Gila Wilderness

The Gila Wilderness was a complete surprise to Susan and me but we should know that our friend Roberta only goes to the best places.  This is an annual trip for the hiking group and we are so glad that we decided to come down south for the trip.

First we spent a wonderful couple of days in Tucson with our friends -- went to the Desert Museum and saw a free flight exhibit with the Harris Hawks.  It was just a beautiful up close view of the beautiful hawks.  Left the camera behind -- Boo hoo!  There were some great shots to be had.

We went to a birthday party for another friend who drove over from San Diego to go on the Gila hike.  That was fun and a lot of good food.

The Southwest food is really good -- forget any resemblance to walking into a mexican restaurant in Chattanooga -- no comparison.  

We drove from Tucson to Silver City New Mexico and then up into the Gila via highway 15 to the Wilderness Lodge which the group had totally rented.  The building is an old wooden school house and has sooo much character and is perfect for a large group.  The lady running the lodge is wonderful and cooked dinner and breakfast for the group.  

We drove 15 - 20 minutes up highway 15 to the TJ Corral parking lot and hiked the Little Bear Canyon trail.  It is about 4.5 miles to the first river crossing and then 2.5+ miles to a hot springs - 15 river crossings later and none of the crossings were less than above ankle deep and some just over my knees.  The Sycamores and Cottonwoods were in the fall yellow and the big cliffs and river were the backdrop.  The photos don't do justice to the beauty of the area.  

 Rock formations before we started into little bear canyon.

The start of Little Bear Canyon that ends at the first Gila River crossing.

The next four photos are in the canyon.  

 For scale of all this see the hiker in this photo.  We are weaving our way down the canyon.

Huge Sycamores - too large to get into one photo.

 This was a beautiful wall with the Gila right against it.  It was a huge wall and no way to get it top to bottom.

The hot pools at the turn around point were great!

Photos from the Wilderness Lodge -- a really good place to stay right along the river nearly in the Wilderness and with hot springs on the property.

 Saying goodbye at the door

 Front of the Lodge

 The old stove in the Kitchen

 Downstairs Hallway

 An upstairs bedroom

 Back Stairway to the kitchen.

 Upstairs bedroom

 These two photos are of the upstairs common area where two of our group slept -- four futons and a single bed in a corner.

 Plenty of books everywhere.

 From living room looking at bar, dining room and the kitchen beyond.

The Gila Cliff Dwellings which were just beyond the Little Bear Canyon trail head that we walked the day before.

 The Road Devil overlooking the Gila Wilderness.

The road out to Truth Or Consequences New Mexico.