10 Jul relaxing with empty canyons in the Western Gila Wilds
Friday May 24th – Monday May 27th 2024
Aaron and I left the badlands of western New Mexico for the green mountains of the Gila Wilderness at the start of the famously busy Memorial Day holiday weekend. We arrived at the Cosmic Campground by late afternoon: a Dark Sky free campground perched on a wide hillside, miles and miles from any major city lights. The campground was full but there were a myriad of dispersed campsites wide open scattered through the surrounding area. We picked a spot with nice views and few neighbors to catch some stargazing for Friday and Saturday nights.
On Saturday morning, we took a drive up the narrow, winding paved road to the historic 1880’s mining town of Mogollon. The town is now only open summer weekends, but once held thousands of miners extracting gold and silver.
After hanging out the cafe with a live band and a green chile cheeseburger, we toured the local museum which was one of the most fascinating DIY museums of all time!
By Saturday afternoon we were bound for Cooney Canyon; a 2.5-mile hike up a slot canyon just north of the Mogollon mining canyon. We arrived to see 2 other cars parked at the trailhead at the end of a dirt road, but passed the other hikers soon after we began, leaving the canyon to ourselves!
The soaring canyon walls above us displayed some amazing rock formations as the canyon quickly narrowed less than .25 mile from the start. The views were so incredible our pace was slowed with jaw-drops and stream crossings, so much so that we only finished the first mile of the trail after a whole hour! We’ll definitely be back to explore this trail again!
Sunday morning Aaron and I got an early start for the Catwalks National Recreation Trail. The canyon featured a water pipe built by a late 19th century mining town upriver, and steel catwalks were installed back in the 1930’s. This canyon was even bigger, narrower and more impressive than Cooney Canyon!
We paid the $2 entry fee and began the loop well before the crowds at 8am. We continued past the main loop upriver until we found an amazing, empty perfect dipping spot in the ice cold water!
After the catwalks we stopped in the small town of Glenwood to check out the offerings: The Golden Girls Cafe, an antique store and the classic general store / gas station. The Golden Girls Cafe was too cute to pass up for a cinnamon roll! Fresh baked that morning!
We toured the free Bighorn Campground right off the main road and decided to post up there for the night — Sunday night on a holiday weekend and we were the only ones at this free campground! It was nice and shaded and had a wash to stroll up for exploring. The following morning we enjoyed some leisurely time at the campground before our next stop of Silver City, on the way deeper into the Gila Wilderness!
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