The Gila Wilderness | New Mexico
Driving N.M. 15 north from Silver City is like walking into a Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Shop for wilderness junkies. It just doesn’t get any better than this.
Ang and I took off to opposite positions within the continental U.S. over the past week or two. She and Sam went up to Indiana (Delphi actually) with my mother-in-law to visit her Aunt Anna Merle. We’ll post the photos and stories here shortly. While Ang and Sam were on the road north, Sam (big Sam - my father-in-law) and I took off towards the Arizona/New Mexico border and a few days backpacking the Gila Wilderness and soaking at the Jordan Hot Springs.
The Gila Wilderness Area in southwest New Mexico was the first dedicated wilderness areas in the country. Established in 1924, it is also one of the largest wilderness areas in the southwest at 557,873 acres (843 miles of hiking trails). The adjacent Aldo Leopold Wilderness area adds another 202,016 acres (191 miles of hiking trails). A third bordering area, the Blue Range Wilderness and Primitive Area adds another 222,500 acres (41 miles of trails)
Sam and I left Denton at about 6:30a and arrived at our ‘base camp’ at the Upper Scorpion campground near the Gila River at about 8p. This was not a bad drive at all. I had never been through El Paso before so I found that a brief, yet interesting excursion. I was amazed by the drastically visual socio-economic split at the Rio Grande River between Juarez on one side and El Paso on the other. The Mexican side was a mountain-side full of teal, pink, yellow, silver and rusty tin shacks while the U.S. side showed the same urban sprawl that were used to in any other American city. It was just a bit odd to see these two worlds existing all within the same visual horizon.
Sam also managed to get me hooked on Tom Clancy via the 2 book tapes we listed to on the drive… and the 2 we listed to on the drive home 
In any case, we spent the first night at a campground near the Gila visitor Center at about 5500′. Friday morning we paid a visit to the Gila Cliff Dwellings which was absolutely awesome and somewhat haunting. Evidently the caves in this canyon have been used as dwellings since about 1000 AD, but we don’t know much about any of the inhabitants other than the Mogollon who lived there from about 1280-1300 AD. Very cool - and it gave us a chance to warm up our legs for the long trip ahead.
We slung our 70lb or so packs on at about 10:30a and headed out from trail 729 at the TJ Corral - also known as the Little Bear Canyon/Middlefork trail. From this point it was up, up, up, up, up…. up… for about 2 miles to the first crest at about 7800′ - then into a VERY brief saddle - and back up, up, up… to the second crest and then another 2 miles down through Little Bear Canyon to the Gila River bed. Little Bear Canyon was very cool. It’s a tiny canyon with a small tributary/creek running down through it to the Gila. So there are lots of cool features to play with over the course of the couple miles through the canyon.
At this point we were about 4.75 miles in and just meeting up with the Middle Fork. We took a little Siesta. Dropping that big pack made my feet feel light as marshmallows! I had also developed a SERIOUS pain in my shoulders - there were knots the size of baseballs on both sides - I would later discover that the full weight of my pack was being carried by my shoulders rather than being evenly distributed to include my lower back and legs - this was a major mistake on my part. I spent a few hours once we got to camp fixing it so the trip back wouldn’t kill me.
So anyhoo - we took a little nap and then headed out on the most absolutely cool and fun 3 miles I’ve ever experienced. The last 3 miles up to the Jordan Hot Springs were basically flat - following along the Gila - and crossing it 15 times in each direction. We switched out our hiking boots for our Teva’s before heading down the river. It was an amazingly comfortable hike. There were some scary points in spots where the current was swift and the water a bit deep - but REALLY a nice hike. Neither of us fell in, so that was a blessing.
Jordan Spring is out of sight on the right side of the river if you’re hiking upstream. You have to either know its there or watch for water flow coming from the right (east) bank about 3 miles north of the Little Bear/Middle Fork junction. Rangers at the visitor center can mark your map with the exact location of the spring. This hike involves numerous Water Crossings - which is what I found the most fun - 30 crossings in all. If you take the Middle Fork trail all the way in you’ll have about 120 crossings… yikes.
When we finally arrived at our destination we were so BEAT DOWN - and my shoulders in such pain - that we hiked right past our intended campsite straight up to the Springs, dropped our packs and jumped in fully clothed and shoed - MAN DID THAT FEEL GREAT!
We arrived to find a young couple already there. Turns out they were on their honeymoon! We talked to them for a long time. They were planning on heading out that afternoon. However, as we were setting up camp (we had the closest good camp spot to the springs) - they came by to tell us they”d see us in the morning because we’d convinced them to stick around for a day or two more.
So we set up camp in what is now the best site I’ve ever had. The Hot Springs was less than 75 yards away; there was an offshoot of the spring running right through our site - which was awesome for camp cleanup! AND the Gila River was only about 25 yards to the west. AWESOME.
The Jordan Hot Springs is a surprisingly popular destination considering its location. We met a slew of really interesting and nice folks out there. The first night we went up to the spring there were 2 couples that came up and jumped in stark nekked - Sam pointed out that he should have brought his glasses
The second night we were at the spring it got a bit crowded - I think we counted 14 people in the upper pool; the newlyweds, 3 locals from Deming who rode in on horseback and brought lots of beer that they were gracias enough to share with me, a guy from Austin and a family of 8 who were up there on a little family getaway (4 of whom were the 2 nekked couples from the previous evening).
By this time Sam and I had eased into the following ritual:
wake up, coffee, breakfast, soak, lunch, nap, soak, dinner, scotch, soak, sleep
That’s how it went for a couple of days. It was one of, if not THE, most enjoyable backpacking trip I’ve ever done.
We headed out at about 1p on Sunday. Nearly 8 miles, 2 peaks and a good dose of dehydration later, we were headed for the Super 8 in Silver City. The 3 guys on horseback passed us on the way out - but somehow we managed to beat them out of the trailhead parking lot
On the way Back through El Paso we stopped on the “largest Harley-Davidson dealer in the US” and bought little Sam a Harley t-shirt and doo-rag. He’s a cool dude.
We stopped for lunch in the town of Van Horn, TX, an odd little town that kept making me think that David Lynch was about to show up with the crew - ate at a place called Chuy’s - not the chain - but evidently John Madden’s favorite Mexican restaurant.
Tom Clancy kept us company as we headed back to our little piece of Americana.
Add comment June 9th, 2005