Middle Fork Trail #157 • Hike • New Mexico • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

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Up West Fork and Big Bear canyon, down Middle Fork and Little Bear canyon. Exceptional Loop with countless river crossings of variable depth up to mid thigh. Saw one person all day!

Beautiful piney miles, then numerous miles along the river and middle fork canyon. Saw several enormous gila river trout (surprised by the size of a couple). Also saw a large bear along middle fork! first bear i have seen in quite a few years. that was amazing. stopped by jordan hot springs which was cool to see, though the day was far too warm for that to be enticing to me.

what a treat to be able to carry my filter and a couple small bottles and not have to lug 10 pounds of water for a 24 miler for once.

had lunch on the rim before dropping down to the river, which was an instant HOF lunch spot

just an exceptional hike and day

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Sep 01 2023

chumley

Guides 94
Routes 840
Photos 22,055
Triplogs 1,993

52 male

Joined Sep 18 2002
Tempe, AZ

Middle West Gila Loop, NM

Backpack		Sep 01 2023
		chumley • Triplogs 1,993

Backpack	40.69 Miles	3,300 AEG

Backpack	40.69 Miles	4 Days
	3,300 ft AEG

no routes

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8 linked trail guides

Middle Fork / Little Bear Loop

Gila Meadows

West Fork of the Gila River

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John9L

We had a larger loop planned, but dialed it back a bit to shave a day off the total trip. We set out from Phoenix for the 6 hour drive. Google Maps doesn't even pretend this is a place you can drive to LOL. Apple Maps at least realizes there's a road. Reports of up to 2 hours to make the drive from Silver City to Cliff Dwellings proved a bit conservative for us. We managed it in just over an hour, though the whiplash induced vomiting was a bit of a negative. :/

Day 1: Middle Fork to Little Bear 7.61 mi - 300 aeg - 2:34
We set off at the crack of 2:45 for our planned short day. Middle Fork features 32 river crossings, so the warm afternoon sun was easily offset with constant splashing. West Fork was running around 9cfs and crossings were never more than knee deep. This one just gets better the farther upstream you get. We arrived at our planned camp near the junction with Little Bear, but it was a very popular spot and we decided to continue on a bit, camping at a peaceful spot about 10 minutes farther upstream.

Day 1 Extra: Little Bear 1.9 mi - 150 aeg - 0:58
I had read that the last half mile or so of Little Bear was really special, so Ryan and I headed back from camp to check it out. It really is a special little slot canyon with a trickle of water flowing through it. Definitely worth the visit.

Day 2: Little Bear to The Meadows 11.1 mi - 500 aeg - 4:42
We continued upstream on the Middle Fork trail to start the day. After another 15 river crossings, we took a break to soak in the Jordan Hot Spring, a really nice hot spring with clear blue-tinged water and a nice gravel floor. There were a few groups camped in the area and we were happy to have avoided a night here. Heading upstream, the route progressively deteriorated until the final 2 miles were just straight bushwhacking misery through shoulder high brush and complete mystery of route-finding. The Meadows promised good camping opportunities, but all but one spot was overgrown. Thankfully we were the first arrivals on the day so we were able to take advantage of this one.

Day 2 Extra: Meadows explore 2.25 mi - 200 ft - 1:40
I had planned to continue upstream and check out some more of Middle Fork, but I gave up on that after seeing the condition of the route just to get this far. Instead I tried to piece together some of the original route from before the post-fire flooding, as well as map out the reconstructed route. I figured it all out, but it's a mess that nobody carrying a backpack wants to deal with. I found a nice spot overlooking the valley, and hit a couple hundred yards of Meadows Trail #53 ... it doesn't look like it's had any maintenance (or use) in recent memory.

Day 3: Meadows to West Fork 8.88 mi - 1700 aeg - 4:00
We set out from the Meadows to cross up and over the plateau via Big Bear #28. The initial climb is steep and steady but tops out with some stunning views across the Middle Fork to the north. There's a couple of miles of pleasant ponderosa forest strolling up at 7,000 feet before dropping down to the West Fork. This south-facing ridge was hot and more exposed, with first class views across the Gila. Once we reached the river, it was like being in a whole different world. We headed upstream less than a mile before setting up camp in a nice riverside site.

Day 3 Extra: West Fork Upstream 4.14 mi - 200 aeg - 2:01
After some well-deserved afternoon nap time, it was time to explore a bit more upstream on West Fork 151. While this West Fork also suffered from post-fire flooding, the trail was a much more pleasant hike than Middle Fork. Oh, there was no less poison ivy to wade through, but the trail was nicely trodden and overall a more pleasant cut that was more of a trail through a beautiful forest with occasional river crossings compared to the flatter, riverside, rocky, scoured floodplain over on Middle Fork. After a couple of miles, we enjoyed an afternoon beverage before turning back downstream to camp.

Day 4: West Fork back 4.73 mi - 250 ft - 1:36
Another planned easy day took us downstream along the West Fork. A couple more river crossings brought our trip total to just over 100 (add 20+ for the daily "extra" hikes!). There's a mile or so east of EE canyon where the trail is far away from the river, before dropping back down and leading to the national monument. We took the horse trail along the river to avoid the road walk that lead us back to the visitor center and the end of our loop.

Notes: Poison Ivy: Tons of it. Lots of scrubbing at the end of every day and some luck are your friends. Bears: We only saw a few piles of scat. This seems to be the exception. Everybody we talked to who were frequent visitors or had been here before reported numerous encounters. Rattlesnakes: Beautiful black-tails. Big, healthy, and plentiful. Keep your eyes open as you push through that knee high grass! (After swimming the river or in wet grass, soggy rattles are almost impossible to hear. That was fun!)

Dry

Dry

Dry

Dry

Dry

Dry

Dry

Dry

Dry

	Jordon Hot Springs	Gallon + per minute	Gallon + per minute
	Clear and 90+

	Little Bear Canyon	Light flow	Light flow
	just a ribbon in the sand

	Middle Fork Gila River	Light flow	Light flow
	9cfs

	West Fork Gila River	Light flow	Light flow
	5cfs

White Rocks Canyon

Dry

_____________________

I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.

3 archives

Nov 08 2021

emilystardust

Routes 386
Photos 49
Triplogs 792

43 female

Joined Jun 23 2015
Phoenix, AZ

Southwest, NM

Hiking		Nov 08 2021
		emilystardust • Triplogs 792

Hiking	3.00 Miles

Hiking	3.00 Miles

no routes

no photosets

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_____________________

2 archives

Sep 18 2021

FOTG

Guides 37
Routes 556
Photos 10,872
Triplogs 1,052

43 male

Joined Jan 21 2013
AZ

Southwest, NM

Hiking		Sep 18 2021
		FOTG • Triplogs 1,052

Hiking	15.50 Miles	1,500 AEG

Hiking	15.50 Miles
	1,500 ft AEG

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Middle Fork / Little Bear Loop

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This was my second time to the hot springs, but my first time backpacking into the area. We drove to the trailhead Friday night and started hiking at 7:00 a.m. We did an out and back from the TJ Corral and began on the Little Bear Trail.

The first few miles of the Little Bear Trail left a far better impression on me than my first time hiking the trail in October nearly four years ago. The summer rains did this area well and the first few miles proved to be a relatively pleasant, scenic stroll this time around. The early morning golden hour light certainly contributed to this. The narrows of Little Bear Canyon were as impressive as I had remembered and before we knew it we were making our first crossing of the Gila River. The trail along the Gila was in great shape and we passed through several sunflower super blooms along the way. We arrived to one family at the spring and gambled on taking the campsite closest to the spring, but we were prepared to leave if things got rowdy. After a long soak and laziness around camp, we were pleasantly surprised to see that no other backpackers, or hikers had made their way to the spring yet. In fact, only one other family would arrive to the area and that would not be until nearly early evening. We enjoyed one final sunset soak to ourselves and then returned to camp for the usual.

We started with headlamps just before 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning to beat the heat on the final stretch to the trailhead and arrived back to the car just before 10:00 a.m.

Wildflowers Observation Substantial
Do sunflowers count?

Jordan Canyon

Light flow

	Little Bear Canyon	Light flow	Light flow
	"in narrows"

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4 archives

Nov 14 2020

AugustWest

Routes 174
Photos 471
Triplogs 184

51 male

Joined Mar 16 2019
Phoenix

Middle Fork / Little Bear Loop

Southwest, NM

Hiking		Nov 14 2020
		AugustWest • Triplogs 184

Hiking	12.08 Miles	1,559 AEG

Hiking	12.08 Miles	4 Hrs 9 Mns	3.07 mph
	1,559 ft AEG	13 Mns Break

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Route Recorded on Route Scout | Pop | Map | Popup | MapDEX

Made it to the Middle Fork Trailhead at about 10:30 and I took the last available spot. This trail is very accessible and has a hot spring in the first mile of walking along the river so is pretty popular with locals.

Water has been pretty elusive around these parts for a long time, but Middle Fork is all water. The two constants are stunning, vertical canyon walls and river crossings. There are at least 20 fords with no real options to dodge getting very wet. Neoprene socks and sandels is the way to do this trail.

The last mile before the Little Bear Canyon trail junction is the most beautiful section of Middle Fork. This stretch imparts a primordial essence of ruggedness that can be photographed or described, but really just needs to be experienced.

Little Bear Canyon is tiny where Middle Fork is grand. The first mile is a slot that is so much fun to twist and wind through. This part of the Canyon is probably 12 feet at it's narrowest. The slot section only lasts for about a mile before climbing into a drier, upland pine forest with some pretty meadow areas and great views until dropping into TJ Corral. From there it was a mile road walk back to the Middle Fork trailhead.

The river trails of the Gila Wilderness would have been perfect a month ago. This area would have been an antidote to the dry, hot conditions of this summer.

_____________________

Wildflower seed in the sand and wind
May the four winds blow you home again

Jul 02 2020

RedwallNHops

Guides 1
Routes 269
Photos 613
Triplogs 1,360

50 male

Joined Dec 22 2003
Tucson, AZ

Middle fork Gila loop, NM

Backpack		Jul 02 2020
		RedwallNHops • Triplogs 1,360

Backpack	50.40 Miles	4,734 AEG

Backpack	50.40 Miles	4 Days
	4,734 ft AEG

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Day 1 : from Snow lake. Middle fork of the Gila about 10 miles down
Day 2: Rest of the way to the Meadows - approx 13 miles.
day 3: up to Prior cabin, over to Lilly park. Was going to go to Turkeyfeather creek but it looked like we were headed directly for the cub fire . Because of that and smoke we headed towards clear creek. Followed the trail and camped right before it descends into middle fork. 18+ miles
Day 4: down to the middle fork and out.

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Jun 26 2020

ShatteredArm

Guides 12
Routes 192
Photos 863
Triplogs 356

42 male

Joined Nov 30 2015
Phoenix, AZ

Gila Wilderness Loop #2, NM

Backpack		Jun 26 2020
		ShatteredArm • Triplogs 356

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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Clayton Mesa Trail #175

Cooper Trail #141

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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.

	Clear Creek	Pools to trickle	Pools to trickle
	Just a little bit of water at the Trotter Trail crossing. Some side canyons have water.

	Cooper Canyon	Light flow	Light flow
	There's some water flowing into Iron Creek, but not very far upstream.

	Cub Creek	Light flow	Light flow
	Flowing at West Fork.

	Iron Creek	Medium flow	Medium flow
	Good amount of water along Trail 151, although it has some dry stretches.

	Iron Creek Lake	1-25% full	1-25% full
	There's some really gross water in there.

Lilley Park Spring

Gallon per minute

Little Turkey Creek

Medium flow

	Packsaddle Canyon	Dry	Dry
	Dry at Trail 151 crossing

	Swinging Cross Canyon	Dry	Dry
	No water in the lower part.

	Turkeyfeather Creek	Light flow	Light flow
	The narrow section near the bottom has some flow.

Turkeyfeather Spring

Quart per minute

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May 22 2020

ShatteredArm

Guides 12
Routes 192
Photos 863
Triplogs 356

42 male

Joined Nov 30 2015
Phoenix, AZ

Gila Wilderness loop, NM

Backpack		May 22 2020
		ShatteredArm • Triplogs 356

Backpack	46.85 Miles	4,216 AEG

Backpack	46.85 Miles	2 Days 21 Hrs 3 Mns
	4,216 ft AEG

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11 linked trail guides

West Fork of the Gila River

Woodland Park Trail #12

Hells Hole Bypass Trail #785

Prior Creek Trail #156

Hell's Hole Trail #268

Granny Mountain Trail #160

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This weekend I was supposed to be doing North Bass. But the GCNP decided that rather than honoring existing backpacking permits, they should open up the first thing they closed for public health reasons. But I had a backup plan, which was to check out the Gila Wilderness.

Friday - 9 miles

Arrived at West Fork TH at around 2pm MDT, and started walking. There wasn't really much of a plan; just that I would head up West Fork and come down Middle Fork. But daily mileage would just kind of be whatever I felt like. The plan for the day was to walk until there was 2-3 hours of daylight left, then set up camp. With about 2.5 hours of daylight left, and after almost 9 miles of walking, I found a really nice campsite and called it a day. Was pretty exhausted after the 6+ hour drive.

Saturday - 19 miles

Decided as I went to bed the night before that this would probably be the longest day. White Creek Cabin was only ~8 miles away, and I wanted to make it farther than that. But I also didn't want to dry camp if at all possible, which meant making it to Middle Fork or trying my luck at Prior Cabin. I decided to take the roundabout way through the Hell's Hole bend, because I have a general policy to always check out a place called Hell's Hole (this turned out to be the least interesting of the bunch, 2/5, not worth the time - maybe it was more interesting up the side canyon). Got to the last crossing of West Fork before the cabin, and also decided to check out the little out-and-back to the falls (didn't bother dropping my pack for some reason). That was more worthwhile than Hell's Hole.

Truth be told, right at that spot, a quarter mile before the cabin, was a very appealing camping area. Reavis Ranch x2. But it was only 11:30AM MDT when I arrived. I'm keeping it in mind for a later trip in which I stay there two nights and do a day trip up Mogollon Baldy. The cabin itself is OK, not as nice as the other end of the meadow, and it was locked up. Took a 20 minute break at the creek there to fill up on water and eat a couple of snacks.

Next was the climb up to Lilley Park, which was really not too bad. Just a moderately steep, switchbacky trail up a slope that felt much higher up in the mountains than the actual elevation would indicate. This stretch provided the best views of the trip, which a great overview of the White Creek Cabin area, and great views of the Mogollon Crest towards the west. Got to Lilley Park a little after 1PM MDT, and headed east on the Woodland Park trail.

That section of Woodland Park trail was just a stroll through the woods, and by the time I hit Prior Canyon 4 miles later, I was aching a bit, somewhat exhausted, and ready to set up camp. I resolved to camp at Prior Cabin regardless of whether there was water. The canyon itself was pretty, kinda reminds me of being up on the Mogollon Rim (makes sense, similar elevation). Outside of a trickling spring in the upper part of the canyon, it was dry until about a quarter mile before the cabin. With water there, and 19 miles on the day, I was pretty thrilled to not be forced to decide whether to continue on.

Sunday - 10 miles

Planned on an easy day. Figured I should get a little rest this weekend... Hiked east to the Meadows overlook, and from there down to the Meadows. My plan was to hike until about 1:30pm MDT, and then find a campsite. I didn't want to get too close to Jordan Hot Springs in order to avoid being shut out of the good campsites. Passed a great campsite near Brothers West Canyon, but it was only 1:15pm, so I kept going. At about 1:45pm, I found a decent spot at a bend. It was a bit brushy in the area, but it was situated so that the shade came early. Saw a lot more people in Middle Fork than I had seen thus far in the trip.

Monday - 9 miles

Set out hiking early (6:30am MDT) since I'd be driving back to Phoenix afterwards. Felt much better physically, on account of the rest day. Checked out the hot springs (closer to my camp than I realized), but couldn't take a picture due to a couple of bathers who eschew their garb. The trail between the hot springs and Little Bear is a superhighway compared to anything else I saw during the trip. It was actually somewhat enjoyable walking.

Little Bear Canyon was an unexpected surprise. Slot-like in the lower part, and really pretty the whole way up. The way down the other side became "let's just get this over with" mode.

In retrospect, I'm kinda glad I didn't get to do the original trip, because I had an absolute blast out there. Gila Wilderness really checks all the boxes in terms of great areas for backpacking, and I'm already looking at other routes.

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4 archives

Sep 20 2019

derpsquad

Routes 2
Photos 64
Triplogs 10

35 male

Joined Sep 09 2015
Tucson, AZ

Gila Wilderness Loop, NM

Backpack		Sep 20 2019
		derpsquad • Triplogs 10

Backpack	60.00 Miles

Backpack	60.00 Miles	4 Days

Linked

8 linked trail guides

Little Creek Trail #161

Turkey Creek Trail #155

Chicken Coop Trail #29

Prior Creek Trail #156

[ checklist ] Jordon Hot Springs Lilley Park McKenna Park Middle Fork Gila River West Fork Gila River

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Day 1

Started at Woody's Corral and headed up Granny Mtn 160 which is quite exposed but has excellent views looking South into the Gila. Once on Little Creek 161, the ponderosas come out and provide shade through the whole canyon. Tons of wildflowers and knee high bright green grass from the recent monsoons. It's an relaxing, level, and beautiful stroll. Intermittent water through Litte Creek. We set up camp at a great site near the spring at the intersection of Turkey Creek 155 and Little Creek 161 and hiked up to Granite peak which has fantastic 360 views of the wilderness.

Day 2

Started up Turkey Creek 155 which was flowing pretty good until the climb over the Diablo Mtns. Great views on top of the Diablos. McKenna Park is like walking through a fairy tale. Pretty hard not to have a smile plastered across your face for 7 miles with wildflowers up to our waist, wide open meadows, and old growth ponderosas providing shade through the entire park. What a beautiful place. Dropped into West Fork at the White Creek Administrative Site and had lunch next to the river. About a dozen switchbacks later on Trotter 30 and we were out of the canyon up on the mesa. Lilley Park was another highlight and definitely worth a visit. Water at Lilley Park spring. Planned on camping off Chicken Coop 29 but the creek was dry so we pressed onto Prior Cabin which typically has reliable water (it did). Saw a herd of 20+ Elk in Chicken Coop.

Day 3

After about 3 miles on Prior Creek 156 some pretty incredible views of the middle fork emerge which are worth a moment of reflection. This is shortly followed by a steep drop down to Middle Fork 157. After all the monsoon rains the canyon was blooming with life (more than usual). We strolled down to Jordan Hot Springs and soaked for hours. Awesome place to camp especially after a couple of big days.

Day 4

Continued down the beautiful Middle Fork 157 which had some recent trail work to Little Bear 729 which turns into a pretty cool slot canyon. Back to the truck before noon and off to Tucson.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

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Jun 09 2019

nonot

Guides 107
Routes 249
Photos 2,067
Triplogs 514

male

Joined Nov 18 2005
Phoenix, AZ

Middle and East Fork Gila River - GET #22

Southwest, NM

Backpack		Jun 09 2019
		nonot • Triplogs 514

Backpack	70.00 Miles	4,500 AEG

Backpack	70.00 Miles
	4,500 ft AEG

Linked

10 linked trail guides

Woodland Park Trail #12

Chicken Coop Trail #29

Iron Creek Mesa Trail #171

Clear Creek Trail #165

Prior Creek Trail #156

Lilley Park Trail #164

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Prehike-the drive to the Willow Creek area took me down some new roads, including the drive down NM28, which is signed for high clearance only. It is impressive the amount of erosion control and new bridges they had to build from the big flash floods. Cars should drive around and take the smoother roads from Reserve.

I nabbed the last spot at the Ken Lilley campground (4 spots, one is kinda exposed) for the night to rest up. The Willow Creek Campground is closed, which I think means the restrooms are locked, as there were people still camping there?

Hike- drove to the Gilita TH (the picnic grounds are closed but there is room for parking for a few vehicles. I set down the Middle Fork trail. The area has not received any maintenance since perhaps a decade, though someone did put green surveyor flagging along the route, for about the first two miles. It is around then that flash floods had wiped out what remains of the trail for the next 3 miles, but the canyon is easily traveled by staying to the inside bends of the river, and crossing often. There are many nice meadows and some trees remain, though in areas the fires burned all the way down to the river. With about 1.5 miles left to reach the snow lake trail, the middle fork trail begins to reappear and is easily followed (with some pink surveyor tapes) til you reach the CDT. From there the next several miles are in great shape. There are several expansive grassy meadows and some debris piles from the flash flood the size of small houses. I find a nice campsite for the afternoon along the river.

The next day I continue downriver and take the Trotter trail up onto Johnson Mesa, with good trails allowing me to reach Clear creek, a reliable water source, a little after noon, and I check out the clear creek trail (Old maps, and HAZ, call it the Pine Flat Trail?). As predicted, a bit of rain and thunder appears. I dayhike up to Marrs spring and am unimpressed by the spring, but the creek is very nice.

Next day I start off by taking the Trotter trail to Chicken Coop. Chicken coop is a wonderful trail, going through old growth pine forests and meadows, though the creeks in this area are already dry this early in the summer season. At the end I reach Prior Cabin, and there is some light flow of water in the canyon. Having been here before, I was glad to find water as it can be dry. I head over to the Woodland Park trail 12, and hike past Woodland Park Tank, and see a male bear, very healthy with shiny black coat. The encounter is very healthy and soon he is running away from the trail to get away from the annoying human. I decide to press on for another mile rather than camp close to the tank and risk encountering him again.

Next day I take the Lilley Park Trail (HAZ and old maps call this the Woodland Park Trail 164), and pass by Big Bear tank (dry). This area is more desertified than the rest of the park, and is also recovering from wildfire. I reach Big Bear Trail and go through Big Bear Canyon, then finish the day by taking all the switchbacks down into the Meadows area of the Middle Fork. The area seemed a little different than I remember - and I wonder if the flash flood altered where the reasonable campsites were.

The next day I wake up to overcast skies and cooler temperatures. This was not in line with the weather forecast and it seems like a storm is trying to push in. This spurred all the flies to bite and draw blood and this proved to be incredibly annoying throughout the entire day. Because of the cooler temps though I decide to press on and do my plan for the day and most of the next day today. The trail sections that were in the floodplains were destroyed by the 2015 (?) flash flood and the new trail that replaces it varies in quality. The first 2 miles were the most problematic as you go though the narrowest part of the canyon. But even having to walk the rip-rap by the river, it isn't too bad. The trail does get faint though and at times there are multiple new trails competing to win out. When I pass the homestead drop-in area I take a break for lunch. The next section I think is the best part of the middle fork, and the next few miles I go slowly savoring the scenery. I eventually find excellent trails (2 - one on each side of the river) once past flying V canyon, and complete the main loop of my figure 8 camping at the trotter trail intersection.

For my last day I head upriver and climb up the Iron Creek trail. Once up on top of the mesa, the trail disappears and you are free to roam the forest for about the next 2 miles. After this the faintest path begins to appear, and doesn't really turn into a trail until you are about 2 miles from the West Fork. There is a nice meadow you have to go through, and then you reach the burn scar of the Whitewater-Baldy Fire. But from here the hiking is easy and I reach the West Fork trail and take it back to the road. A short road-walk completes the loop.

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Black Bear

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Clear Creek Iron Creek Lake Iron Creek Mesa Woodland Park Woodland Park Tank

Wildflowers Observation Light

	Big Bear Canyon	Dry	Dry
	Dry at Big Bear Trail xing

Big Bear Tank

Dry

	Canyon Creek	Pools to trickle	Pools to trickle
	Very light trickle at intersection with middle fork gila river

	Chicken Coop Canyon	Dry	Dry
	Dry along Chicken Coop trail

Clayton Creek

Dry

	Clear Creek	Light flow	Light flow
	light flow at intersection with Trotter. Surface water becomes intermittent as you head upcanyon.

Flying V Canyon

Dry

	Iron Creek	Medium flow	Medium flow
	good flow coming down iron creek

Iron Creek Lake

26-50% full

Lilley Canyon

Dry

Little Turkey Creek

Dry

	Lower Marrs Spring	Dripping	Dripping
	Hard to tell but assume this is the pool in the rivulet of the meadow.

	Marrs Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	Light flow, there are two springs in the area.

Middle Fork Gila River

Medium flow

Moonshine Canyon

Dry

No Name Canyon

Dry

Porcupine Canyon

Dry

	Prior Creek	Pools to trickle	Pools to trickle
	Light flow in lower section by cabin

Swinging Cross Canyon

Dry

	Upper Marrs Spring	Quart per minute	Quart per minute
	Light flow, there are two springs in the area.

	Willow Creek	Medium flow	Medium flow
	Very nice flow down Willow

Woodland Park Tank

26-50% full

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http://hikearizona.com/garmin_maps.php

Hike Arizona it is full of sharp, pointy, ankle-twisting, HAZmaster crushing ROCKS!!
Hike Arizona it is full of sharp, pointy, shin-stabbing, skin-shredding plants!
Hike Arizona it is full of striking, biting, stabbing, venomous wildlife!

2 archives

Oct 22 2017

FOTG

Guides 37
Routes 556
Photos 10,872
Triplogs 1,052

43 male

Joined Jan 21 2013
AZ

Southwest, NM

Hiking		Oct 22 2017
		FOTG • Triplogs 1,052

Hiking	13.23 Miles	1,532 AEG

Hiking	13.23 Miles	5 Hrs 12 Mns	2.67 mph
	1,532 ft AEG	15 Mns Break

Linked

linked

White Rocks Trail #27

Partners

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no partners

Someone had told me that White Rocks was a nice trail, so I decided for my second hike in the Gila the pups and I would start at the Middle Fork trailhead and then hike to White Rocks Tanks for a break, some water and then a return the way we came.

The hike started out very cold. In fact, cold enough to freeze the pups water where we camped and I was definitely not in a hurry to put on my chacos and start crossing the Middle Fork of the Gila, but alas I made my first crossing just after 8. However, After about the second crossing my feet were starting to feel like I was seriously starting to get some frost bite, so I put my socks and shoes back on until the next crossing, as inefficient as that was. Eventually I thought the key to my frozen feet was a set of hot springs along the river's shore. Needless to say that was a very bad idea. A little PSA here, "frozen feet and hot springs don't mix." I seriously thought I did some damage to my feet for a few seconds, as that hot water sent some pretty nasty tingling pain through my feet for a few minutes and only calmed down after I was able to rub them some with the inside of my hoodie that I had take off.

Despite the cold start, I wish I would have just spent more time enjoying the Middle Fork Trail. The trail to the tanks had some decent views, but it was generally bland trail and offered few redeeming qualities The tanks were also bone dry, which put me and the pups in a little bind, as it was around a seven mile detour to get to them. I knew it was a gamble assuming there would be water, but the forest service had it listed as a desirable destination and from the map it looked like it would be a good contender for water and I thought from the tank's name, that there were going to be a couple of nice scenic natural tanks in the rock, or something like that, but nope just two bone dry dirt tanks from yesteryear. Basically, a seven mile detour for nothing overly scenic, when we could have been tramping along the scenic Middle Fork of the Gila River. Needless to say, the dogs were happy to reach the river again, where we did a little more exploring up the Middle Fork, before turning back for the trailhead.

After getting back to the trailhead, I decided to go check out the cliff dwellings and utilize their complimentary kennels for the dogs. The kennels unfortunately looked something like the POW "tiger cages' from Vietnam and I was not putting my pups in there, even for a short tour. Not to be deterred, we settled for a quick hike of the West Fork Trail, which shares a parking lot with the cliff dwellings. The forest service notes that the trail has recently been cleared four miles in, but we only went in about a half mile, or so and turned around, as the drive back to Phoenix was looming in my mind and Cup was beat.

Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate

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1 archive

Oct 21 2017

FOTG

Guides 37
Routes 556
Photos 10,872
Triplogs 1,052

43 male

Joined Jan 21 2013
AZ

Southwest, NM

Hiking		Oct 21 2017
		FOTG • Triplogs 1,052

Hiking	14.82 Miles	1,856 AEG

Hiking	14.82 Miles	6 Hrs 45 Mns	2.44 mph
	1,856 ft AEG	41 Mns Break

Linked

linked