03/07/01 Hiking Crest Trail North:
Yesterday I took NM 152 up into the Mimbres Mountains in the southeast corner of the Gila (He-la) National Forest. This is a scenic byway leading through the mountains and topping out in Emory Pass at 8228 feet. A couple of miles farther I came to the Iron Creek Campgrounds and stayed the night.
A good deal of snow and ice are still on the ground at this level so it was no surprise when the temperatures dipped into the 20's last night. The GPS showed the campground to be at 7200 feet. That's the highest elevation I've ever camped and I was up half the night with shortness of breath while my body tried to acclimate itself.
I hit the Crest Trail North trailhead at the top of Emory Pass about 8:30am. The sun shone out of some stormy looking clouds raising the temperatures to the lower 40's. A 10-15 knot wind made sure they didn't get much higher. The Crest Trail North passes Hillsboro Peak at 9335 feet on its way to McKnight Mountain at 10165 feet. McKnight Mountain is 10 miles away and I had no hope of reaching it. Hillsboro Peak seemed to be three miles or so and seemed a realistic goal.
I went up the trail a ways, past the heliport and through the barbed wire fence. Large patches of snow covered the trail, 4-6 inches deep in places. The trail wound around to the north side of the slope and it became cooler and the snow got deeper. Several nice views of the pass and valleys way below appeared along the trail.
It was kinda tough going in the snow, having to walk sideways on the steep slope to keep from sliding off the trail. An hour or so into the hike I started sinking midway up to my shins. My boots were getting wet and since the part of the trail I could see ahead looked pretty much the same I turned back.
Driving back towards my campground I came across 10-15 mule deer grazing along the side of the road and some just wandering around on it. You can only drive 20-25mph up here so I had no trouble slowing down for them.
Dusk was falling around 6pm and the temperatures had dropped quite a bit. A few short showers had passed by earlier. I was reading a book and when I looked up everything was white. A car went by and I could see snow really coming down in its headlights. It didn't take me long to figure out I didn't want to be way up in the mountains during a snowstorm. It took more than an hour to drive the 10-15 miles to get down below 5000 feet where it was raining.
03/10/01: Hiking Little Bear Canyon Trail:
Another night in the 20's. That's fine. Sleeping's no problem. The problem is trying to make breakfast and getting washed without freezing my hands off. I avoid that by waiting until the sun is up and things begin to warm up before getting up.
Today's object is Little Bear Canyon Trail, here in the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument 44 miles up in the Gila National Forest. 8.5 miles round trip with an elevation of just 630 feet. Signs at the trailhead warned of the danger of bears in the area. Other signs warned of Mexican Gray Wolves, an endangered species being re-introduced to the Gila National Forest. They don't usually bother people but March thru October they're a bit testy while raising their young. Another sign later on would warn of the danger of flash floods on the trail. Geesh! I think I shoulda oughta have stood in bed.
The temperature was in the upper 30's as I started up the trail in bright sunshine. It wasn't long before I saw tracks crossing the trail. They appeared to be too large for deer and too small for elk. I had seen eight mule deer earlier. These seemed to be pretty much the same size as white tailed deer except they had white butts instead of white tails. Since they were the same size I would assume their tracks are about the same too. So, my guess would be the tracks were made by a small elk. A little farther on I saw different tracks. They seemed to be either a large dog or wolf or a small bear. The four toes were pretty round as was the heel with no visible claws. (Oops, the black bear has five round toes.) Dunno what that was then.
I covered the first two miles in under an hour. I thought I was moving faster than that though since there wasn't much of an incline. This part of the trail was mostly rolling hills spotted with lots of junipers. A short time after that the trail started to wind downwards and 100+ foot ponderosa pine began appearing.
The wind picked up and dark clouds moved in keeping the temperature in the upper 30's. The trail crossed and recrossed a dry, sandy creek bed. I was in a small valley with 200-300 foot bluffs sitting back 100 feet or so. It was here I saw the sign warning of flash floods.
The trail followed along side the creek bed, crossing from one side to the other. It would have actually been easier to just follow the creek bed than the trail. My guess is they had the trail going up and over hills and such to minimize the time you'd spend on the creek bed, just in case a flash flood to came along.
The valley narrowed down into a gorge 20-25 feet wide. Cliffs and pinnacles towered 100's of feet overhead. As I traveled down the creek bed I kept looking behind me. I knew I was hearing wind but just wanted to make sure a wall of water wasn't roaring down the gorge behind me.
The dark clouds finally released some heavy snow, or rather, tiny hailstones. Now what? Continue forward or turn back? The sky really looked bad and the snow was really coming down. I was about 1.5 hours into the hike. My main concern was getting out of the gorge and back to the trailhead before the trail became covered with snow. So I turned back. But after 10 steps or so I looked up and saw patches of blue sky. So I continued on with the hike.
The gorge twisted and turned, first one way, then the other. The walls were sheer, rising up 100's of feet and offered no way up or out if a flash flood should occur. I passed a large cave 20 feet up one side of the gorge. It was big enough to comfortably support 5-10 people but I saw no signs of a cliff dwelling or anything.
The sun came out and the snow stopped. Not quite two hours into the hike I came to the Middle Fork of the Gila River. Wow! Giant cliffs and pinnacles rose up from Little Bear Canyon. The whole far side of the Middle Fork as far as I could see in either direction was exactly the same or taller. What a sight!
The clouds had returned and with them snow so I didn't linger. It was pretty much that way all the way back. The clouds would come in, the temperatures dropped and the snow would come down for 5-10 minutes. Then the sun would come out, the winds dropped and the temperature rose.
03/11/01 Hiking Middle Fork Trail:
The forecast is for the next 4-5 nights to be in the 20's with days in the 50's. We certainly hit the 20's last night, if not something lower. It warms up quickly when the sun's out and was in the 30's when I started for the Middle Fork Trail.
The Middle Fork was the end of my Little Bear Canyon Trail yesterday and was quite a sight with tall cliffs and pinnacles towering 100's of feet over the river. The trail description made it sounds like an old folks trail with the warning there were several river crossings per mile. I figured that meant you'd have to walk across the river on rocks or something. Wrong!
A 10 knot wind was blowing big black clouds across the sky as I started down the trail. 1/4 mile led to a fork in the trail with one fork going down to the 20-30 foot wide, shallow but fast moving river.
I took the other fork and soon found myself scrambling along a cliff face. Things didn't look good up ahead so I turned back and followed the other fork to the river. No bridge, no rocks, no nothing. The water was too high to cross without getting soaked. I thought about taking my shoes and socks off and wading across but common sense prevailed. It was much too cold for an old guy like me to be wandering around with wet feet and pants.
Not wanting to quit just yet, I went back to the cliffs again and followed a very faint trail or runoff upwards. Apparently it was a trail because near the top it leveled off and followed the contours of a steep slope 100+ feet above the river.
This 'trail' is only 12-18 inches wide. The steep slope sits 40-50 feet above a 50 foot cliff. One slip and I'd be down the slope, over the cliff and on the rocks in the river. The 12 mile round trip was definitely out already. I thought I would just follow along this trail for a while and see what happened.
Unfortunately, in a short while I began encountering sloping ledges covered with gravel. I tippy-toed across a couple of them and decided it just wasn't worth it. Gravel on top of rock is very, very slippery and there's no doubt I'd end up in the river 100 feet below. Too bad, this is probably a great trail with great views.
03/12/01 Hiking McKenna Park Trail:
For the 3rd or 4th night in a row the temperatures dipped into the low 20's or lower. Frost covered the truck and kayak and I found ice in the water jugs I had left in the cab. The only way I can handle this kind of cold is to stay in bed until the sun is up and things begin to warm up a little.
A bunch of vans pulled in last night (Sunday) at different times. Some from Texas A&M, some from Iowa State, some from Indiana something, some from Vassar, as well as some others. Guess spring break is upon us. Vassar? Isn't that the college in Massachusetts where prissy little rich girls go to learn how to be socialites? Some of the schools were here for education sessions while others were here to do trail work. Good for them. Others just hit the backcountry for several days.
Today I'm on the McKenna Park Trail. It rises 970 feet during the part of the trail I plan to hike, seeing McKenna Park is 15-20 miles away. This is a gently rising trail, under five degrees for the most part. A few Ponderosa pines and a lot of Junipers could be found on the lower part of the trail and that reversed as I climbed higher.
I got to the EE Canyon junction in 1.5 hours. I knew I'd have to cross a river if I went that way. The Little Creek Trail went off to the left but I'd have to climb back up from there so I continued on the McKenna Park Trail. A short distance farther I saw some bluffs overlooking a valley and stopped there in the warm sunshine for a nap. Several nice views of canyons appeared early in the hike and the upper part revealed good views of nearby mountain ridges and ranges and valleys.
03/16/01:
After a couple of days in Silver City doing chores and stuff, I'm back at the Cliff Dwellings again. I really wanted to do the Middle Fork Trail. The first attempt was a failure because it has 15-20 river crossings and I didn't want to get my feet wet in March. Today I went back up the Little Bear Canyon Trail because it ends at the Middle Fork. I hoped to be able to go left or right on the river and follow the canyons for some distance but no luck. I could only go 50 feet to the left before the canyon walls ended in the river and 100 yards to the right.
While gazing longingly at the river crossing a guy camped there came up to talk. While we chatted, a woman came by and just waded right into the river. She had sandals on, her pant legs rolled up and her hiking boots slung over her shoulder. Hmmm, so that's how you do it. I think I'll pack sandals and wool socks in the day pack. I think I'll also wear long johns and sweats and/or a bathing suit so I can roll them up.
The thing is that water is in the 40's and the last couple of nights have been in the teens up here. Hmmmm!
03/16/01: Hiking West Fork Loop Trail:
Last night was in the teens again. I waited until the sun was up before I got up. As I was making breakfast I noticed the olive oil was frozen solid. I keep it in a drawer in the back of the truck, right beside where I lay my head.
Today's goal was the West Fork Loop Trail except I didn't notice the name. I was using a list of trail descriptions made available for the region. I had read the description a while ago but all I remembered was where it started, that it was 11 miles long with an elevation of 1330 feet.
So off I went to TJ's Corral again with the temperature still in the 20's and a 10 knot wind blowing in my face. <shiver> I covered the two miles to the Little Bear Canyon Trail junction in one hour and took The Meadows trail to the left. Another 10 minutes got me high enough for some good views of some bluffs, valleys and ridges. From this point on I found myself traversing lots of small ups and downs. Junipers gave way to ponderosa pines and alligator junipers as I got higher.
Just as I started complaining about all the ups and downs the trail changed to continuous ups. That'll teach me to complain. The incline was less than five degrees for the most part. But then I got to several rock strewn sections. There aren't a lot of things worse than baseball sized rocks all over a trail you're ascending. If you walk on them you're liable to twist and ankle and trying to step over or between them gets tiring. About the time the trail leveled off some I noticed several snow capped mountains and ridges.
Three hours found me at the West Fork Trail branch, six miles into the hike. The West Fork? Uh oh! The West and Middle Forks, while probably being the two best scenic trails in the area, also require several river crossing per mile. That's not where I wanted to go. The Meadows were another four miles up the trail. Since I didn't know where the trail went from there I wasn't going to put myself in a position where I'd have a ten mile return trip. So I turned back and settled for a nice 12 mile hike for the day.