Monday, February 8, 2010

Upper Gallinas- Gila National Forest


We camped at Upper Gallinas along the Emory Pass corridor in the Black Range in October. It's probably the fourth or fifth time we've stayed there. The " official " campground is an unattractive gravel parking lot with a few tables and fire rings. If you cross the creek, you will find a much nicer,wooded, dispersed area with four or so spots for small trailers or tents. The stars are always beautiful out here. It was already getting down into the 20's at night, so there were no other campers at our campground, and only a couple of others in the 5 campgrounds along the recreation corridor( Wright's Cabin, Iron Creek, Railroad Canyon, Upper and Lower Gallinas). We didn't do a lot of hiking although we've probably hiked every trail in this area a couple times at least. Instead we just explored some old roads in the morning and drove out to the Middle Fork of the Gila River in the afternoon and did the short walk to the hot spring. Thinking about this trip, I feel a little sad now. Our little Cairn Terrier, Bonnie, was with us as usual. She was mostly blind and deaf the last year or so of her life, yet as recently as the  June, she was hiking in the Pecos Wilderness and hunting the myriad chipmunks at the Jack's Creek Campground. She had been getting unwilling about wilderness hikes for awhile,but she seemed particularly stubborn this trip and was carried much of the time. I was thinking this may be the last time she should come with us. As it turns out it was her last camping trip, she died 2 months later . She was nearly 15 years old.IMPORTANT UPDATE: The road and the camping spots across the creek, as well as all of Lower Gallinas have been officially closed since  the Silver Fire(June,2013).

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