Relax, Restore and Explore the Gila National Forest
Black Range Lodge
Catherine Wanek and Pete Fust, owners
119 Main Street; Kingston, NM 88042
Phone: (575) 895-5652
Toll Free: 800-676-5622

"The beauty of the Black Range cannot be described by man, for at times, especially after a rainy season, with its forests, flowers, and wild animals, it is a perfect paradise."

The Historic Black Range Lodge
Map
Directions and Driving Times
Rates
Meals
Group Bookings
How to Contact Us
The Gila National Forest and Wilderness
Miners and Outlaws
Kingston
Hillsboro
The Apaches
The Mogollon Indians
Geology and Climate
Our Rural Bookstore
What's Happening
How to Get to The Black Range Lodge

The Historic Black Range Lodge
Step into the old west when you enter the Lodge's spacious lobby. Its massive stone walls and log-beamed ceilings - built from the tumble-down ruins of Pretty Sam's Casino and the Monarch Saloon - were completed in 1940. The original plastered brick construction dates back to the 1880s, when the Lodge housed miners and cavalry.

Furnished for comfort, the Lodge invites you to relive Kingston's wild and wooly past, with modern conveniences. All guest rooms have private baths, thick towels and cozy down comforters. Via satellite we have a wireless high-speed Internet connection, and recent renovation makes the lodge more wheelchair friendly.

The first floor lobby offers area information and history books. An adjacent game room invites guests to play pool or foosball, or try out the “antique” PacMan video game. Also, a computer connected to the Internet allows surfing or email. Or bring your own laptop, and make use of our “wi-fi” connection.

Most guest rooms are on the second floor, and open into a large common room, where you can curl up with a book, watch a movie on the VCR, or challenge your mate to Scrabble. Or just recline, relax and enjoy the fresh mountain air from a balcony or patio.

Nestled in the foothills of the Gila National Forest, the Lodge provides easy access to its three million acres of wild, natural beauty. From our front door, a short walk in the clean air takes you across Percha Creek and into the shade of tall Ponderosa pines. Serious hikers or mountain bikers will enjoy the miles of trails in the region.

Rooms & Rates
The Lodge Rooms & Suites
All seven guest rooms have their own individual charm. Choose a room with a balcony or a king-size bed. Our four suites accommodate families of up to eight. And each guest room or suite has a private bathroom.

Single- $69 Couple- $85 *plus tax.
Additional Person per night - adult $25, teenager $20, child $10, infants free
A bountiful breakfast is included.


The Studio
A cozy apartment with a kitchette and sunny patio offers a private retreat. Includes satelliteTV with VCR/DVD player. $99 for two people, includes breakfast. *plus tax (sorry no pets) Add'l Person per night - adult $25, teenager $20, child $10, infants free.


The Guest House
Featured on “Amazing Vacation Homes,” our spacious one-bedroom Guest House is perfect for special occasions. It features a Jacuzzi, satellite TV, wi-fi Internet signal and a full kitchen and dining room. Enjoy fabulous views from the wraparound deck. The guest house sleeps up to 4 and is wheelchair accessible (sorry no pets).
$139 for two people, includes breakfast. *plus tax
Add'l Person per night - adult $25, teenager $20, child $10, infants free


The Percha Creek House
The Percha Creek House makes an ideal family getaway place, with five bedrooms, spacious kitchen, dining & living room. A large deck overlooks the Gila National Forest. Down below, the backyard offers a shady spot for BBQ and games alongside the lovely Percha Creek. Starting at $275 per day, Two-night minimum, with weekly rates..


        · Children are welcome at the Lodge.
        · So are well-behaved pets (add $5.00 / day).
        · All indoor rooms are non-smoking. Guests are asked to smoke outside or on balconies.
        · Checkout is 12 noon.
        · We accept cash, checks, Visa and Mastercard.
        · Please let us know as soon as possible if your travel plans change. We ask for three-day’s notice to cancel a reservation.
       

Please note: The gas pumps in Hillsboro are closed until further notice. Please make sure to fill 'er up before leaving the Interstate. Also: Cell phone service is often unavailable in this mountainous region. For long distance calls, please bring a calling card.

Meals
A natural foods breakfast is served buffet-style from 8-l0 AM, featuring whole-grain bread, cereal, fruit, juice, waffles, and eggs from local free-range chickens.

For other meals, visitors may keep food fresh in the guest fridge, and prepare it in our user-friendly kitchen. Or cafes in nearby Hillsboro offer fine Mexican and American menus.
Visit www.HillsboroNM.com for contact information.

Group Bookings
Consider the Black Range Lodge for your next reunion, retreat, wedding or workshop.
The informal atmosphere makes for a relaxed get away – perfect to share with friends, family or colleagues. We can accommodate up to 40 people in our combined guest rooms, suites and cabin.

The second floor Common Room makes a flexible meeting space, and downstairs the lobby and game room invite mingling. Cook your own meals in our spacious kitchen, or we'll arrange for catering. Click for details.

How to Contact Us
        Catherine Wanek and Pete Fust
        The Black Range Lodge
        119 Main Street
        Kingston, NM 88042

        Phone: (575) 895-5652
        Toll Free: 800-676-5622
        

The Gila National Forest and Wilderness
Driving west from Kingston, you pass the historic cemetery, and enter the Gila (HE-la) National Forest. One of the largest wild areas in the Southwest, the Gila stretches from high desert to alpine forests. Its unique habitat has been protected since 1899, and the Gila became the world's first designated Wilderness Area in 1924.

Teeming with wildlife, this scenic canyon country is home to deer, elk, bear, mountain lion, pronghorn antelope, fox and javelina, as well as a multitude of bird species - from hummingbirds to bald eagles.
In 1937, the Black Range Highway (NM 152) opened these rugged mountains to auto traffic, looping over prairies, through pinon and juniper woods, and up into forests of ponderosa pine, fir and aspen.
The highway winds its way up to Emory Pass, where intersects with the Continental Divide Trail.

Be sure to stop here – at the Emory Pass Vista -- where a breathtaking view awaits you.

You can stay and stretch your legs along a forest trail to the Aldo Leopold Wilderness, or continue on by car down the mountain and into the heart of the Gila. As you drive, keep a sharp lookout and you may be rewarded with the sight of curious deer at the roadside or a herd of javelina (wild pigs) crossing into the bush.

Favorite destinations in the Gila National Forest include the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, the City of Rocks State Park, Lake Roberts, Silver City, and The Glenwood Catwalk.
Things to do in the region include basking in local hot springs, hiking, biking, birding, boating, swimming, fishing, golfing, tennis, rockhounding, galleries, concerts, festivals and other activities. Click here for up-to-date cultural events in the area.

Kingston
Founded in 1882, Kingston was a rollicking silver-mining boomtown known as the "Gem of the Black Range." Home to more than 7000 miners, merchants and madams, in its heyday Kingston boasted the largest population in New Mexico Territory. The Hole in the Wall Saloon and Pretty Sam’s Casino are two of twenty-seven drinking establishments that served the daring fortune hunters, who came from as far away as Europe and China.

California oil magnate Edward Doheny had humble beginnings as a miner in Kingston, as did his partner Albert Bacon Fall who was later implicated in the Teapot Dome Scandal. Lillian Russell performed in the local opera house, and Mark Twain also wandered through, later depicting Kingston’s male-only Spit and Whittle Club in “Roughing It.”

Today, this lovely wooded valley is a quiet community of 30-some residents. A few historic buildings remain, notably the assay office, the Victorio Hotel, and the Percha Bank - now a museum and art gallery. The old village bell in front of the Volunteer Fire Department was cast in St. Louis, and was originally used to announce Indian raids until the final Apache surrender in 1886. Before silver was discovered here in 1882, Kingston had been the haunt of the great Apache leaders Mangas Coloradas, Cochise, Victorio, and Geronimo - the last tribe of Indians to surrender their land in North America.

Hillsboro
Nine miles east of Kingston, historic Hillsboro was founded in 1877 when two prospectors discovered gold on the east side of the Black Range mountains. The town’s name was drawn out of a hat. Hillsboro grew rapidly despite fierce attacks by the Apaches. A post office opened in 1879 and never closed, and Hillsboro was the county seat from 1884 until 1939. The remains of the old county courthouse, built in 1892, still stand. (photo of courthouse) It was here that the famous trial of the three alleged killers of Col. Albert J. Fountain took place. While they were acquitted for the 1896 murder, the mysterious crime was never solved.

Hillsboro today is home to restaurants, galleries and gift shops, a museum, a gas station and grocery, and a post office. The recently renovated Hillsboro Community Center has a new tennis court, and hosts musical events at least once a month. This handsome historic adobe building is an inviting venue, and has attracted quality bands from across the country. Visit. www.HillsboroNM.com. for more information.

The Apaches
The Apache were peaceful hunter/gatherers when encountered in 1541 by Coronado's first expedition. A nomadic culture, their territory included southern New Mexico, western Arizona and northern Mexico.

Acquiring horses from the Spanish, they used them to defend their home against encroaching settlements.

Taught to blend into the landscape and endure hardship, small bands of braves outfought and outfoxed the regimented cavalry. Finally outnumbered, they retreated to their strongholds in the Black Range.

Broken promises, uneasy truces, and bloody battles describe the ultimate defeat of the proud Apaches who would not tolerate reservation life. When Geronimo and Naiche finally surrendered in 1886, the last of their tribe was imprisoned and relocated to Florida.

The Geronimo Springs Museum in Truth or Consequences contains Apache artifacts, plus a collection of Mogollon (Mimbres) Indian pottery.

The Mogollon Indians
A prehistoric culture, the Mogollon lived in small pueblos throughout the Gila region, and east to the Rio Grande. Contemporaries of the Anasazi of northern New Mexico, they flourished from before the time of Christ for over 1000 years.

The Gila Cliff Dwellings is the best-preserved of the hundreds of these town sites across the region. South-facing caves were enhanced by stone walls, quarried locally, housing generations of Indians. Diligent farmers of corn, beans and squash, they were excellent weavers and skilled potters.

Mimbres Classic, a black-on-white pottery with geometric and pictographic designs, surpasses other prehistoric pottery in beauty and vitality. The Mogollon Indians left the area about 1300 AD, with contemporary theories of drought or intertribal warring suggested as possible reasons.

See fine collections of their pottery at museums in Silver City and Truth or Consequences.

Geology and Climate
Eons ago, a tropical sea covered southwest New Mexico, leaving fossilized shells behind as vestiges of its ocean life. Ancient volcanic upheavals created rugged mountain ranges, depositing the valuable gold, silver and other minerals found there. The numerous Hot Springs in the region are evidence of continuing geothermal activity, and the City of Rocks stands today like a natural Stonehenge - the result of an unusual volcanic eruption.

Four gentle seasons grace the Gila high country. Its cool mountain air entices travelers up in the summer months. July and August will often bring afternoon rains. Fall means crisp days, the apple harvest, and spectacular colors among the aspens. In winter, the snow along the top of the range invites cross-country skiers. Sunny and warm, most spring days are ideal for outdoor activities.

Our Rural Bookstore
Guests are welcome to peruse our large Lodge Library containing books about history, geology, plants and animals, and hiking in the region. Let us know your interest and we may recommend a specific title to enhance your visit.

We stock a few hard-to-find books specific to our area that are for sale in the lobby. Or, you can order them by mail. Here’s the books and how to order.

How to Get to The Black Range Lodge
Please note that most cell phones will not get a signal in the vicinity of Kingston (or Hillsboro), so please print out these directions to guide you to the Black Range Lodge.

From the East:
From Interstate-25, exit at the Hillsboro exit #63, twelve miles south of Truth or Consequences (which is a good place to get groceries). At the bottom of the exit ramp, turn west and go 27 miles (on NM152). You will pass through Hillsboro (last chance for gas). Kingston is nine miles further.

The highway continues through ranch country (there may be cows on the road), winding its way along the lovely Percha Creek. As you approach Kingston you’ll see a national forest campground on your right. Ahead about a hundred yards are some signs -- including a sign for The Black Range Lodge. There you should bear right off the highway onto our Main Street, which is lined with houses and cabins. The Lodge is ahead on the left about 1/4 mile. Drive through the 2 wagon wheels into our parking lot.

If you miss the turn into Kingston, you will find yourself climbing up a steep curvy hill. Then you’ll see a sign for Silver City, then a sign that announces the Gila National Forest. You'll find there a convenient place to turn around and head back....

From the West:
To get to the Black Range Lodge go east on I-10 and exit in Lordsburg or Deming, NM. The Lordsburg route will take you through Silver City (Hwy 90) where you will catch Hwy 180, and about 5 miles later, make a left turn onto Hwy 152. Here's where you will see the first sign to Kingston (about 45 miles, which should take about an hour and twenty minutes).

Stay on this road (NM 152), which winds its way past a big copper mine, down into the Mimbres valley, then up through the Gila National Forest and over the Black Range Mountains. You will crest the Black Range at Emory Pass, where there is a great vista point (left about 100 yards on a paved access road), Here you can see 100+ miles and overlook Kingston, the closest community. (There's a rest room here, too.)
Back on Hwy 152, you will descend 9 miles and make a sharp left-turn into Kingston. There are signs here, including one for the Black Range Lodge...... slow way down to make the turn. The Lodge is ahead on the left about 1/4 mile -- drive thru 2 wagon wheels into the parking lot. This is a beautiful drive, but I would not recommend it at night or if the weather is questionable. Call us if you are wondering -- 505-895-5652.

If you exit I-10 at Deming, follow the signs to Hatch. (Basically you turn left under the freeway onto Hwy 180 and go about a mile, then yield right onto Hwy 26.) This is a straight, fast road, with an occasional patrol car. Go 30 miles, and turn Left onto Hwy 27. This turn comes up fast at highway speeds -- there is a bar/restaurant called "The Middle of Nowhere Cafe." You'll also see a joke sign for the "Nutt Shopping Mall," but not until you slow down and turn left.

Hwy 27 is a little-travelled road through ranch country. It goes from straight to rolling hills, and you may see cattle on the road. Antelope are also sighted along here. The road passes by the ghost town of Lake Valley and ends at Hillsboro, where you will turn Left (west) onto NM 152. Kingston is nine miles further.

The state highway continues through ranch country (there may be cows on the road), following the lovely Percha Creek. As you approach Kingston you’ll see a national forest campground on your right. Ahead about a hundred yards are some signs -- including a sign for The Black Range Lodge. There you should bear right off the highway onto our Main Street, which is lined with houses and cabins. The Lodge is ahead on the left about 1/4 mile. Drive through the two wagon wheels into our parking lot.

If you miss the turn into Kingston, you will find yourself climbing up a steep curvy hill. Then you’ll see a sign for Silver City, then a sign that announces the Gila National Forest. You'll find there a convenient place to turn around and head back....