Day 17 - Silver City, NM to Kingston, NM (Up and Over Emory Pass)

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A guy in Silver City made the sign of the cross when I told him I was riding over Emory Pass today, which felt appropriate since the temperature was 31 degrees and the wind was blowing in my face when I set out at sunrise. 

At 8,228’ Emory Pass is far from the highest point on the Continental Divide, but the seemingly endless series of switchbacks on the Black Range Highway (a WPA Project constructed in 1937) do command your attention. It is a gorgeous road and I had it almost all to myself. Most of the traffic disappeared after I passed the Chino Copper Mine at about mile 20, and the mountains often (but not always) blocked the wind.

I am staying tonight in the Black Range Lodge, a magnificent Bed &Breakfast in the town of Kingston (pop. 30). My hosts are a young couple in their mid-20s from the east coast who stumbled upon it while working remotely from their converted van in March 2021. When the young lady’s employer ordered workers back to the office this summer she declined and now assists the owner in running the place. They like it here so much that they are planning to build a home in Kingston using hay bales, a construction method in which the owner of the lodge has a great deal of expertise.

The Black Range Lodge was constructed about 120 years ago to provide lodging for miners. Back then Kingston was a thriving little mining town in the mountains.


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