TENTS SPRAWL ACROSS a landscaped lot in Silver City, mere steps off the Continental Divide Trail. Blistered thru-hikers—157 miles into their 3,100-mile journey north—enjoy solar-heated showers, closed-loop composting toilets, and a full kitchen at the Silver City Waterworks.
Hikers can charge their phones, enjoy lunch on a bench, or commune with others in the rehabilitated event hall that formerly housed the town’s utilities offices.
But overnighting in Silver City wasn’t always this luxurious (at least by thru-hiking standards). Until now, it meant either splurging on a hotel or walking several miles out of town to camp on public land. “Some thru-hikers have tight deadlines and tight budget restraints,” says Liz Schmit, community and outreach program manager for the Continental Divide Trail Coalition. “The Silver City Waterworks looks a lot different than primitive camping.”
The historic stone building. Photograph courtesy of the Southwest New Mexico ACT.
Located north of the low desert and south of the mountainous Gila Wilderness, Silver City has been a popular trail town almost since the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) was established in 1978. By 2014, it had become the first official CDT Gateway Community, hosting the inaugural Trail Days festival to kick off the season in April. Five years ago, Silver City partnered with nonprofit Southwest New Mexico Arts, Culture and Tourism to turn the nine-acre Waterworks site into a haven for CDT thru-hikers (about 550 in 2024) and bike packers making similar journeys along the Great Divide and Southern Tier touring routes each year.
Opened in 1887 to supply the town with water, the city-owned property sits near all three routes. New infrastructure will soon provide safer connecting pathways, including a bike lane between the campground and a CDT trailhead and the half-completed Silva Creek Nature Trail to downtown.
While the town’s utilities department used the lot through 2018, the property and its abandoned buildings have now been completely transformed. “Every single window was broken, the doors were broken,” says Lee Gruber, who heads Southwest New Mexico Arts, Culture and Tourism. “The rest of the site was just weeds and kind of nothing.”
April 18–20
The annual Trail Days festival at the Silver City Waterworks includes a star party, a pancake breakfast, and a cultural speaker series. “Centered around the start of a journey, Trail Days is about inviting people in and also celebrating what’s there in the community,” says Liz Schmit, community and outreach program manager for the Continental Divide Trail Coalition.
Cleaning it up took a full year. More than 100 invasive elms were replaced with nearly as many drought-tolerant native plants and fruit bearing trees. Local youth worked on the restoration and landscaping and now conduct eco-monitoring projects based out of the new Outdoor Education Pavilion. “This has also become an educational campus for the community,” Gruber says.
And within two years, the Waterworks expects to expand into a cultural interpretive site. On the National Register of Historic Places, the original stone building—effectively abandoned since 1947—is being renovated into a cultural center with office, gallery, and studio space rentals. “It’s not just a place for thru-hikers,” Schmit says. “It’s also a place for visitors to learn a little more history about Silver City.”
Schmit points out the overlap in trail stewardship with the community’s efforts to safeguard the region’s natural and historical assets: “It’s just an awesome way to highlight the interconnectedness of outdoor recreation, conservation efforts, and community engagement along the trail.”