Aldo Leopold Wilderness

Hike Name: Aldo Leopold Wilderness Location: southwest NM Length: 40 Submitted by: Steve Cypher Date Submitted: 0/0/00 Rating:	more New Mexico trail reviews New Mexico national parks New Mexico state parks
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Description
Aldo Leopold Wilderness is a place that is becoming wilder all the time. Where there were once Indian wars, mining and ranching, there are now overgrown trails and solitude. I’ve been there once so if this sounds like a trip report, it’s because I can only tell about where I was. I want to go back!

I arrived here on state highway 152 over Emory Pass. There is a rest area at the pass on the crest of the Black Range with a view and a good trail up Hillsboro Peak. I started my trip at Railroad Canyon, where there is a place to park and an outhouse. I hiked up Railroad Canyon to the crest, had lunch and nursed the beginning of heel blisters that would haunt me for the rest of the week. Locals say Gallinas Canyon, to the left about 1.5 miles up, is the better hike. The crest trail here is a main thoroughfare, but is overgrown with thorny bushes and tough to follow in places. The mountains here are not spectacular and while there are some nice views from the crest, I thought the real beauty of the place was deep in the canyons.

Holden Prong has a good trail because of horse traffic. There are some big cliffs and a waterfall before the valley widens toward the bottom and eventually runs into Las Animas Creek. Sids Prong is not as deep a canyon as Holden Prong and has great places to camp from top to bottom.

The crest trail north of Mc Knight cabin is an old road that is wide and easy to follow. I dropped down into North Seco Creek on a brushy, little-used trail. North Seco Creek Canyon has some beautiful, wide grassy spots.

I attempted to follow the old trail up Long Canyon to get from North Seco Creek to Las Animas Creek. This is among the more foolish things I’ve done outdoors because I had only the forest service map with topo lines every 200 feet. USGS quads should be used for any multi-day trip here. At first the trail was easy to follow but soon faded and I missed where the trail goes up a side canyon. Some of the tree blazes are completely grown over and there is brush growing in the trail. I bushwhacked with abandon to get over the ridge and found the trail again in a pretty valley, but lost it in the old Victoria Park mining area. The pretty valley turns into a slot canyon and I had to combine pushing through brush with scaling cliffs to make it to Las Animas Creek, where I bathed and tended my wounds.

Las Animas Creek Canyon is wide and scenic with high rock walls in places. This gets quite a bit of horse traffic.

I was here five days in April. The weather was beautiful with one cold night. The only time I saw people was when I was in the bottom of Railroad Canyon.

Directions to Hike
State highway 152 crosses the Black Range at Emory Pass about half-way between Silver City and Caballo (on I-25). There are no towns anywhere near here.

Contact Information
Black Range Ranger District - Gila National Forest
1804 Dale St.
Truth or Consequences, NM 87901
(505)894-6677

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