Datil Mountains - Cibola National Forest

Datil Mountains

East side of the Sawtooth Mountains

Hay Canyon

Our first day out I had intended to explore Thompson Canyon, known for its rock climbing area, and maybe climb Madre Mountain, the tallest and only named peak in the Datil Range. Unfortunately, the entrance is on private land and when we drove to the locked gate, the message seemed to be keep out. Since there was no one at  home at the nearby ranch house, we headed out for other options. I later learned that the gate may have been just dummy locked, but that it was still necessary to make arrangements with the land owners. We drove on Forest Road 6 first to the turn off for the Davenport lookout. That road, at least on the map, appeared to be a back way into Thompson Canyon. On the ground though, it didn't look like a good option. We continued on FR 6 over Monument Saddle down into Ox Spring Canyon. We parked and hiked to a clearing which had beautiful views of the sheer cliffs on the north side of Madre Mountain and the east side of the Sawtooths. Later, we backtracked on FR 6 to Hay Canyon and did and pleasant but, unremarkable hike down its road without seeing another soul.