Gila River - Gila Wilderness, New Mexico - April 18, 2022

Man, that's a cool looking area. Thanks for the report (and for adding another place to see on my list)
 
Awesome trip! The Gila is great - one of the few major river systems in a wilderness. There are plenty of loop hike opportunities involving the Gila, if someone doesn't want to do the Gila with a car shuttle - I can recommend Turkey creek/Granny Mtn/Lower Gila.

I didn't see much fire scarring in your photos from the 2010(?) fire. Perhaps the fire didn't make it down that far?
 
marcmeister26 said:
Awesome trip! The Gila is great - one of the few major river systems in a wilderness. There are plenty of loop hike opportunities involving the Gila, if someone doesn't want to do the Gila with a car shuttle - I can recommend Turkey creek/Granny Mtn/Lower Gila.

I didn't see much fire scarring in your photos from the 2010(?) fire. Perhaps the fire didn't make it down that far?
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We did pass through a couple of burn areas along our route. I'm not sure that I took any pictures as we passed through though. I'll check and see.
 
No but map says about 57 miles
 
scatman said:
That looks like a nice loop @Bob. Did they happen to state what the distance is?
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I've actually done this loop many years ago. 57 miles sounds right - I think I did it over 7 days. Jacob hot springs along the middle fork is a great stop over. So is the ranger cabin along the west fork.
 
marcmeister26 said:
I've actually done this loop many years ago. 57 miles sounds right - I think I did it over 7 days. Jacob hot springs along the middle fork is a great stop over. So is the ranger cabin along the west fork.
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What time of the year did yo u do this loop, and were the water sources reliable?
 
The route Bob posted looks pretty cool, I'd like to do something like that if I ever revisit the area. Especially now that I know about all the water crossings, and how to carry enough water for the dry stretches in the desert!

Posted for reference is a hike I did back in 2009 in the area. I think we did 5 days/4 nights. There's a trip report floating around somewhere on the forum.

Click here to view on CalTopo
 
scatman said:
What time of the year did yo u do this loop, and were the water sources reliable?
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I did the trip in early September - right before the start of hunting season. There was plenty of water in the Middle fork up to the intersection with trail #30 (Trotter trail?). From there it was a dry stretch all the way to the West fork. The West fork was flowing all of the way back to the car. It was an unusually late monsoon that year, so conditions were wet. In late spring or early summer, I wouldn't be surprised if the Middle fork dried out several miles before the Trotter crossing.

Also, the spring I was thinking about in the Middle fork is Jordan spring - not Jacob spring. Sorry about that!
 
b.stark said:
The route Bob posted looks pretty cool, I'd like to do something like that if I ever revisit the area. Especially now that I know about all the water crossings, and how to carry enough water for the dry stretches in the desert!

Posted for reference is a hike I did back in 2009 in the area. I think we did 5 days/4 nights. There's a trip report floating around somewhere on the forum.

Click here to view on CalTopo
Click to expand...

I checked out your 2009 adventure again. So looking at CalTopo, I don't see any springs along your route, some relatively close by tanks but no springs. Were they just unmarked springs? And were you able to checkout the gravesite at 33.23448, -108.27685?
 
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scatman said:
I checked out your 2009 adventure again. So looking at CalTopo, I don't see any springs along your route, some relatively close by tanks but no springs. Were they just unmarked springs? And were you able to checkout the gravesite at 33.23448, -108.27685?
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We never bothered to stop and check any of the springs or tanks. We did not try to check the grave, either. Lots of failures in planning on that one. A nagging desire to return and right some of those things has always been in the back of my head, but never high enough on my list to actually go get it done. Along the trails in the high country we saw no water, though. Our only sources were the rivers during that trip.
 
I'm always interested in new possibilities and am intrigued by these loops for a future spring break trip. Is April a possibility (for someone - me - who's not too rugged)? I see on caltopo that the max altitude is slightly under 8000'.
 
In early April, night temps would still be below freezing in the Gila Wilderness- even in the warmest parts of the canyon. The day temps would probably be nice though. I did one of those loops in early May and was hit by a late season snow storm. The lower canyons were passable, but the higher elevation areas were snowed in for a day or two.
 
marcmeister26 said:
In early April, night temps would still be below freezing in the Gila Wilderness- even in the warmest parts of the canyon. The day temps would probably be nice though. I did one of those loops in early May and was hit by a late season snow storm. The lower canyons were passable, but the higher elevation areas were snowed in for a day or two.
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Helpful info - thanks so much!
 
Finally got around to catching up on this one. Gila has always looked like one I'd enjoy from other reports/videos I've seen of that area. Peak makes some good meals, but the Chicken Teriyaki one is definitely not among their best. My favorite has been the Chicken Pesto Pasta. Thanks for veering me away from that G2G Gumbo. I wonder if any of their others are good. I recently discovered another brand out there called Pinnacle that looks like some promising meals to try. Oh...and welcome home Gnome!
 
WasatchWill said:
Finally got around to catching up on this one. Gila has always looked like one I'd enjoy from other reports/videos I've seen of that area. Peak makes some good meals, but the Chicken Teriyaki one is definitely not among their best. My favorite has been the Chicken Pesto Pasta. Thanks for veering me away from that G2G Gumbo. I wonder if any of their others are good. I recently discovered another brand out there called Pinnacle that looks like some promising meals to try. Oh...and welcome home Gnome!
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The Chicken Pesto Pasta is good. I've never had any of the other G2G, so I can't say. I'll check out the Pinnacle line.
 
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