Gila Wilderness, February 1998
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Mark, Scott & Aaron in river-crossing gear
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Wednesday March 18 - Houston to El Paso
There is an area just northwest of El Paso Texas, across the New Mexico border of course, called the Gila Wilderness.  The Wilderness Act of 1964 designated certain Forest Service primitive areas as wilderness, and Gila was the first area to be preserved under the new government status.  The area is named after the infamous Gila Monster - for more information on this interesting creature, click here.

Scott, Aida, and I flew to El Paso from Houston, and arrived in early evening.  Mark was scheduled to connect to our Houston flight from Chicago.  Unfortunately, his flight from Chicago was delayed by weather, and he ended up spending the night stuck in the Houston airport!  Mark used his sleeping bag and camping equipment to spend a night on the airport cathedral floor.  Meanwhile, Scott, Aida, and I found a hotel on the outskirts of El Paso, had dinner and a few beers, and went to bed. 

Thursday March 19 - El Paso to Gila Wilderness, Start of Hike
Mark successfully flew from Houston to El Paso the following morning, and we picked him up just before noon at the airport. We headed west for the Gila Wilderness, which lies just north of Silver City, about 3 hours from the El Paso airport.  The first two hours of the drive was through the desert plains west of El Paso, but the last hour was through scattered pine forest of the Elk Mountains just south of the wilderness area.  We entered the wilderness area and arrived at the Gila visitor center in the late afternoon.  We planned to spend three days and two nights hiking up the Gila River, which passed through a deep canyon gorge with towering walls on either side.  We browsed the small visitor center, registered for the hike with the local backcountry ranger, and contemplated if it was too late to start.  Darkness was only about an hour away, and we still had to assemble our gear and backpacks - always a time consuming process.  We decided that we would pack up quickly and hike into the canyon as far as possible, to at least get a head start for the following day.  Spring had not yet arrived in the canyon, and the trees still had not budded any leaves.  The temperature was cool (60's during the day, 40's or colder during the night), and we were prepared with good layered gear.  We hiked in through a small dry slot canyon, and passed another hiker heading out after a few days on the Gila.  He commented on the high water levels on the Gila, which left us wondering what was in store for us ahead.  Wed continued to the end of the small canyon, and emerged on the Gila river just as the sun was setting.

We all had headlamps, which we donned as we proceeded north alongside the banks of the river.  We knew that the hike would require several river crossings, but we did not realize how cold the water would be, and how fast it would be running due to recent rains.  We came to the first crossing just after dark, and contemplated the best way to cross safely.  Scott started across first, alone, and slipped about halfway.  He rolled once in the river, but stayed his feet, and managed to propel himself another 10 feet to the other bank.  We reconsidered our crossing strategy, and Mark, Aida, and I decided to cross together - we successfully made it without any falls.  We hiked for another twenty  minuets, then decided to make camp.  The river crossing had significantly chilled everyone, and we were ready for a warm tent and dinner.

Friday March 20 - Gila Hike Day 2
We woke up early in the morning, made breakfast, and started hiking up the canyon.  We spent the morning crossing from one side of the river to the other, and made at least 25 more crossings before lunch.  Some were only knee-deep, while others were waist deep and fast flowing.  We used various crossing strategies, depending on the distance and depth - our most safe method was to hold hands and create a long daisy chain across the river.  The canyon was shaded by the towering walls, and  for the majority of the day the temperatures did not rise above 60F.  The water was freezing cold, and our legs felt like wooden stumps after each chilly crossing.  But, the canyon was gorgeous, which made up completely for the discomfort of the hike.

We stopped in a sunny spot for a lunch of soup and sandwiches, and started again up the river.  Towards the end of the afternoon we found a hot spring along the banks of the river.  The spring had emptied into a crystal clear pool, of perfect size, temperature, and depth for wading and relaxing.  We spent at least 30 minutes enjoying the surprise luxury in the backcountry - a well-earned relief from the cold river.  We packed up and continued the hike, fully warmed and satisfied by the springs.

After an hour we reached the end of the canyon, and looked up at about 1000 feet of switchbacks climbing up and out of the canyon.  We decided that we did not have enough light left or physical energy to make it up and out of the canyon, and we decided to camp in an open space alongside the river.  We enjoyed what was left of the afternoon sun, made dinner, played with Marks' infrared binoculars, and went to sleep.  Some images from the day:
 
Pumping water in the afternoon sun
Scott enjoying the warm relief

Saturday March 21 - Gila Hike Day 3
We woke up early and found the canyon still frozen.  Mark found particular pleasure in exhibiting his sweaty shorts, which had frozen into a hard flat board while hanging from a tree during the night.  Luckily the skies were clear, and it had not snowed.  We packed up the cold camp, and started the switchback hike up and out of the canyon.  We were leaving the canyon on a northward (shady) facing slope, and significant snow still covered the trail.  We skirted alongside the trail at certain points where it was steep and icy, and Mark did a great job of helping everyone around the slick corners and edges.  The climb up and out was approximately 1500 vertical feet, and it took us a little over an hour and a half.  Not a bad pace for the tough trail conditions.  Life at the top of the canyon was completely different - the temperature was at least 20 degrees warmer, and terrain was much more desert-like.  It felt like we were hiking at 5000 feet in Big Bend National Park.  We welcomed the warm change, and followed the easy desert trail.  We stopped again for a lunch of sandwiches, and then spent the afternoon hiking back to the car.

We arrived back at the car in the mid-afternoon, unpacked our gear, and debated what to do for the remainder of the day.  We tried to stop by the Gila Cliff Dwelling National Monument nearby, but we found that it had just closed when we arrived.  We were not really disappointed, as we felt more like relaxing, finding a shower, and making a good meal.  We decided to stick around the wilderness area for the rest of the evening, and camp at a car campground nearby.  We stopped near the Gila visitor center to walk through some of the local ruins and to look at several wall paintings.  I also stopped at a pay phone to call my parents and wish my mother a happy birthday (today).  We bought food at a local grocery store and made a good dinner at the campsite, and contemplated where to go the following day.  We finally decided to visit the White Sands National Monument, about ninety minutes north of the Gila Wilderness.  We drank a few beers and relaxed during the evening at the campsite.  Some images from the day:
 
In front of the wall paintings
Perusing the ruins

Sunday March 22 - White Sands National Monument, Return to Houston
We woke up early and drove north towards the dunes, and arrived in the late morning.  We entered the park, and drove through the bleach white dunes.  It felt like we were driving around a glacier, and sunglasses were essential in the desert sun.  The temperature was cool now, but probably scorched the entire area during the later summer months.  There was little vegetation, except for the occasional weed or desert shrub sticking out of the side of a white dune.  There were no roads in the park, just flattened drives between the dunes.  We parked the car and ventured out onto the dunes for a closer look.  The dunes were powdery soft, with little or no plant life or other debris.  We tried jumping off some of the edges of the dunes, and found that the landing was soft even from higher jumps.  This led to a jumping competition, which kept us busy for at least an hour.  The competition was close, but in the end Scott was the clear jumping champion.  After exhausting our jumping capabilities, we walked around the dunes for a bit longer, and then headed back to the car.  After thirty minutes of trying to get all powder out of our clothes and underwear, we headed out of the park.

We drove towards El Paso, and tried to get back early enough to look at Hueco Tanks, a climbing area about an hour east of the airport.  We arrived too late (to Mark's dismay), and were not able to make it to Hueco.  After a brief lunch at an Appleby's near the airport, we returned the rental and headed to the terminal.  This time there were no flight delays or cancellations, and we all made it back to our home cities on time.  Another great weekend hiking trip!
 
Mark jumping
Aaron jumping
Scott, the jumping champion
Aida on the dunes

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