Author and
Trip Leader: Dennis Brandt
Participants: Bill
Priedhorsky, Marilyn Yeamans, Arnold Wise, Tianshu Li, Francesco
Grilli, Cathy Grastataro, Jim Kron, Jeri Sullivan, and Dennis Brandt
Photo
Galleries: by Dennis Brandt click
here, and Francesco Grilli click
here
I
had some goals in mind for this trip. Avoid the heat over the
Memorial Day weekend. Get away from crowds. Go some place new. Heat
wasn't a problem - it snowed. There were virtually no other people.
We saw places we had never been before and discovered that the Gila
wilderness is a delightful & beautiful place.
This
trip illustrates that unpleasant weather need not spoil a trip, if
you are willing to make a few adjustments.
On
Thursday evening, May 22, our group of nine backpackers drove to
Socorro and spent the night at the Super 8 Motel to shorten the next
day's drive to the Whitewater Canyon trailhead near Glenwood NM. We
had another 180 miles to drive on Friday morning. Most of us ate
dinner at the Socorro Springs Brew Pub where the beer and food are
both quite good. On Friday morning we headed out at 6:30. There was
a distinct chill in the air and a threat of rain. Marilyn and Jeri
gave Cathy and Jim a bogus restaurant name while the rest of use
headed for the 50s style El Camino Restaurant for breakfast. We
nearly ditched them, but Cathy and Jim caught on to the ruse and
stuck to us like glue from that point on. Tianshu had "pigs in a
blanket" for the first time.
Our
convoy of three cars headed west across the Plains of San Augustin,
encountering sheets of rain and ever-darkening skies. Shortly after
the town of Datil, we encountered snow. By the time we reached Horse
Springs it was a full-blown snowstorm, 33 degrees, and about 4" of
snow on the road. As we descended from the high country around
Reserve toward Glenwood the temperature rose into the upper 30s and
the snow turned to rain. The ranger at the Glenwood ranger station
showed us a weather forecast that called for low temperatures in the
mid 20s in the higher elevations of the Mogollon Mountains, where we
were headed, and continuing rain and snow for the rest of the
Friday. None of us had packed for such cold conditions and decided
that it would be prudent to postpone the backpacking for a day, find
lodging in Glenwood and go for a day-hike on Friday. The ranger
suggested we hike Mineral Creek canyon. Lodging is sparse in
Glenwood and for us consisted of a cabin, a travel trailer, and
rooms in two pretty run-down motels. The best place was the Double-T
Homestead on Whitewater Road where Tianshu, Francesco, Marilyn, and
Jeri stayed. The proprietor is a very helpful woman who assisted in
finding lodging for the five of us that couldn't be accommodated at
her place.
Friday afternoon's hike in Mineral Creek Canyon was a delightful
experience. The canyon is a wonderland of water-sculpted,
lichen-encrusted volcanic rock. There is plenty of evidence of gold
and silver mining activity from the late 19th century. The canyon
bottom has beautiful sycamore groves and the stream must be crossed
or waded on slippery rocks many times before reaching the upper
narrows. We saw a Painted Redstart (bird) that was performing an
impressive mating display, plus lots of wild flowers. Everyone felt
that this was a truly beautiful hike. Even Jeri, who scraped her
knee pretty badly and later poked the same knee full of cactus
spines, felt that this was a wonderful hike. Later that afternoon we
hiked to the little-known San Francisco River hot springs, just
south of Glenwood for a relaxing soak. Unfortunately, we only found
some pretty pathetic muddy warm pools on the riverside. Being
intrepid mountaineers we made the best of this sorry situation, but
I won't elaborate.
Saturday the nine of us met in Marilyn and Jeri's cabin at the
Double-T for breakfast before driving to the catwalk trailhead where
we started our 7.3 mile hike (starting elevation about 5100', ending
elevation at Tennessee Meadow about 7500'). The first mile of
Whitewater Creek Canyon is narrow, vertical walled, and choked with
giant boulders. It can only be traveled by way of the catwalk that
traverses the lower canyon. The lower canyon is very scenic, with
clear water cascading from one pool to the next, alternately passing
over and under huge boulders. No wonder this is a popular tourist
attraction. The catwalk scenery impressed everyone. After the
catwalk the serious backpacking began with 1.3 miles of hiking on a
well-maintained but hilly trail along the north bank of Whitewater
Creek. Where the South Fork of Whitewater Creek joins Whitewater
Creek (mile 2.3) we had to remove boots and wade across the icy
Whitewater Creek. The trail up the South Fork had not been
maintained so we encountered many blown down trees. There were also
numerous tricky stream crossings over the beautiful South Fork creek
for the next five miles. Trout could be seen darting about in the
pools. Old-growth pines of huge size could be seen along the entire
length of this canyon and the wild flowers were abundant. It was
simply gorgeous. The weather remained cool throughout the day and we
only saw two other people. When we finally reached camp at Tennessee
Meadow, everyone was ready to drop their pack. This wasn't an easy
hike. There were patches of snow from the previous day's storm at
camp. Bill caught some trout while the rest of us set up our tents
and prepared dinner. Francesco and Tianshu started a campfire that
provided welcome warmth before we retired to bed that night in our
summer-weight sleeping bags. The overnight temperature was in the
upper 30s - cold enough that most people were pretty chilly that
night.
On
Sunday, Bill and Arnold spent the day fishing while working their
way back down the South Fork to a new camp a short distance above
Whitewater Creek. The rest of us attempted to climb Grouse Mountain
(10,135') from Tennessee Meadow. After a couple of miles of hiking
we encountered ever-increasing amounts of snow on the trail and a
great deal of deadfall, which slowed us down. We needed to be back
at camp by 3:00 p.m. to finish packing and start our move down
canyon to join Bill and Arnold, so we turned back about a mile short
of Grouse Mountain. Jeri found a nice site with good views for our
lunch break. We packed up and hiked about four miles downstream
where Bill and Arnold had established our Sunday camp. They had both
done well with their trout fishing so everyone had trout with Sunday
dinner. It was just delicious. There was a wonderful ice-cold
bathing pool just downstream from our Sunday campsite with lots of
yellow columbine flowers. With the gradually warming weather and
lower elevation, this was a very comfortable night for camping.
On
Monday we hiked out to the Whitewater/Catwalk trailhead with
temperatures rising to 80 degrees. Everyone found the relatively
short walk (about 3 miles) to be surprisingly difficult. After
loading cars and stopping for showers at the Double-T, the party
split up for the drive home. Cathy and Jim stopped at the Very Large
Array on the way home and said it was very interesting. We all met
again for a late lunch/early dinner in Socorro before driving back
to Los Alamos, arriving around 7:30.
The
trip was a great success and it provided a small sample of the many
delights that the Gila Wilderness of southern New Mexico has to
offer. I intend to visit the Gila again, probably for a longer
adventure in the future.
