Trip Report for Middle Fork Gila River Backpacking Trip August 27-28, 2011

Alex at the trailhead for the Middle Fork of the Gila River.

The week after school began, Alex and I went backpacking, while Monica stayed at home to spend some time on her artwork.  I decided that we would do an 11-mile loop, with the goal of completing six miles the first day and five the second day.  Worst case, we would stop somewhere along the first six miles and double-back the next morning if it proved to be too much.  This would be Alex's fourth backpacking trip in a year, and the first where she carried her own pack the entire way.  This would be the second trip with just her and I, the last being the previous November along the West Fork of the Gila River, where the temperature dropped to 10 F at night, and Alex and I fell down in the river during one of our crossings.

After the 192 mile drive late Friday evening, Alex and I camped at Forks Campground only three miles from the trailhead.  We planned to sleep in our SUV the first night, after I discovered the previous winter that the back area was large enough for me to stretch out and sleep during post staff duty at Fort Bliss.  Though it cooled off outside, the car was hot because of driving for four hours.  Eventually we opened the windows to cool off, and eventually we went to sleep around midnight.

The road up to Gila Cliff Dwellings and the forks of the Gila River is peculiar --- it dead ends at the Gila Wilderness, which requires a long, winding driver from either Mimbres to the southeast (best route) or a 2 1/2 hour, 45 mile drive up Route 15.  We came through Mimbres this time, which requires driving over the Black Mountains from I-25 and Truth or Consequences, which is slow, winding, and lots of cows standing in the road in the middle of the night.  Around one bend a dark brown calf was standing centered in our lane.  I backed up and bumped him with my front end until he left the roadway.  There were several others standing in the middle of the road later on in the drive.

The next morning Alex and I got up and quickly packed -- I brought separate sleeping bags and pads aside from the ones we were backpacking with to minimize the grief of re-packing our bags.  We reached the trailhead at 7:30 a.m.  The route would be challenging -- 6 miles up the Middle Fork, then 5 miles up Little Bear Canyon and over the mountains to reach back to the car.  Our goal was to find a nice river-side campsite at the end of the first 6 miles.  We backpacked overnight on the East Fork back in May, when the area was still suffering from the drought -- still plenty of water, but the vegetation was more like late fall -- dry grasses and no flowers.  This weekend, however, the banks of the river were like a jungle and the water was high -- much more challenging than I planned, especially for Alex.  The flowers on along the river were amazing, and everywhere.

Sacred Datura

After the first 1/2 mile we walked by hot springs, with a small trough running out of the side of the embankment leading to a pool surrounded with stones by visitors to create a bath that wasn't as scalding hot as the water running through the trough.  Alex was overwhelmed by this, which really helped sell the backpacking idea over camping next the car, which I'm slowly working at winning her over to understand the benefits of.  For the next 5+ miles, we crossed the Middle Fork over 20 times, normally knee deep and in one instance, waist-deep for me.  After several crossings I let Alex scout the river herself and pick the crossing site, and she started crossing alone.  During the first six miles we passed two horsemen, and after establishing camp saw three other pairs -- one couple returning from an attempt to reach Jordan Hot Springs two miles further upriver, two men backpacking further upriver, and a couple who camped across the last fording site from our campsite at the foot of Little Bear Canyon.  The walls of the Middle Fork canyon rose several hundred feet in the air and the canyon became narrower as we continued on.  Eventually we reached the trail junction and crossed the river once more before picking a campsite.

Alex at one of several river crossings.

Alex at the hot springs.

Ted during deeper river crossing.

After setting up camp, Alex and I went swimming in the river.  We came back to camp and Alex slept for two hours.  We returned to the river later and swim again, but got caught in a thunderstorm and ended up hiding out under some trees along the riverbank.  We returned and prepared for dinner.  After that, we gathered wood for about an hour (there's no shortage of wood in this area, just make sure you bring a bow saw) and sat around the fire for a couple of hours before going to sleep -- most of the conversation around the fire is similar to the last trip - convincing Alex that nothing is going to attack us in our sleep.

Alex wading near campsite.

The Middle Fork near campsite.

Alex eating dinner at the campsite.

The next morning we filtered some water, ate breakfast and broke camp.  Shortly thereafter, we headed up Little Bear Canyon for the hike out of the Middle Fork, over the high country, and back down to the West Fork, where we would walk 1/2 mile back to the Trailhead along the road.  The small canyon was narrow and rocky, and had a small stream trickling most of its length before coming out to the mountainside.  After the first two miles, we began to switchback up a desert mountainside before reaching a high point with lots of meadow and pine trees.  On the descent down to the West Fork, we passed through much of the fire area that consumed this part of the wilderness May-July (we saw this fire burning while hiking along the East Fork in May, ten miles as the crow flies).

Alex in Little Bear Canyon.

Eventually we made it down the other side and walked back to the Gila Cliff Dwellings Visitor Center.  I left Alex there with the packs while I walked another 1/4 mile to get the car.  Outside the visitor center were several hummingbird feeders with about a 100 hummingbirds, buzzing around like angry bees.

Alex in high country between the Middle and West Fork Canyons.

It was a short but incredible trip.  Alex reached a milestone -- back-to-back long hikes and carried her pack the entire way along a difficult route.  Definitely worth the drive.