Back 40: Exploring the Gila Wilderness, NM

This week, we’re headed to the wild and often overlooked Gila Wilderness in southern New Mexico to explore the hidden oasis and recreational haven that also carries the historic honor of being the nation’s first designated wilderness area, championed by Aldo Leopold in 1924.

Haley walks us through what makes the Gila so compelling for landowners and ranch buyers, from its deep conservation roots to its world-class hunting and hiking opportunities. With rare properties tucked into the forest offering peace, privacy, and opportunity, we also discuss the best times of year to visit, what to expect when exploring the region, and why this remote corner of the Southwest continues to attract adventurers, conservationists, and those looking to experience a truly wild piece of the American West.

Special thanks to “Visit Silver City” and Photographer Julie Enos for help with this episode.

Topics

[0:44] Getting to know the Gila Wilderness

[1:57] History and Landmark Status

[2:55] What Makes the Gila Wilderness Unique?

[5:15] What to do in the Gila Wilderness

[6:39] Best Time of Year to Visit

[7:51] Who Would Thrive Here?

[9:23] Benefits and Opportunities for Landowners

[11:07] Mirr Properties in the Area

[12:52] Gila Wilderness Hidden Gems

Haley (00:06):

Welcome back to the Land Bulletin Podcast, where every other week we bring you experts in the field to impart their knowledge when it comes to the ranch and sporting property market, buying and selling advice, the latest best stewardship practices, as well as topics that impact landowners every day. I’m your host, Haley Mirr. Let’s jump in. 

Welcome back to the Land Bulletin Podcast. I’m Haley Mirr, and today we’re actually going to be talking about one of my new favorite areas of the west, the Gila Wilderness. A lot of people have never heard of it, and those who have understand how important this area of the West is, and I’m excited to have learned more and more about it over the last couple years.

Haley (00:49):

For those who’ve never heard of the Gila Wilderness, I would describe it as this incredible place on the southern end of New Mexico. The closest town is Silver City, which is almost at the border of Texas. So for instance, whenever we do showings, we either fly into Silver City or we fly into El Paso, which is about a three hour drive. And as you access the wilderness area, you’re driving through deserted landscapes through these different orchards and things like that until you see these mountains that kind of start to pop out out of nowhere. And then once you enter it, it’s just this green landscape with pinyons and junipers and running water. And it’s just this incredible opportunity to access these mountainous lush areas after being in desert for so long. And it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. And until we had had our most recent listing, I had never had the pleasure of visiting.

Haley (01:49):

So definitely, even if you’re not looking for ranches, I would describe it as this place that you really need to see if you live out west.

Haley (02:01):

For those who’ve never heard of the Gila Wilderness, I would describe it as one, the oldest wilderness area to ever be designated back in 1924. So there’s a rich history there with the Mean Brace people living there for generations and then Aldo Leopold actually advocating for it to become a wilderness area back in 1924. So the history is really interesting. The landscape is what I think draws it apart from any other part of New Mexico. As you’re driving through this deserted landscape and the surrounding areas, you see these mountains kind of in the distance. And then as you get closer, the habitat changes, the landscape changes. There’s these big ponderosas in Pinyon and Juniper and live water, and it just becomes this oasis of a place that you might not expect while you’re driving through the desert.

Haley (02:59):

This area of New Mexico is super unique. I’ve spoken about it a little bit earlier in this episode, but when you think of New Mexico, you probably immediately think of Albuquerque or Santa Fe, which are in the northern part of the state. Definitely where culture exists and a robust climate and Santa Fe is a little higher altitude. The Gila Wilderness is kind of similar. It’s high altitude. It’s green. There’s running water. And when you think of kind of the eastern plants of New Mexico and when you’re driving down I- 25, you don’t know that something like this exists until you go off the beaten path and really understand it. You have lakes in the wilderness area. You have these giant forests that have been there forever, pinions and ponderosas and junipers. So it’s definitely this oasis in the middle of Southern New Mexico. And while some of us up north might not know it as well, people who live in El Paso, people who live in New Mexico understand it and know how special this place is from a historical, from a landscape, from a water perspective.

Haley (04:07):

You might be wondering, okay, there’s wilderness areas, there’s national forests. I know there’s two. There’s Gila Wilderness and Hila National Forest. So what’s the biggest difference? So just from a broader scale perspective, wilderness areas and national forests are managed by different federal agencies and they actually have different uses. So wilderness areas are meant for preservation. So when wilderness areas were first designated, that was the whole point of them. It was to create these wilderness areas with very important habitats, high impact areas, and preserve them only for that component. You can’t have motor vehicles. And actually when you’re looking at the Gila Wilderness on a map and you put on the public lands layer, you’ll see a small, small strip. And that strip is actually national forest and it leads to the wilderness area because that’s the only place you can have motor vehicles legally in the wilderness area.

Haley (04:59):

Whereas national forests allow for more commercial, multiple uses, logging, there’s more designated road services for motor vehicles, things like that. So those are kind of the biggest differences between the two. And if you look at a map, it’s very clear what those differences are.

Haley (05:20):

Some of the most popular activities in this area definitely have to do with the wilderness area and the hiking trails. There’s over 600 miles of hiking trails. And the Gila Wilderness, those include trails for, like I said, there’s no motor vehicles, so no dirt biking or things like that, but a lot of pack trip opportunities. Our clients that are actually down there love to pack trip and go for miles and days on these pack trips. A lot of people have shown interest in the property that we have listed down there right now are big hikers, avid hikers. So they understand the importance of some of those trails and being able to access these areas of the wilderness area that only a few people have ever accessed since their existence. One of the cool things about this part of the world is it’s actually recognized in one of the top 10 star gazing spots in the US with a Border One rating, which I don’t know much about the raiding system, but border one seems high of unforgettable night skies.

Haley (06:15):

So the fact that it’s wilderness area with the surrounding wilderness areas, almost a million acres. You really do see the stars. It’s incredible. Every time I’ve been there, even the rock cliffs along the sides of the ranch that we have listed down there were lit up by the moon and by the stars. So I think if you’re a stargazer, the wilderness area of the Gila is one of the more unique places in the world.

Haley (06:43):

The best time of year to visit this area, I’ve had the opportunity to visit twice now, one kind of in May, which was beautiful, but was starting to get a little hot, and then once was in winter. But from my client’s perspective, after living there for over 10 years and owning the property for almost 30, she thinks that the best time of year is actually to come right after monsoon season, so end of September when things are really green. So like most parts of that part of the west, that’s when the majority of rain falls. So end of September and August is actually the best time to visit because that’s when it’s the most green and lush. But what’s really spectacular about this area is you have running water throughout the year. So whenever you want to go down, there is an opportunity to see that.

Haley (07:34):

But the greenest part of the year is definitely after monsoon season. So while the winters are amazing because they are way better than the winters you might experience up north, a lot more temperate and easy to manage, the greenest part of the year is definitely end of September into August.

Haley (07:56):

For someone looking at buying land or a ranch nearby, the biggest draws to being within the wilderness area or nearby would definitely be what we were talking about earlier with the hiking and the packing opportunities that exist within the wilderness area. Our client and some of the people that have shown interest in the most recent listing we have down there have all been avid hikers or packers or conservationists, knowing the history of the meme brace, knowing the history of conservation and Aldo Leopold, those are the kind of driving factors of what our demographic of people looking down there are and understanding the importance of the wilderness area and the habitat that exists. When I think about the people that thrive in the Gila Wilderness or nearby areas, it would definitely be the adventurers and the conservationists. So like I said, the Gila Wilderness is not close to big towns.

Haley (08:51):

So the closest town is Silver City and it’s about an hour away. So you definitely have to have a sense of adventure. You have to know how to work with your neighbors to get things done. You have to know what conservation means and appreciate that and appreciate the stewardship that goes into owning these landscapes. And you need to be able to want to explore what the wilderness is, to be able to go through those miles of hikes and pack trips and see why this place was protected and advocated for over a hundred years ago.

Haley (09:28):

In addition to all the recreational opportunities in the landscape of the wilderness area, there are definitely some more unique income opportunities for landowners that have property within the Gila Wilderness or nearby. There’s definitely a lot of hospitality opportunity within the area. Hunting is also a big component to owning land in this part of the world, world-class elk hunting, mountain lions, mule, turkey. The draw system is through the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, but definitely a lot of people have showed interest in this area of the world are avid hunters who are looking for that world-class elk to harvest throughout the year. And then another opportunity is just good ag opportunities, an income opportunity. Like I said, there’s a lot of water to be found in this part of New Mexico. And while some areas of the wilderness are not designated for that ag piece, anything nearby that has senior water rights on some of these different watersheds, there’s definitely an ag opportunity there is too.

Haley (10:33):

People who have taken property or have owned property here tend to stay. So the community of the people living in the Gila Wilderness is very strong. They understand what their role is as stewards of this landscape and being within the Gila Wilderness as in holdings or nearby and appreciate that stewardship and take care of it and take care of their neighbors. Some of these places are pretty hard to access, so leaning on your neighbors and being there for each other is definitely a big piece of living in the Gila Wilderness.

Haley (11:13):

The most recent listing that Mer Ranch Group has in the Gila Wilderness is the XSX Ranch. It’s a prime example of all the things we’ve already talked about, conservation, water, history, locale, hiking, pack trips, and privacy. So it’s an in holding in the middle of the Gila Wilderness, right near that town of Gila Hot Springs that we referred to earlier. The property has senior water rights along the East Fork of the Hila River that are complimented by over 12 acres of irrigated landscape. The history of the property, it used to be a cattle ranch and actually nearby was a lodge that Teddy Roosevelt used to frequent and for hunt trips and things like that. So the history is neat. The water, the water rights, the ability to irrigate and have operational access, and then the hunting nearby make that ranch a prime example of what you can buy in the Gila Wilderness.

Haley (12:05):

One of the things that kind of makes it stand out from a lot of ranches in New Mexico is just this live water and senior water rights. The East Fork and the Gila River runs through the property and the property actually has 12 acres of irrigation with those senior water rights, as well as 26 acres of pasture for horses. So that water component, every time we’ve been there, the water has been running. And what’s super interesting is a lot of rivers and that part of the world actually go underground during the winter, but this part of the East Fork of Ajila actually stays running year round. And it was actually not only running, but pretty strong the last time we were there, and that was in February. So the fact that that water is there throughout the year is pretty important to the ranch and then the surrounding landscape as well.

Haley (12:58):

And then just to wrap up, some of the hidden gems since visiting there, and then what my client suggests visiting when you go to the Gila Wilderness. So within the wilderness area, Gila Hot Springs is a very cool town. There’s just a couple small little motels and then Dot Campbell’s is a place you can stop for ice cream. A lot of our clients who have been down there before, they remember going to Doc Campbells when they were kids. So it’s definitely been there and it’s a mainstay when you visit the Gila Wilderness. If you’re going through Silver City, a couple places that I’ve tried out that have been great were the Silver City Food Co-op. So if you’re getting groceries on your way up to the wilderness, Diane’s Bakery had one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had, so definitely recognize that. And then for little shop for New Mexico where’s the power and light press within Silver City is really neat, but just the road trip down there from Silver City through Los Mean Brace and then to get from El Paso.

Haley (13:55):

It’s just this beautiful landscape and I definitely recommend doing a drive or driving from Albuquerque and just seeing what that area has to offer.

Haley (14:08):

Thanks for tuning in today for our latest Back 40 episode about the Gila Wilderness. Like I said, this place has become super important to me and something that I am just grateful that I got to know about later in life. And I hope it’s something that you all feel just as fortunate to learn about as you kind of work with us on our way through the West and learning about these rural landscapes and communities. If you have questions about the Hila or the XSX Ranch, don’t hesitate to reach out to myself or visit our website, murranchgroup.com. Thanks again for joining. See you guys next time. 

Thanks for joining us today. To learn more about the Ranch Real Estate Market or our ranch marketing process, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter on our website at mirrranchgroup.com or give us a call at 303-623-4545. See you next time.

Mirr Ranch Group

901 Acoma Street

Denver, CO 80204