A Hike Into the Rugged Gila Wilderness
A SPECTACULAR HIKE UP RAIN CREEK CANYON INTO THE RUGGED GILA WILDERNESS IN SOUTHWEST NEW MEXICO The Gila Is Calling and Again I Must Go … – For All Who Have Been There – THE GILA WILDERNESS The Gila Wilderness was designated and set aside as the first Wilderness Area in the U.S. Forest Service […]
A Mid-Spring Hike Into the Gila Wilderness
A MID-SPRING HIKE UP THE SHERIDAN CORRAL TRAIL INTO THE GILA WILDERNESS — A FASCINATING JOURNEY THROUGH A LANDSCAPE BORN OF ANCIENT SUPER-VOLCANO ERUPTIONS TO OBSERVE THE FOREST’S RECOVERY FROM THE GREAT WHITEWATER BALDY COMPLEX FOREST FIRE OF 2012 THE SHERIDAN CORRAL TRAIL DAY HIKE (GILA NATIONAL FOREST TRAIL #181) The Sheridan Corral […]
A Hike Up Sacaton Creek
HIKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE ANCIENT ONES IN THE MOGOLLON MOUNTAINS OF THE GILA WILDERNESS A Thanksgiving Holiday Hike Up Sacaton Creek in the Mogollon Mountains of Southwest New Mexico THE MOGOLLON MOUNTAINS: ANCIENT LAND BORN OF FIRE Just a few miles north of Casitas de Gila Guesthouses, the majestic Mogollon Mountains rise over […]
WINTER & SPRING BIRDING IN THE GILA COUNTRY
WINTER AND SPRING BIRDS AT CASITAS DE GILA GUESTHOUSES Along Bear Creek, at the Edge of the Gila Wilderness in Southwest New Mexico THE GILA NATIONAL FOREST – EXTREME DIVERSITY IN BIRD HABITAT The Gila National Forest is vast — comprising some 3.3 million acres — and pristine, with roughly one-quarter of its acreage officially […]
THE BEAUTY OF A MID-WINTER HIKE IN SOUTHWEST NEW MEXICO
EXPERIENCING JANUARY LIGHT AND SHADOW ALONG MINERAL CREEK Southwest New Mexico: A Hiker’s Paradise One of the great things about Southwestern New Mexico is that one has access to incredible hiking opportunities almost 365 days a year. With over two-thirds of the landscape open to public access, the diversity of available hiking in this […]
A HIKE UP LITTLE DRY CREEK IN THE GILA FOREST
A THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY HIKE UP LITTLE DRY CREEK IN THE MOGOLLON MOUNTAINS OF THE GILA NATIONAL FOREST IN SOUTHWEST NEW MEXICO Finding Nature’s Treasure Where Early Miners and Prospectors Toiled A HIKE FOR THE OVERINDULGENT The day after Thanksgiving dawned bright, crisp, and clear, absolutely perfect for walking off those over indulgences of the previous […]
FOREST FIRES & CYCLES OF NATURAL CHANGE IN THE GILA WILDERNESS
THE WHITEWATER-BALDY COMPLEX FIRE:LARGEST FOREST FIRE IN NEW MEXICO’S RECORDED HISTORY It was early on the afternoon of May 16, 2012 while taking the trash from Casitas de Gila Guesthouses to the Gila transfer station, that one first noticed the fire about 25 miles away to the northwest: two small columns of smoke drifting lazily […]
Hiking New Mexico’s Gila River
Hiking the Mogollon Box Trail — Gateway to the Gila Wilderness A short six miles upstream from the communities of Gila and Cliff, New Mexico, the Gila River exits the soaring mountains and rugged canyons of the Mogollon Range of the Gila Wilderness within the Gila National Forest to begin a more leisurely, meandering flow westward […]
A GLORIOUS HIKE in the Middle Box of the Gila River to a 1,000-year-old Swimming Hole Carved in the Ash-Flow Tuffs of the Schoolhouse Mountain Caldera
Two week ago, two of our good friends from County Kerry, Ireland, spent a few days with us at Casitas de Gila Guesthouses while touring the American West. At the time, the lightening-caused Whitewater-Baldy fire had been burning for two weeks in the heart of the Gila Wilderness some 20 miles to the northwest […]
