18 Nov Hiking Little Bear & Gila Middle Fork Canyons

Sunday Oct 15 2023

We spent a lazy morning with Mike, Brian, Olivia and their two dogs Roxie & Quinn discussing our hiking options, making breakfast and warming up under the early New Mexico sunshine. We finally settled on a loop hike recommended to us by two different people that featured Little Bear and Gila Middle Fork canyons, and ended with a natural hot springs 1 mile from the finish. Since we had two vehicles, we were able to park one car at the starting trailhead and one car at the finish, cutting out a mile of the 10.8mile trail.

With a bluebird sky, we began the hike at 11am, tackling the first 2 sunny miles uphill before we began a long 8-mile descent down river. Our beading sweat was rewarded with the only distant-views we’d get the whole hike, and soon enough we were descending down to Little Bear Canyon. The trail quickly found the spring fed flow and we meandered into a tightening slot canyon. The walls towered and enclosed above us for the next dramatic mile, until the trail met up with the Middle Fork of the Gila River.

Not even quite halfway through the hike, the trail began criss-crossing the river and soon we gave up attempting to keep our feet dry, but luckily it was a balmy 85 degrees and the cool river water was a frequent relief for our hot feet. We stopped for a 30-minute lunch break around the halfway point, scarfing down sandwiches and burritos while sitting on patches of soft, giant Mullen plants and listening to the river.

The Middle Fork Canyon was filled with golden cottonwood trees and huge white sycamores. The river crossings became so numerous we gave up counting, estimating something around 30 or 40 times heading into the river by the finish. Most crossings were ankle-deep but a couple times the trail met the river just upstream from a beaver dam, leading us into knee- or even thigh-deep slow moving water. Each crossing had us laughing more and more, as our repeated shouts of “A-O RIVER” echoed again and again.

Finally around 5pm, we found the hot springs, giving us both a final respite and cue we were only 1 mile from the finish. Despite the sinking sun we stayed at the hot pools for almost an hour, having the whole place to ourselves and wrapping up just as some new dippers arrived for their turn in the springs.

The sun was just barely below the western Black mountains of the Gila Wilderness at 6:20pm, finishing our 10.8 mile hike at just over 7 hours. What an amazing day!