Customer Reviews

Hiking New Mexico's Gila Wilderness

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is almost a definitive guide to hiking in the Gila Wilderness. I used to hike trails in the Gila Wilderness, and I wish I had had this guidebook. It has all the important information you need, such as which trails are still in use, where the trail might fade away, where the reliable water is, and how long to plan your trip for each trail.

It is chock full of useful information. For each hike, it gives an elevation diagram for the hike; detailed directions to the trail head; the best season to go; a table of how far key points are from the trail head; special hazards and considerations presented by the hike; the highlights of the hike expressed in a sentence; the difficulty of the hike; and the maps you will need. It also covers the facilities at the trail head, and gives options for side hikes. All this in addition to extremely detailed information about the hikes themselves, likely camping areas, reliable sources of water etc. And it does this for every significant trail in the Gila Wilderness! This is a significant improvement over Murray's book which gives sketchy information about fewer trails.

The tables and diagrams in this book are a model of what good guide books should contain. For example, there is a map showing all the USGS quad map locations for the Wilderness, a Map showing all trail head locations schematically, a table that allows you to choose a hike based on what type of hike you want, a detailed table of contents, and a gear checklist. The only thing it doesn't have are GPS coordinates. Of course, it might not be enough to own just this book, if the trail is very lightly used...you should bring USGS topo maps and a compass at the very least. There is a also a Wilderness Map and Visitor Guide for the Wilderness which is worth purchasing.

This book is obviously written after long and hard backpacking through the wilderness. The authors are extremely well-organized and systematic in the things they note, and in their presentation. Even so, after having been in this wilderness, I know there is much that is not in this book that is waiting for the reader to discover. The black and white pictures in the book can only convey a little of the flavor of the beauty that is there. You really have to experience this beauty for yourself. Armed with this book, I think you will be able to have a safer, and more enjoyable time while doing it.

...the Gila Forest (which is 3 million acres), [is] not ...the Gila Wilderness, [which is] a more protected area which is indeed 550,000 acres. A wilderness is a place where cars, and all forms of motorized transport cannot go. In contrast, cars can drive along forest roads. ...

This is a thorough guide to hundreds of miles of trails in the Gila Wilderness. The authors describe approximately 60 different trails, rated by length of hike and difficulty, which are not the same thing. Their maps and instructions for getting to the trailhead are detailed enough to get to the hike. This reader wished that their trail descriptions included more details on how difficult the trails were to follow, particularly since many of the trails criss-cross streams and since they warn the reader that many of the trails are old and somewhat difficult to find. But there's a huge amount of information in this book, from what's available at the stores in nearby towns to where to get showers to road conditions to trailheads. It's a great resource.

I have done about six trips to the Gila Wilderness over the last five years, as well as many other backpacking trips. While I generally like Falcon guides, this is one of the worst backpacking books I have used. It duplicates passages by including the same portion of a hike several times in different hikes. The author is more interested in flowery descriptions than in safety and accurate trail descriptions. Hiking in the Southwest, accurate descriptions of water locations are key, but the author is very vague on the location of springs. Very unlike the other Falcon books, such as the one on the Superstitions Wilderness Area. It may be you are stuck buying this book until Falcon finds a better author but beware as not all the trail descriptions are correct, especially Turkeyfeather mountain.

What I like about this series and this particular guide is the wealth of useful information provided. Each hike is described comprehensively and the descriptions are supplemented with maps, elevation profiles, and mileages to key points. Plus all the usual info is provided about water, seasons, maps, etc. This gives all the information required to make informed decisions when planning a trip. A minor but nice point: the maps all are oriented with north up. Too many guidebooks provide maps with multiple orientations which can be confusing for the unwary.

I thought this book was very good for helping myself and a friend determine where we were going to hike on our 3 week trip to the Gila.

If you are planning on long hikes of 3+ nights, as we did, I would recommend more than this. But this is a really great book to give you an idea about the trails. This is truly the wilderness so you need to be more prepared than this book can offer. But it is quite accurate. Good descriptions, and gives you a good idea of how difficult certain sections may be.

Is this book 100% accurate. NO. But if you are relying that heavily on a book then maybe you should prepare better before setting out in this vast wilderness.

Have fun in the Gila, and happy hiking!

I bought the book to identify a couple hikes my son and I could do in the course of a cross country driving trip. We had limited time, and I looked to this book to easily select those hikes. The two that I selected were near the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. I asked for guidance from several locals who had done many hikes in the area. The two I selected were, I believe, the Cliff House hike and the Jordan Creek hike. None of the people I spoke to recognized either name and neither was on any map of local hikes offered at the National Park Service Visitor Center. A park service employee finally told me that the Cliff House hike, which locals called the Three Mile House Hike, is an overused trail and the house itself has suffered damage as a result of overuse and misuse; consequently, they do not encourage hikers to use this trail. Had I known that before, I would not have wasted so much time trying to locate the trail. We tried to do the Jordan Creek trail in reverse, but the trail intersections did not match up with the map in the book. I have already sold the book back to Powells. Others may have different experiences, but mine was very frustrating.

As with all falcon guides this book does a great job simplifying the routes and providing great maps and information. There is a lot of different length and intensity of routes provided from day hikes to 8 day backpack trips. Overall a great buy and can't wait to get to hike all the suggestions.

I haven't read the book yet. It's being ordered. But I wanted to comment on the review by the person who lives 500 feet from the Gila, but didn't take the time to read the book title. The book is about the WILDERNESS. The Gila Forest is 3 million acres. The WILDERNESS is just over 500,000 acres. I look forward to reading the book soon.

We used this book while hiking the Gila Wilderness. We are experienced day hikers and have bought many Hiking Books and have taken many hikes. This is by far the worst book from an accuracy perspective. The number one attribute of a hiking book is accuracy. This book is not accurate. From now on I will check where the authors live. The authors were not from NM and have no business writing about the Gila Wilderness.

Just a note to any of you considering this book. I was browsing for new books about New Mexico when I came across this one and thought it would be a great reference for our guests- we live within 500 feet of the Gila on a working cattle and guest ranch- when I read the editorial review- 500,000 acres??? try 3 million! So while it might be a great book about the trails of the Gila the inital information is wrong in the review. There had to have been a lot of time and effort put into this book, so I hope the books authors catch the mistake.