Best Places to Stay Near the Gila
BACKCOUNTRY TRAVELERS CAN PICK any spot and set up camp, although some of the more scenic sites are popular for a reason. When the water starts to feel warm as you walk along the Middle Fork of the…
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Category: Outdoors
Joe Saenz Makes Connections to the Land
H AVING RETURNED TO HIS ANCESTRAL lands almost 30 years ago, Joe Saenz shows people southwest New Mexico as his ancestors experienced it. Representing the Chiricahua Apache, who he believes are the…
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Find These Plants in the Gila
THE GILA NATIONAL FOREST lists 51 plant species and 16 insect species as being of “management concern,” meaning they rely on National Forest habitats for their survival or are potentially affected by…
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Five Gila Trails to Try
HAVING A VARIETY OF USABLE TRAILS is essential for experiencing the solitude that Aldo Leopold enjoyed, says Melissa Green, trails project coordinator of Gila Back Country Horsemen. “Keeping people…
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Guardian of the Gila
PERCHED IN A STEEL LOOKOUT tower on Mogollon Baldy, Sara Irving has kept eyes on the Gila Wilderness for 42 summers. A hike along the Continental Divide Trail in 1980 prompted her to apply for a…
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Find These Birds in the Gila
LOCATED AT THE NORTHERNMOST end of some birds’ range and the southernmost of others, the Gila Wilderness climbs from cactus-filled desert to steep, pine-covered peaks. Those features, combined with…
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Pinyon Jays Flourish in the Gila Forest
PINYON JAYS LIKE TO ANNOUNCE THEMSELVES with a chuckling kind of call, sung out while they fly overhead or settle into chatty flocks, often perched in the branches of the pine tree with which they…
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Quick Facts about the Gila Wilderness
755,000. Acres of the Gila National Forest administratively labeled as wilderness on June 3, 1924 1933. Year the original wilderness area was divided into the Gila and Aldo Leopold wildernesses, which…
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The History of the Gila Cliff Dwellings
“THIS WHOLE MOUNTAIN VALLEY wasn’t some wilderness nobody visited,” says Dana Dick, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument’s lead interpretive park ranger. “It was home to people. There’s evidence of…
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Meet Conservationist Luke Koenig
LUKE KOENIG’S CIRCUITOUS ROUTE from Maryland to Silver City included stops in several western states. While working with Wild Arizona, he regularly tuned in to the Gila Mimbres Community Radio Station…
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