The Catwalk National Recreation Trail

A Steel Walkway Bolted Into The Walls Of Whitewater Canyon In The Gila National Forest, Following The Line Of An 1890s Water Pipeline That Served The Graham Mill; Built By The CCC In 1935 And Rebuilt After The 2013 Flood · Glenwood, New Mexico

In the 1890s the Graham mill at Whitewater needed water, so a pipeline was run up a gorge so narrow that the pipe had to be bolted to the rock walls above the creek. Maintenance men walked on top of it, which is where the name came from. The mill closed, the pipe rusted away, and in 1935 the Civilian Conservation Corps built a walkway on the same line for visitors - steel grating suspended over the water between walls that close to a few metres apart. In September 2013 a flood came down the canyon and destroyed most of it. What reopened is shorter than the original and reaches a suspension bridge rather than continuing up the gorge, and it has closed again for flood damage since. It is still one of the strangest short walks in the Southwest, and it sits in Catron County, the largest and emptiest in New Mexico - about one person per two square miles. Confirm the trail is open before driving out here, because the canyon still floods and the walkway has been closed for repair more than once since it reopened.

Catwalk Road, NM Highway 174, Glenwood, Glenwood, New Mexico, 88039, United States

Open daylight hours all year, with a day-use fee at the trailhead collected by self-service tube. There is no visitor centre and usually no staff on duty. VERIFY THE TRAIL IS OPEN BEFORE TRAVELLING: Whitewater Canyon floods, the structure was destroyed in 2013 and has been closed for repair more than once since. The upper trail beyond the rebuilt walkway is rougher and is sometimes closed when the lower section is open.

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