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I'm thinking of heading into the Gila this summer. I had wanted to do the west fork trail 151 west from the Cliff Dwellings, but I am not overly enthusiastic to cross the river repeatedly. As an alternative I thought trail #28 to #164, and then head south on #30 to cross the river west of Pine Flat. Anyone have any experience with these trails? Once south of the river I would probably do what I had planned on, a trip through McKenna Park and then back on 187 to 162 and the Dwelling area.

If you've been in the area, how were the springs or water access, trail conditions, and potential hot springs? Nothing like a hot bath days out. If I do this, I think it will be in a late May to very early July period. I prefer to go in the dry season before the monsoon. With the el nino it looks like SW NM is getting their share of snow and springs ought to be running. The river will be, thats for sure.

I'll have to look at a map or TOPO as I don't recognize trail numbers but know Mckenna Park and some of the mesa top trails between West Fork and Middle Fork. Some of that area is not that high in elevation so prepare for some heat. I've roasted along the Crest trail at almost 10K in spotty pine cover over there in late May/June.

It's basically a loop that is around, and crosses the West Fork. The GIla Meadows description uses a small part of the first leg. McKenna is as far west as I think I would get. If you have a Gila NF map, they are on there. That is where I got the numbers from. Basically, everything should be solid for that route. The only thing that may force me off the ridge and into the valley bottoms is water availability.

Gila Meadows is a spring/fall destination. If going in summer, try the 10k mountain range to the NW.

I'm leaning towards May for this, so I consider that to be spring. I'm not going to Gila Meadows, just mentioning that my route would use some of the trails in that description. I would be above 7,000' and it wouldn't be much different from Flagstaff, so I think that is a fine time of year to go. I'm not much interested in the terrain over 9000' in the Gila. Because my experience with SE AZ and SW NM has been that the monsoon can be especially strong and a little early, I want to go before it gets humid and rainy.

I'm trying to plan a trip around the same time. My buddy bailed and early-mid May is my ideal time to go. How many days are you planning on being out? I had my eye on the Redstone-Baldy Loop. According to the book (p39), 27 miles. I'm thinking of driving out Thursday AM and coming home Sunday. That should leave some time to hit one or two of the local peaks

Do you know anything about that route?
http://books.google.com/books?id=XeXj3U ... op&f=false

Redstone Park - HAZ
Whitewater Baldy - HAZ

That is in a different area of the wilderness then I plan to visit. I want to enter the core area from the cliff dwellings. It is also too far out for me to plan dates.

Okay, finally looked at a map. Off 164 Prior creek should have a little water if not too dry, detour to Prior cabin and spring is quite a bit off your path. Lilly Park should have some water. Upper Hell Hole despite not being marked should have some pools. Don't remember any springs early on 164 after 28. Don't know much of 162 so can't say about that. McKenna Park is beautiful. Lilly Park area is pretty neat, took a pic of a wolf track there.

The high country there has some neat old growth forest stuff going on. But I must say my favorite trip was out of this area, the Gila River Forks, and a trek south Shawn and I did from Turkey Creek over Granny Mtn and along the Gila a good one too.

Woops, I meant 161, not 162. Where is prior cabin? I don't seem to have it on my Gila NF map. Do you know what STR it is in?

Do you have any pics of McKenna?

Good guide book: Hiking New Mexico's Gila Wilderness (Falcon press)...worth the $.
Prior cabin is mid-mesa north of Hell's Hole, the guide mentions a spring there. I have not been there. My experience in the river area is the May should be fine, this has been a particularly wet and snowy winter in the high mountains of this area. The runoff will last for awhile this spring.

Any chance anyone is planning a backpacking trip into the Gila, say the central parts west of Gila Hot Springs? I'm curious to know what a lot of the Miller burn area looks like, now that there has been a lot of rain there. Some one needs to hike into McKenna Park!

I'll be going on a backpacking trip starting at the Catwalk, which as far as I know is not too near the fire area.

That far away unless you go east for a good ways. Where is your ultimate destination?

A loop starting at Catwalk, Devils Elbow, Tennessee Meadows, etc., to Winn Canyon and back to Catwalk. (I'm not leading the trip.)

Jim_H wrote:Any chance anyone is planning a backpacking trip into the Gila, say the central parts west of Gila Hot Springs?

I've seen folks elsewhere recommend avoiding the THs near the Gila Cliff dwellings and focus instead on areas near the Catwalk.

azbackpackr wrote:I'll be going on a backpacking trip starting at the Catwalk, which as far as I know is not too near the fire area.

Map of the fire perimeter (you will need to zoom in some for detail) http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOC ... 303573.pdf

big_load wrote:

Jim_H wrote:Any chance anyone is planning a backpacking trip into the Gila, say the central parts west of Gila Hot Springs?

I've seen folks elsewhere recommend avoiding the THs near the Gila Cliff dwellings and focus instead on areas near the Catwalk.

Why? Thats is a really nice area. Little Creek to and in McKenna Park, Lilley and Woodland Park, those were really nice.



Liz, you're going to be staying west of the Mogollon Crest, from that description, and the Miller was all well east of that area.

Jim_H wrote:

big_load wrote:

Jim_H wrote:Any chance anyone is planning a backpacking trip into the Gila, say the central parts west of Gila Hot Springs?

I've seen folks elsewhere recommend avoiding the THs near the Gila Cliff dwellings and focus instead on areas near the Catwalk.

Why?

The person with the most detailed answer (who said he lives nearby) said that he would recommend staying away from that area altogether because it is still quite dangerous and there are several closed trails. I don't know if that includes the Middle Fork, but it seems at least possible judging from the map. I don't have any sense of how "quite dangerous" maps to your personal scale or mine. You'll probably find better info checking up on the closures. I say that with some hesitation because whenever I inquire about such things, the answer is always excessively dire.

Seems to me that in an 88,000 acre fire, of which a lot burned in 2003, that there will be a ton of variability and some may just be using the fire as an excuse to keep outsiders out. The FS will keep dangerous areas closed if they really are. The fire burned down to the West Fork and was low intensity due to moisture, the Middle was mostly untouched. McKenna is what I'm most interested in, but it's out there.