Turkey Creek Hot Springs Nov 16-17

We had a beautiful drive through Silver City and on to the tiny outpost of Gila. Here the Gila River exits its valley in the remote Gila Wilderness onto more open farmlands. We drove a bumpy dirt road which wound up and over a ridge on the side of the valley before dropping in. Where the road ended we began hiking.

Despite the description of the trail or route to the hot springs being remote and difficult, which actually found it to be an easy 4 mile hike. It took us just over 2 hours to get there at a relaxed pace. On the way we spied some neat veins of hydrothermal green fluorite along the Gila River. We only had to cross the knee-deep Gila River once, then headed up the wide streambed of Turkey Creek. Fall colors were still out in full-force. Two quick miles up Turkey Creek the trail disappears and the creek narrows. A few shallow wades and lots of boulder scrambling was the typical terrain here. A water ouzel led us up the stream for about half a mile before disappearing. We arrived at the hot springs to find a group of four who kindly told us where the other good campsite was. Our campsite was a great spot- sheltered in the trees with perfect sitting and cooking rocks and about a stone's throw away from the upper hot springs.

 

The hot springs are in a particularly scenic stretch of the river. All told I found at least a dozen hot water sources emerging from rock directly or filtering up through the streambed gravels. Only a few of these were suitable for improvement into soaking pools. We spent a full moon night in the upper pool. The hot spot in the pool shifted which sometimes meant some abrupt relocating was necessary! There was about four pools along the lower springs ending in a short waterfall into a small plunge pool. It was obvious there had been recent floods which shifted vast quantities of sediment in this little creek. After a pleasant night's sleep and morning we packed up and headed back the way we came. Sara decided to try a natural rock slide she spied on the way up. I was impressed it actually looked a lot better than I thought.

When we got back to the fluorite deposits on the other side of the Gila River we decided to drop packs and look around for a bit. There were a couple scree slopes nearby that we searched. We were amazed at how many excellent pieces of green and purple fluorite we found with very little effort. I'd have loved to climb further up the hillside and explore the source but we were short of time. After high-grading our findings to those we were actually willing to carry, we walked back to the car. On our way out I had a quick run up Brock Canyon to find its three hot springs up there. I thought it was a pretty neat place and the soaking looked to be just as good as Turkey Creek. We drove back the back way around the Gila via Datil which was nice variety.

City of Rocks Nov 15-16

On our way to the Gila Wilderness we planned to break up the drive by camping at the tiny City of Rocks State Park. The forecast was for a bit of rain and it was certainly stormy and windy by the time we arrived. Just in case, we chose a campsite beneath a natural rock arch with the hope that it provided some semblance of shelter. Sure enough a couple hours after we had the tent set up we had our first wave of the storm hit us. Heavy winds slammed rain horizontally into our tent which was struggling to stay upright. Sheets of water slid over the ground and under the tent such that much of the floor was soaked. Thunderous lightning ripped directly overhead. It was extremely intense. During a short break in the storm I got out, assessed the damage, used every stake we had to sturdy the tent and then quickly crawled back into the warm sleeping bag. Although other storms hit us, ear plugs helped mute them and we managed to sleep.

In the morning we spent a little time walking around, through and on top of the ignimbrite rock spires. Although reminiscent of Joshua Tree, most spires are less than 20-30 ft high and the boulder garden is not extensive at all. It's possible to walk from one side to the other in about a minute. Virtually the whole place is a campground which kind of takes away from the exploration of it but it does mean there are some very neat campsites tucked between the boulders. It was an interesting place worth visiting and from the look of it had some pretty decent bouldering. After our brief survey, we continued on to the Gila.

Ladron Peak Nov 10

Sara and I went for a short hike to the top of the dark and lonely Ladron Mountains north of Socorro. These seldom visited mountains (really just an isolated peak) of granite rise over 3000 ft above the flat desolation of the Rio Grande Rift. We were told it could be a long and difficult hike so we got an early start. Despite some pretty vague directions, we followed a reasonably well-worn trail the whole way to the highest peak. We avoided the cactus and yucca without too much difficulty and climbed steeply to the ridge. Once at the ridge the fun really began. To gain the main summit required traversing about a quarter-mile of false peaks and narrow ridges with steep drop-offs. We made it to the top (9200') without incident, took a couple photos, then returned the way we came. It took us about 6 hours round trip at a very leisurely pace.