Siwash Report post Posted April 14, 2009 Anyone ever hiked in to the headwaters of the Gila River? A little online research says it is about a 30 miles round trip from the national forest trail head north of Silver City...but a little advice from anyone who has done the trip would be greatly appreciated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
huntswnm Report post Posted April 14, 2009 I don't have any first hand knowledge of the trip, but heres what I can give you....... The only thing I can recomend is a book called Gila Descending. The author is Dutch Salmon, one of the Game and Fish Commisioners that lives here in Silver City. The book is about is journey from the Headwaters around Mogollon Baldy all the way down towards the town of Cliff where he then rafts into AZ. One other suggestion is that I have seen a two different books that describe in detail most all of the trails in the Gila Wilderness and the Aldo Leopold Wilderness. You would obviously need the one for the Gila. I know that the local bike shop, Gila Hike and Bike, carries them for about $17 dollars a piece. If you want the names of them I can stop by tomorrow and get them for you. I have looked through them and they look like they would be very helpful for someone who is exploring the trails for the first time. Let me know if I can help some more. Jeff Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Report post Posted April 14, 2009 I've spent some time in the "headwaters". The Gila has 3 forks so your description is to vague to know where your looking at. Any one of the forks are worth backpacking as are the tributaries into the West fork. Give me more of an idea of what you are wanting and I'll help you out if I know the country. Kevin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Siwash Report post Posted April 15, 2009 Thanks for the tips guy! Jeff: I'm pretty sure I can utilize the UofA library to find good books on the wilderness, or our local map store, thanks for offering. Kevin: Is the Cliff Dwellings center the best place to start most hikes to the headwaters? Personally, I'd be most interested in the best fork for fishing...I always pack in my 4 wt. rod. More than likely our party will be two couples, all experienced backpackers, and we will have 2-3 nights to devote to the trail. I think we would all like to get as close to the source of the river as possible...I looked at the FS website and it referenced Trail 151 along the West Fork. If you know the other numbers of trails I'd appreciate it. I will try to contact a ranger later this week. Adam Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hunter4life Report post Posted April 15, 2009 Starting at Willow Creek would put you closer to the headwaters. It would be a pretty long hike to the headwaters starting from the cliff dwellings. I don't think it could be done as a roundtrip in a 2-3 night trip if you also wanted to get in some fishing. Just for an example of distance on the ground vs. what it looks like on the map; if I remember correctly it is 14 miles from the cliff dwellings to He!!s Hole if you hike up the West fork on trail 151. I have had good fishing in both the middle and the west forks of the river, but it seems pretty variable from year to year. Some years are great and others have been pretty marginal. I have only caught rainbows and browns on the West fork, but on the middle fork there are smallmouth bass as well. Last year up pretty high on the middle fork my dad caught a gila trout. You could also look into fishing for them in some of the small side creeks up at the headwaters if you get a gila trout permit. Through my high school and college years my family would take a backpacking trip starting at the Cliff Dwellings every summer, and we always had great trips. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Report post Posted April 17, 2009 Adam, Sorry for the delay, I've been out of town. I can't find my Gila map that I keep in my office so I don't have any trail numbers handy. I'll get back to you on that. Jeff pretty well summed it up about the Cliff Dwellings. You can have some great trips from there but its a fair ways to the headwaters from there and it is much more crowded than the headwaters. I would suggest going in either at Willow Creek or Sandy Point. If you want to do a loop start at Willow Creek. You don't want to climb back up to Sandy Point, believe me! If you will have two cars (you mentioned two couples) I'd recommend parking one at Willow Creek and one at Snow Lake. I'd take the trail from Willow Creek to Iron Creek and fish up stream from the trail for Gila trout one day. Then continue through Turkey Feather Pass to the head of the West fork. You can fish up or down the West fork. The you could either climb out of the West fork (I'll get trail numbers) where Turkeyfeather canyon meet the West fork (easier climb) or go down the West fork to the trail that goes out to Lilly Park (brutal climb the first mile). Either way you would cross the mesa between the West and Middle fork and fish back up the Middle fork to Snow Lake. I would recommend at least 3 nights for this trip but it is a great trip for what it seems like you want. Kevin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
