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Whitewater Canyon

The Catwalk is a great place for everyone. You won’t find any cats on the Catwalk. You will find parents and children, couples holding hands, backpackers hiking into the wilderness, seniors, photographers, birders, people from Europe or Australia and locals like me who have been here countless times and keep coming back because it’s just so darn beautiful. Sometimes you won’t find anyone at all. You’ll have this gorgeous place of waterfalls and pools, colorful cliffs and giant boulders, walkways and bridges, all to yourself. You’ll have the Catwalk experience.

The drive from Silver City to the Catwalk is a wonderful experience in itself. Highway 180 curves and rolls along the foothills of the Mogollon Mountains, a fortress of mighty peaks cut by deep, craggy canyons. Whitewater Canyon is one of them.

In the village of Glenwood you turn off the highway and five miles up the valley the road ends where the Catwalk narrows begin. There’s a beautiful National Forest picnic area shaded by giant Sycamore trees along the banks of Whitewater Creek. From here you have a choice of two trails that will take you to the narrows. One is carved out of the rock, and the other is a paved universal trail. Both trails converge at the beginning of the narrows. The first section of the Catwalk through the narrows is universal and can accommodate people of varying abilities including wheelchair access.

The Catwalk is like a hidden passage into a secret place. Sheer cliff walls rise out of the streambed and the walkways, which are supported on steel beams 20 feet above the stream, switching from one cliff to the other as they wind through the narrows. Once through the narrows the canyon opens and the trail continues up a short series of stone steps and across scenic footbridges that span the cascading stream. Waterfalls echo in hidden grottos inviting you to linger and listen.

At the 1.1 mile marker a metal bridge that bounces slightly under your steps takes you to a sheltered ledge and a waterfall that pours out of the rocks into a deep trout pool. This is where the Catwalk ends and the forest trail continues up Whitewater Canyon to the crest of the Mogollon Mountains. It’s worth taking the trail to an overlook above the bridge to get a view of the canyon. If you want to hike further you can continue up the canyon. If you do you’ll be rewarded by the beauty of Whitewater Creek and spectacular rock formations.

A day at the Catwalk is a relaxing and rewarding day spent enjoying a natural wonder and making memories. Take lots of pictures.

To learn more about the Catwalk of Whitewater Canyon visit the Silver City Chamber of Commerce website at www.silvercity.org and follow the links to the Catwalk.