Gila Wilderness
The First Designated Wilderness Area In The World, Set Aside In 1924 At Aldo Leopold'S Urging; Roughly 558,000 Acres Within Gila National Forest, With No Roads, No Vehicles And No Mechanised Equipment Of Any Kind · Silver City, New Mexico
In 1924 the Forest Service set aside a block of the Gila headwaters at the urging of a young forester named Aldo Leopold, and in doing so created the first designated wilderness anywhere in the world. It is still one of the largest in the lower 48: roughly 558,000 acres with no roads, no vehicles, no bicycles and no mechanised equipment, crossed by around 500 miles of trail that in many places simply follow the riverbed. The country is volcanic, ponderosa and pinyon over canyons cut into ash flows, ranging from about 4,800 feet up to 10,895 at Whitewater Baldy. Hot springs bubble out along the West and Middle Forks. Mexican gray wolves were reintroduced here in 1998 and it remains one of the few places in the United States where they run wild. The Gila asks more of a visitor than almost any other federal land in the Southwest: the trails ford the river dozens of times, they are rarely signed, and help is a long way off.
Gila National Forest, NM Highway 15 north of Silver City, Silver City, New Mexico, 88061, United States
Open all year, day and night, with no gate and no entrance station. The Gila Visitor Center near the cliff dwellings keeps daytime hours and is the place to get current trail, ford and fire information. NM Highway 15 from Silver City is the main approach and takes about two hours for 44 miles because of the switchbacks. Snow closes the high country in winter and the summer monsoon makes the river crossings dangerous for days at a time.