H I K I N G I N T H E S I L V E R C I T Y A R E A |
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Casitas de Gila
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CASITAS DE GILA GUESTHOUSES Toll Free: 1-877-923-4827 |
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ONE OF FODOR'S "239 GREAT PLACES TO ESCAPE TO NATURE" — MAY 2006 ONE OF SUNSET MAGAZINE'S "TOP 10 ROMANTIC COTTAGES" — FEBRUARY 2007 |
HIKING OPPORTUNITIES
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Day Hikes in the Gila National Forest and the Gila Wilderness From your Base at Casitas de Gila Guesthouses
With the exception of a few trails around the more popular visitor destinations (such as the Catwalk or Gila Cliff Dwellings) most of the trails are unimproved and little traveled. It is highly recommended that if you are thinking about doing serious hiking in the more remote areas of the Gila, you do some planning and investigation before you arrive in Southwest New Mexico. Becky and Michael will, of course, be more than happy to share their local knowledge and information, as well as answer your questions regarding hiking in the area. One good guidebook that we can recommend is Hiking New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness by Bill Cunningham and Polly Burk, published by Falcon Publishing (1999). There’s a copy of this book in each of our Casitas, and it's for sale in our Art Gallery as well.
You will find more information on hiking and other activities in the Gila National Forest on their website. Below we've listed and described a few of the more popular hikes that are located near Casitas de Gila Guesthouses.
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Please contact us by telephone, fax or e-mail if you would like more information on Casitas de Gila, on availability, or would like to make a reservation. |
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Casitas de Gila Guesthouses & Art Gallery
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Casitas de Gila Guesthouses is an Inspected and Approved Member of For More Southwestern New Mexico Information, |
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At Casitas de Gila Guesthouses, Hiking Enthusiast Guests will find:
Behind and immediately adjacent to the Casitas there are easy walks and hikes around the flats and along the road leading into the Casitas, including a half-mile loop trail that leads up to a nice picnic spot that overlooks Bear Creek Canyon, Turtle Rock and the multi-colored lava flows and ash falls which make up the steep-walled escarpment of the Piños Altos Range in the Gila Wilderness just five miles away to the north.
The Gila National Forest, with its enclosed Gila Wilderness area and Aldo Leopold Wilderness area, offers over 2,500 miles of unlimited trail hiking opportunities ranging from easy, low-gradient walks along the Gila River to strenuous hikes across alpine peaks and ridges for experienced outdoor enthusiasts. This is true wilderness hiking, offering outstanding natural beauty, vegetation, and wildlife.
The western portion of the Gila Wilderness (which lies east of US 180 between Cliff/Gila and Glenwood) contains the highest mountains, most rugged terrain, and least traveled trails. There are numerous trailheads in the area that provide good access into this fascinating part of the Gila Wilderness and adjacent Gila National Forest.
10 miles east of Casitas de Gila Guesthouses the Gila River re-enters the Gila National Forest as it begins to transect the ancient Burro Mountains. This is the Middle Box of the Gila, located off US 180 on Bill Evans Lake Road and then continuing on FR 809. Although there are no official, maintained trails in the area, the Middle Box provides extensive easy to moderate, off-trail day hiking opportunities along the river in scenic old-growth riparian forest and adjacent side canyons.
Alma is a small community about 6 miles north of the town of Glenwood on US 180, and some 36 miles north of Casitas de Gila Guesthouses. From "downtown" Alma, county-maintained Mineral Creek Road extends about 6 miles east into the Gila National Forest (FR701) to dead-end at the Mineral Creek Trailhead (FT201). We think that the Mineral Creek Trail is one of the most spectacular, easily-accessible half-day hikes in Southern New Mexico. The trail closely follows the creek bed of Mineral Creek canyon, a magnificent narrow gorge lined with shear, 1000 to 1500 foot towering cliffs of yellow, orange, pink, red, white, and dark-colored volcanic lava and ash flows. The trail ranges from easy to moderate difficulty, depending upon the amount of water flowing in the creek.
Mineral Creek takes its name from the extensive mining that took place here beginning in the 1870s when Captain James Cooney mustered out of the U.S. Army and began mining gold from veins he had discovered while chasing Apaches just after the Civil War. Cooney's discovery brought others, and soon the bustling mining camp of Cooney had grown to several hundred souls seeking their fortune about a mile and a half up the canyon from today's trailhead.
Mining flourished in Cooney after Geronimo's surrender in 1886, but the camp's days were soon drawing to a close for other reasons. Around the time of Cooney's death, even richer veins of gold and silver were being discovered along Silver Creek, just over the ridge to the south, leading to the development of the rip-roaring mining town of Mogollon and the eventual abandonment of the Cooney Camp after a series of devastating floods on Mineral Creek around the turn of the century.
The Catwalk National Recreation Area offers all levels of hikers an excellent half to full day outing in the spectacular Mogollon Mountains. Located about 35 miles north of Casitas de Gila Guesthouses, the site is reached by taking US 180 north to the gown of Glenwood, and then turning right onto NM174 for 6 miles to its end in the Gila National Forest.
Whitewater Creek canyon is similar to the Mineral Creek canyon in that the canyon walls rise sheer and precipitously many hundreds of feet upward through complex layers of colorful volcanic rocks.
With the discovery of even richer veins of ore on Silver Creek in the late 1800s, just over the ridge south of Cooney Camp on Mineral Creek (see Mineral Creek Trail FT201 above) one of the West's wildest and richest mining towns was born. In its heyday Mogollon boasted a population of some 3,000 to 6,000 souls and, because of its isolation, was truly one of the wildest, shoot-'em-up mining towns in the West. Mining continued up to the 1950s and resumed for a short time in the 1970s before coming to a halt.
The hike up Graveyard Gulch is truly a time-warp hike. After passing a few buildings and evidence of modern civilization at the start of the hike, you are quickly transported into another era as you pass by old mine workings, tumbled-down miner's shacks and assorted decaying artifacts of human toil and struggle. After climbing a half a mile or so, a view back to the south down the canyon gives a good perspective of how Mogollon appeared in its former glory days. Towards the end of the hike the road becomes steeper and quite rocky before reaching a flat area covered with sparse trees and vegetation and red soil surrounding the overgrown fenced graveyard.
The Whitewater Baldy and Crest Trail is a full-day, moderately difficult, 12-mile round trip hike through some of the highest portions of the Mogollon Range, including an ascent of Whitewater Baldy, the highest peak in the Gila Wilderness at 10,895 feet. This Gila Wilderness trail is for the more experienced and well-seasoned hiker who wants to savor the high country, yet be able to reflect on it while sitting in the hot tub at Casitas de Gila Guesthouses at the end of the day!
From Mogollon on, Bursum Road becomes an improved gravel/dirt road that is followed another 9 miles to the Sandy Point Trailhead at 9,132 feet. At the Sandy Point parking area two trails beckon. Heading north, FT202 heads down into Mineral Creek Canyon to intersect with FT201.
The Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, located about 40 miles north of Silver City in the heart of the Gila Wilderness at the end of SR 15, is a favorite full-day outing for guests staying at Casitas de Gila Guesthouses and Art Gallery. A visit to the Cliff Dwellings Monument offers the opportunity for an easy, one-mile self-guided nature hike along the Cliff Dweller Canyon Loop Trail to visit the Gila Cliff Dwellings. Then, if desired, an additional easy 6-mile round-trip hike can be made up and back down the rugged canyon of the West Fork of the Gila River, visiting an interesting pioneer homestead grave and a prehistoric Native American dwelling site along the way.
The Gilf Cliff Dwellings offer a rare chance to part the veils of time and observe a bit of the lifestyle of the Mogollon Culture of Native Americans who inhabited the Gila region around 1300 AD. The Cliff Dwellings complex is fairly extensive, and some of the numerous mud and stone structures display multi-storied architecture. The structures are very well preserved and nicely situated in a series of sandstone caves about 150 feet above the floor of a small but beautiful little canyon with a small running stream.
