A few weeks back, I finished my first big sewing project. This pack .
I'd been itching to take the pack out for a proper test-drive and last weekend the time finally presented itself. Initially hoping to do some recon for the Grand Enchantment Trail outside of the washed out and flooded town of Mogollon, I deferred to the closer Gila River for more time spent on the trail than in the car.
The route was simple but had enough unknowns to make things interesting. Park at the Nature Conservancy Parcel at the confluence of Mogollon Creek and the Gila River. Follow the river upstream to Turkey Creek, pick up the trail for 2 miles along Turkey Creek, then go off-trail for .5 miles to the hot springs. Overdose on the hot springs, pruny, smiling from relaxation then continue off-trail up to the confluence with Sycamore Canyon. Pick up trail to go up and over Skeleton Ridge and back down to the Turkey Creek trail below the hot springs. Back downstream along the river to the car and coffee at home. 22ish miles with plenty of off-trail river floodplain cursing. Gratefully, this already solid route got even more interesting at the trailhead.
As a woman was stepping into her car, she was quick to inform me that I wasn't starting at the typical location to access the hot springs. After she became confident that I knew what I was doing on the route, she shared a hint of a rough trail that would hop a ridge, and cut a few miles off of the river-walk. Since I was already running late and determined to make it to the hot springs before dark, I took her advice. Although there is a trail occassionally marked, the flooding last season really trashed the entire valley and tons of debris and washed out trail made the going frustratingly slow right out of the gate. It was beginning to seem like I should have just followed the river all the way. After an intuitive bushwack through a heinous, thorny wall of mesquite, I followed a subtle ridge which led to solid trail uphill. From this point on, there was solid trail to dump me out on the river. Shaded, wet, and green was how I was greeted by the river, reminding me of this environment of contrasts that we live in. For the moment I preferred this green world on river's bottom than the brown, dry, exposed ridge I was just on.
Smiling, giddy, and occasionally cursing meant that I had found good hiking along the river. Constantly navigating to find the least-worst path through the flood debris, river cobbles, and awkward thigh-deep entrances/exits from the banks of the river reminded me how fun it is to hike off trail in wilderness.
Looking at a topo map, it became apparent that I could bushwack up out of the river to get on Turkey Creek Rd to run a bit further upstream. Time was getting tight and the views would be huge. This was a good decision.
Barely finding the trail-less turnoff up Turkey Creek before nightfall, it was nice to see rocks and logs creating pools to catch the hot water. Not a soul around, I soaked for 2 hours as the moon lit the canyon walls. No shelter in my pack, I picked a sandy spot along the creek to call my cowboy camping home for the night.
Rex Johnson hit it dead-on in "Fly Fishing in Southern New Mexico" when he said that lower Turkey Creek gives no indication of how incredible the upper part of the drainage is. Sadly, I didn't see any trout to give me the excuse to extend my tenkara rod aside from in one unbelievable pool. One day I'd love to hike this creek all the way up to its headwaters some 15 miles upstream to get to know it better.
At Sycamore Creek there was again trail, while things simultaneously getting hot as it climbed Skeleton Ridge. Now on runnable trail, it was really fun to see what it's like to run with overnight gear. In general, this trip was an excellent reminder of the limits that can be blurred with fastpacking gear. 35 mile days are now completely reasonable into the backcountry, also opening up access to remote fishing holes, all the while not being away from home for too obscenely long.
Back down on Turkey Creek, the world was again green with trail less rocky.
Once back on the Gila River, the area has been thrashed by local ATVers. 2-tracks split everywhere, making navigation slightly more difficult than it really should be.
Back on Turkey Creek Rd, I was elated to find the Sawyer Mini water filter that had found a way out of my hipbelt pocket the previous afternoon. Sadly, the only truck to drive to the TH that morning managed to run over it. The filter didn't look to be in that bad of shape really, but still leaked like a sieve when I tried to filter water. The rest of the way, I'd be drinking unfiltered Gila River water. I'm sure that I've drank worse water before, but being downstream of the cattle ranching on the East Fork didn't make me all that confident in the "dip and sip" route this time.
