Rim Spring (Forest Roads 4010L and 4010K) - Gila (Apache) National Forest

Old wooden trough at Rim Spring

Concrete block and rusty pipe at the spring

Late May and early June are a dreary time in the forests of western and southwestern New Mexico.  The parched, pale tufts of grass on the plains and between the trees seem without hope. The pines, both the standing dead and the living continue to dry out day by day until it seems that even massive ponderosas and Douglas-firs could be lit with a single cardboard match. The graying, bare downfall, which is everywhere, begs to carry flames acre after acre. If there aren't major fires happening already, dread permeates  every trip into the outdoors  because it appears as if they are all but inevitable. Winds blow continuously on overkill still trying to evaporate every molecule ( long gone, of course) of moisture left over from winter and early spring. The sound is sickening especially if there are already fires burning as we know they are fanning the flames to maximum potential. In the desert temperatures begin to hit 100 and in the mountains they climb upward as well sometimes reaching close to 90 even at 8000 feet.

Still we get out, because it is still our place. We did it last year and the years before, and we will do it in the years to come. It doesn't make sense, just like it has never made sense to me ( a public school employee) that we let kids out of school for their summer "vacation" at this most dreadful time of year, when the best course of action is to stay enveloped in climate controlled environments for as much time as possible.

We did the drive out to Rim Spring. We hiked, mostly in shade, and then picnicked. The spring was dry, of course, but it looks like it could seep a little at the end of winter or perhaps in fall after good summer rains. It's odd to look at a map of the northern Gila and see so many springs. It gives me a sense of excitement, false, I know, because many, probably most are just like this one.

 I continued to walk to the very end of road to take in views afforded by being at the very edge of the mesa, to the southeast, south and west of Bull Camp, Gallo and Gallita canyons and the mountains and mesas that surround them.

Mangas Mountain Fall Colors - Gila (Apache) National Forest

 

Mangas Mountain

FR 11, Mangas Mountain

Mangas Mountain

Horse Mountain

Horse Mountain

Horse Mountain

Horse Mountain

Oaks along North Fork Alamocito Creek

It seems that while staying at the cabin on Horse Mountain the nearest place to see aspens in relative abundance is on Mangas Mountain. Last October year we tried to get a peek at them in their fall color. There were plenty of aspens in  El Toro Canyon on the southeast side of the mountain but we were too early to see anything but green leaves.

We went out this time on the last weekend of October and we knew already the trees were going to be at their peak. Well, we didn't know for 100% sure, but we had real good feeling. So out we drove using the Patterson Canyon Road (County Road A 095) to access Forest Road 11 which goes all the way to the top of the mountain and then back down the east side where it eventually becomes the Alamocito Road  and returns to NM 12.  A  couple of words of caution should be given about the western half if FR 11 (the eastern half has some problems as well that I've discussed in previous blogs of which I will remind later). First, it is very narrow, basically one lane until reaching the top of the mountain. We were very lucky to have met the only car coming down off the mountain, along with a few of what had to be CDT hikers, at a section that allowed us to pass with relative ease. Once we started the switchbacking and sidehilling we just had to be hope for the best. Second, although it is shown as a maintained road on Forest Service maps, it is very rough in places and very steep as well. I had wished I had used four wheel drive and if there has been any moisture at all, I would strongly advise using it starting at the initial intersection.

Along the way we could see, albeit through pines and firs, beautiful pockets and clusters of golden leafed aspens. There just wasn't anyplace to pull over to even try and get a photo of them. When we finally got to level terrain at the top, after perhaps the scariest minute or two of the trip : a slippery little curve where road seemed little more that a scratch on the steep and lofty mountainside, the roadsides were lined with the yellow, sometimes tinged with red, leafed trees. It was perfect and just what we wished for.

I had a hike scoped out further down the road using two canyons that I felt pretty confident would have aspens as well. We did not visit the lookout. We parked at the intersection of FR 11 and FR 4191Q, crossed the road and went down the hillside to the abandoned road at the bottom of the little canyon. As we walked there was the occasional aspen or oak amongst the pines to brighten our outing.

 

When we got down to FR 11, we hike just short ways before turning up a second abandoned road that followed a second canyon. Both of these canyons are headwater branches of the North Fork Alamocito Creek, but this second  one, where Indian Spring is located, looks like it carries significantly more flow during wet times of the year. That being so, it also contain many more aspens than the first.  We ambled uphill, snapping pictures as we pleased.

 At the top we had to use FR 11 to complete our loop. It was open and sunny, a bit too warm for this type of road walking, and a little longer than we would've liked, but it was all good when we made it back to the 4Runner. We decided to head downhill and east on FR 11 rather than go back the way we came.  We had our lunch at a grassy clearing near Alamocito Tank. 

Here is where the road, now lined with aspens as well, begins to follow the stream course of North Fork Alamocito Creek. It is slow going, as the canyon narrows and the road gets rougher and rougher especially at the crossings where there is no more surface just bare rocks. It gets better once you reach a small inholding of private property and after to the Forest Service boundary.

The North Fork has permanent water after it crosses onto private ranch property. This gives life to a true riparian bosque. Huge cottonwoods and oaks in full fall color made for a very scenic drive as we headed back to NM 12

Gila National Forest - Hidden Springs, Cox Canyon

The dike

The dike

Behind the dam

Collins Park

West side

The dam

Oak growing out of the rock

Dam and dike

  Update July, 2026. I found out last week that my friend and infrequent hiking companion, Doug Scott, had died back in April. It was not a shock. I knew he was not doing well. The last time we communicated was back in October when I had texted him that the waterfall we both had seen on Google Earth at Hidden Springs in Cox Canyon was actually created by a man-made dam. He texted back "I'm curious" as if he was going to ask a question, but I never got any more after. That was it.  I usually only texted him if I had something to report that he might be interested in.  In the months after that, I didn't so I didn't. Also, I kind of took it for granted that somehow he would pull through and be doing better in a while. He'd been doing that ever since I met him. I guess I should have know it was not to be, but I didn't want to go to that place. 

I look at Google Earth a lot. One of the fun things to do is look at the satellite images  going back through the years Not every area has an image every year or even every  two or three and as you go back in time the resolution gets significantly less sharp and zooming in for detail is pointless. However, photos from about 2010 on, there can be seen many small changes in the landscape. In one instance I believe I was able to bracket when the bulldozing of an archaeological site occurred to four months.  I have also been able to pinpoint hidden areas of deciduous trees ( aspens, oaks and maples) especially with the rare pictures taken in October (most of the images are taken in early spring or winter it seems for the greater chance of cloudless skies), or at the right moment in April or May when they are at their most electric green.

So while looking through this particular area of the Gila National Forest (part of my new stomping ground: a circle with a radius of 50 miles with the center point being our cabin on Horse Mountain) at least 2 photos showed quite clearly a waterfall in a rocky passage just downstream from Hidden Springs in Cox Canyon. Now the very straight line at the top of falls gave me reason to believe that it was not a natural one, but rather water flowing over a now filled in dam site. Still, one can always have hope.

 Well, on an overcast early October day that threatened rain, we went out on the very long drive using FR 94 out of Apache Creek. The road is mostly good, although very narrow as it approaches a couple of passes. It also contains enough typically pleasant Gila scenery (especially the section along Cox Canyon, which had many nice oaks in Fall color, and the entrance into Collins Park) that it could qualify as a worthwhile diversion just for the drive.

 We did the short hike westward through a landscape that been burned (I'm not sure if from a natural fire or prescribed fire) fairly recently and was now an unappealing mix of slash, black stumps, weeds and juvenile junipers. Hopefully grasses will reassert themselves in the long run. On the low rise a short ways in, it was bit nicer as we approached the precipice of Cox Canyon (a major tributary to the North Fork Negrito Creek).

Looking across Cox Canyon

Elk Mountain

Collins Park

Elk Mountain

Somewhere near the spring

Behind the dam

Elk Mountain

From there I made my way very steeply (although with the aid of a sometimes livestock trail) down to the bottom to discover with only small amount of disappointment that it was indeed an old, but very stoutly built dam that was wedged in among the crags and weathered humps of a natural dike across the canyon. I easily crossed over to the upstream side where weeds flourished in the now filled in completely pond that. once backed up behind the dam. 

Top of the dam

Behind the dam

I walked on in search of any flow from Hidden Springs on the west side of the canyon There was a fence, perhaps built at one time to keep livestock out of the spring area, but I neither saw nor heard any water anywhere (even though I'm sure I was at the location of the spring) save for a puddle beneath dam. Going back over to the other side of the dike, I used an odd improvised "gate" of sticks and wire to get a look at the dam. 

Near Hidden Springs

Gate

The continuation of the canyon downstream looked nicely lush and scenic, but  my time was limited, and shortly thereafter I made the short, lung-tester of a hike back up to the mesa where Andrea and Nessie had been waiting for me. 

Collins Park, Elk Mountain

Back at the 4Runner we decided to make the drive to see the impressive expanse of treeless grassland known as Collins Park. The hulking, mass of Elk Mountain loomed large with the orange of scrubby oaks growing in the burn scars stained the upper ridges.