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| | | Gila Wilderness Loop #2, NM | | | |
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Gila Wilderness Loop #2, NM
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| Backpack | 41.42 Miles |
5,399 AEG |
| | Backpack | 41.42 Miles | 2 Days 7 Hrs 58 Mns | | |
| 5,399 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Had a few days of carryover vacation I had to kill before the end of Q2, so I decided to head back out into the Gila Wilderness. The plan was to stay a couple nights at White Creek Cabin, and try to summit Mogollon Baldy as a day hike. Due to the fire closures north of Silver City, I decided it would be fun to try a different approach, so I came up with a route from Willow Creek.
Day 1
The route to White Creek was simple - Trail 151 the whole way. Seems logical. Went well until the turn up into Cooper Canyon, which it so happens has been completely decimated by a severe burn. The whole way up to Turkeyfeather Pass was just climbing over deadfall. Definitely not fun, and I doubt they intend to ever fix this trail with the canyon the way it is. The climb up through this canyon took way more effort than expected, and I took a short break at the pass.
The hike down Turkeyfeather Creek was much better, but the trail again got scarce in the lower part of the canyon, so it was pretty slow going the last mile or so.
Once in West Fork, I expected to make better time on decent trail. Not too far down canyon, I came upon a black bear 30-40 feet away. A few claps easily dispatched him. 5 minutes or so later, I saw a big cinnamon-colored mama bear with a cub on the other side of the creek. This was a little more concerning, but clapping seemed to do the trick here as well.
At the last water crossing before Trail 151 leaves the creek, I figured I was good on water; I just wanted to get to White Creek. Ran out of water about half way, so I was pretty thirsty by the time I got to White Creek. Set up camp near a large, welcoming group that offered welcome company with bears fresh on the mind.
Day 2
I have a separate GPX for the day hike, so that'll be a separate thing... Suffice it to say, when I got back in the early afternoon, it was hot, and I was eager to jump in the creek... Which I did in the lovely pools a quarter mile downstream. In the early evening, we got a pretty crazy bout of wind with some light rain, but after that, it turned into a lovely evening.
Day 3
Original plan was to camp at Middle Fork somewhere. Headed up to Lilley Park, and stopped at the spring, which had absolutely wonderful water that seemed silly to even bother filtering. Then on up across Chicken Coop, Clear Creek, and down to Middle Fork. Took a break at an excellent camp site at this junction.
The trail heading upstream from here was hard to find at first, but does exist. It would seem most of the traffic it gets nowadays is of a more ursine leaning. I got to Clayton Creek before I knew it, and had to make a plan for the rest of the day.
Decided to head up to Iron Creek, but I fumbled around trying to find the trail. There were a few old paths I found in Clayton Creek, but I followed one that just brought me right back down. A few minutes later I found a trail sign, and it turns out the trail still exists; it has simply been relocated. The turn to Iron Creek is easy to miss, and this stretch of trail has a few places (mostly in burn scars) that are hard to follow.
Got to the camp site in Iron Creek about an hour before sunset, and sat down for a minute. Ultimately I decided that with just two miles to go, I may as well just hammer it out. Still light when I got to the car, I was absolutely demolished, and despite having traveled ~24 miles, had a hard time getting to sleep on account of how much everything hurt.
Overall, I can't say I'd recommend Willow Creek as an access point for anything on the West Fork. But it was fun seeing how much abuse my body could handle. |
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Clear Creek |
Pools to trickle |
Pools to trickle |
| | | Just a little bit of water at the Trotter Trail crossing. Some side canyons have water. |
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Cooper Canyon |
Light flow |
Light flow |
| | | There's some water flowing into Iron Creek, but not very far upstream. |
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Cub Creek |
Light flow |
Light flow |
| | | Flowing at West Fork. |
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Iron Creek |
Medium flow |
Medium flow |
| | | Good amount of water along Trail 151, although it has some dry stretches. |
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Iron Creek Lake |
1-25% full |
1-25% full |
| | | There's some really gross water in there. | | _____________________
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