Minimum age for this walk is three -- there's a third of a mile of typical (but lovely and shaded) hiking before the first set of "catwalks". The total length of the Catwalk portion is 1.1 miles. The first half mile can be done with a stroller (maybe even a wheelchair) but then stairs and dirt trails finish the route. There's a prize at the end: "The Catwalk ends with a swaying suspension bridge leading to a cavern ledge overlooking a thundering waterfall." With a two year old and six year old this was a two hour stop for us.