Directions: The Gem Trails directions are accurate. The turnout on NM SR 15 is exactly 2 miles past the junction with SR 35. Beware NM 15 north of Pinos Altos; it is very steep and winding and has no median stripe. It’s safer to go around through Mimbres via NM 35.
Google Map
The turnout north of Pinos Altos along NM 15
Date: March 2009
Notes: We were very disappointed by this site. We found just a couple small pieces of white-ish agate and a couple of pieces of purple jasper in the creek bed. We chipped a lot of rock, but nothing else was of interest. There was a lot of rhyolite, much of it somewhat banded, but it was all porous or grainy. It might look good around a garden, but forget cutting it. There were some very large (500+ lb) purple jasp-agate boulders, but we didn’t bring a backhoe. There was nothing on the west side of the road either. Nothing resembling limestone and no fossils, just crumbly rholite. Don’t bother stopping; head on up to the cliff dwellings.
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