The Gila Wilderness

I went on a 4-day, roughly 38-mile trek through the Gila Wilderness. The loop provided me with exposure to a variety of terrain and environments that I tremendously enjoyed.

The first day went up Little Creek. This was a wide valley (I won't say canyon, although that's what they call them in these parts), with grassy fields and a mixed ponderosa pine, pinon, and juniper forest. The creek was largely wet, although there were extensive dry patches, including the place where I made camp. The funny thing was, when the wind died down in the evening, I heard running water, and determined that about 150 feet up the trail from my camp there was water. The first night was cold, and it was below freezing by morning (as evidenced by formation of ice crystals in my water bottles).

The second day had the most elevation gain, as it included an ascent of Granite Peak, a roughly 8900-foot mountain. I had to climb about 1000 feet with full pack, up to the spur trail that ascends the peak, and then another 1000 feet up on the spur trail. The upper half of the trail had a fair amount of snow on it, which made for sometimes exciting hiking.

The descent from Granite Peak returned down the spur trail, and then descended into Turkey Creek Canyon (which was much more canyon-like in nature than Little Creek Canyon). The relative steepness of the canyon walls, while not sheer, made finding a camp site a bit of a challenge.

The third day also involved climbing up about 1000 feet to a large plateau. This plateau was beautiful -- it was a vast expanse of ponderosa pine forest, extending for 100s of feet in all directions. It was like walking in a giant natural temple.

The last day was a relatively brief effort, since it involved mostly descent from the plateau back to the car.

All in all, a quite enjoyable experience.