The Gila River

In the last entry, about City of Rocks, I mentioned that after leaving the rock city, we had gone on that night to find another place to camp. We headed for the upper reaches of the Gila River, beyond the town of the same name, as far upstream as we could drive. It was after dark when we arrived, so we just pulled into an empty camp site and slept in the car with the two dogs. In the morning we awoke to the sound of birds and the rushing waters just a few feet away. We emerged and hurried to discover just where we were. It was amazing!

We couldn't have hoped for a more beautiful spot, and it was free! We ate a little breakfast and walked around to enjoy the warming morning air. It was April 11, 2010. The cotttonwoods, which you can see in the distance, were just leafing out, while the Arizona Sycamores were still leafless.

 The camp site was the beginning of a trail into the Gila Wilderness along the river. What a tempting route that would be! Quite a few cars were parked in the lot, their owners off exploring the Gila Wilderness area. It is a vast, wild region where wolves have been released, to decidedly mixed reviews. Some naturalists have suggested grizzly bears could also be successfully reintroduced here. It's a baby step towards Pleistocene rewilding...but where are the cheetahs we need to hunt the pronghorn antelopes? And where are our pachyderms??

I noticed a sweet fragrance wafting on the light breeze, and followed it to these shrubs. A large stand of them was perfuming the area. Fendlerbush, perhaps?

This camping area is just up river from the town of Gila, New Mexico, on the southwest side of the Gila Mountains. It would be a great place for a getaway.

A closed oxbow on the meandering river offers reflections on a quiet morning.

We passed through stands of towering Arizona Sycamores, my favorite trees of the Southwest. Their white upper branches positively glow against the deep blue sky.

Dock was already beginning to ripen its abundant seed. These seed heads ranged in color from light chartreuse through pale yellow, soft orange, peach, rose, and on to rusty burnt sienna. They were lovely, but this is my only photo of them, and it hardly does them justice.

Leaving the camping area, we drove back to town to look up friends. The verdant agricultural lands are watered by acequias which direct water from the river into the fields. My mother's mother's father lived in this village as a young man before moving on to California. My mom found him recorded as living here in the 1870 census. 

From 1989 through 1994 the original Seeds of Change was located on one of these farms (although not the one shown in the photo). These connections draw me to this valley time and again. It is a little-known gem.

We spoke to a craftsman in town who was working in his yard to learn the whereabouts of our friend Lee (it's a very small town), and drove over to his house. The chairs situated to enjoy a view of the sunset with the gurgling acequia close by were enough to convince us we were in the right place!

Wild plum trees growing along the irrigation ditch were in glorious full bloom.

Lee wasn't home, but his neighbor, well-known herbalist Monica Rude, came out to greet us. We wound up getting much-needed showers and a tour; thank you, Monica!

Here she is in her greenhouse with starts for the garden well along.

Monica Rude is the proprietor of Desert Woman Botanicals. She creates powerful herbal tinctures which are available all over the Southwest. I particularly like her spicy cider vinegar. Because the summers in Gila can be scorching, she makes great use of shade structures in her garden.

The dappled light allows her to cultivate sun-sensitive plants such as comfrey, valerian, and echinacea, which would suffer in the heat here without this protection.

Berry really enjoyed the trip, and we were becoming quite attached to him, but it was destined to be a farewell journey. Soon after we returned I got a call from a woman who had seen my email about him. She wanted a dog to go along with her when she rode her horses. I took him to her and he was so good...he actually licked one of the horses on the nose! She took him and has been training him to behave on leash and off. Berry has found his forever home, a very lucky dog! And Cassidy and the cats are very relieved to have our house to themselves once again.