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| Hiking | 24.00 Miles |
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| | Hiking | 24.00 Miles | | | |
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| no partners | | This was actually two years ago, so I will write what I remember...
Myself and 3 friends drove in from the Phoenix area in the afternoon and stayed in a hotel for the night before backpacking in. I think we stayed in Silver City, NM, but we may have stayed in some other small town. Either way I know we drove through Silver City.
I don't have the directions to get the trailhead, maybe I'll look them up and post them later. Anywho, not far from the trailhead, there is a large parking lot and visitor center. This is primarily for the Gila Cliff Dwellings that are nearby. I'll post another log and pics for the dwellings, but basically, they are pretty cool to see, and you get to go up inside them, with a tour guide, and I recommend it. We did it on the way out of backpacking. Oh, and there is some info on Geronimo as well, as he used to roam these parts.
For our trip, we walked past the dwellings, to the trailhead. Only one of my friends had done such a trip, and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. That friend had actually done this trip as a boy scout when he was a kid, and told us about a place called Hell's Hole, that was really cool. And I wanted to hike near water, where we could cross some rivers, and maybe go swimming. This trip sounded perfect, because there was said to be a nice swimming hole at White Creek, which would be the turnaround point of our trip.
My timeline is based on my when I took photos, but my distance estimates are probably off. (8:30AM) The first mile or two was sparse forest and light incline/decline. Finding ourselves at the Gila River (9:30AM) was exciting. Our first river crossing came 3 hours in (11:30AM). Within, 15 minutes, we spotted some cliff dwellings to the left. We decided we would check them out on our way out, and kept moving. We hiked a lot that day (at least, a lot for some first-timers carrying giant packs), and eventually set up camp at 5:30PM. A good 9 hours of hiking, with a few short breaks to rest and eat, was plenty for day one. The hike was a lot of incline and decline along the side the the mountains, and was pretty dense forest at this point.
It looks like we got a 7AM start for day 2. We hiked for a little over 3 hours before coming to a sign that read "Hells Hole 1/4." Finally, we were close. Expect, after hiking in that direction, eagerly searching for this majestic hole, we realized we were definitely past 1/4 mile. We stopped, dropped our packs, and a few of us hiked around trying to find it. We never did. It was definitely disheartening, and we decided we also were no longer as motivated to continue to White Creek, where there were apparently some nice swimming holes. We turned around and made our trip back. We made camp at 5:30PM again at a spot we saw on our way in.
After fishing few a few hours the next morning, and catching a few trout, including my first (score), we got moving. We wanted to make our camp for the 3rd night as close to the trailhead as we could, in order to have a short hike out in the morning. We only had to hike about 4 hours before we came across the cliff dwellings next to the river, and decided to camp there. Since we had several hours, we made the most of our time. We did a great amount of fishing, which turned out to be a great spot. We also ventured up to the dwellings, and took some pictures. We made sure to not disturb the dwelling as much as possible, so we didn't stay up there long.
We woke up early the next day, and were back past the trailhead by 8AM. This is when we went to the official Gila Cliff Dwellings, and finally headed home.
Despite being unable to find Hell's Hole, and too tired to make our way to White Creek, this trip was amazing. The scenery was great, and it was an overall great experience. I did also return to Phoenix with pneumonia, which sucked horribly. Next time I do a trip like this, which I hope to be Spring of 2013, I will need to load up on vitamins beforehand. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
- until today, when I finally purchased 50ft of true canyoneering rope, as well as a drybag.
. But the Jug is always fun, at least.
It also sounded easy enough for our friend Rich, who is even less experience than us.
At the end of the trail, we started trudging through the water, which was only ankle deep around the subway-looking parts. The rest of the hike was a lot of switching sides of the creek to stay in the most shallow water. Once we past the sign allowing for overnight camping, we went on a couple miles. After a bit we realized it would get dark fast in the canyons, so we started looking for ways upward to find camping grounds. The only success we had was a spot where a lone traveler already laid stake to. We eventually found a decent spot right next to the creek. Had there been a threat of rain, it would be in a flash flood zone, and we would likely die (I'm sure of it). We stayed anyway, luckily with clear skies. The hike in took about 4 hours, and I think we covered between 7-8 miles, but I'm not great at judging distances. 
At one point, while Joe and I were searching for more firewood, Rich swears he heard someone splashing through the water just downstream of our camp. He shined his light just past the edge of our camp and says there was a man standing there. Rich asked how he was doing, thinking it was a nighttime hiker, and the gut bolted in the other direction, splashing through the water as he ran downstream. Thanks Rich, I'll sleep well tonight wondering if this canyon is haunted or not. 
But Rich's water pack leaked all over his tent, and part of his sleeping bag in the middle of the night. So I let him stay in my tent, as it was a 2-3 person tent.
I actually discovered a great campsite on higher ground with a sweet fire pit setup. Next time. We headed out at 11am, and made it back to the parking lot at 2pm, with only a few short breaks.
Murky, stagnant waters, with lots of insectual critters. 
My buddy and I are already intending to go in April/May hopefully, with better, cleaner water flows. Temps were great, not too hot outside, and water not too cold. Did lose a sweet knife though 
