G.E.T. Guidebook

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Segment 18: Sunflower Mesa  9.7 miles

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Segment Length	from PHX	to ABQ	Segment Status	Season
9.7 mi.	320		finalized & accessible	spring, summer, fall
Resources
OVERVIEW MAP ELEVATION PROFILE 4 G.E.T. Topo Maps 48-50 4 Water Chart 4 Image Gallery: Album 5				Additional maps: Gila National Forest (USFS) visit PLIC website Land management agency: Gila NF Glenwood Ranger District: (505) 539-2481

SEGMENT OVERVIEW

Along with Segment 19, this short segment offers a convenient link between the backcountry of Arizona's Blue Range and the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico. US 180 serves as a natural dividing line between these segments, and at 4900 feet is also the lowest point along the eastbound GET until the Rio Grande valley some 250 miles away. (Long-distance hikers heading westbound will commonly encounter lower elevations in Arizona.) The 2-lane highway offers access to the village of Alma, directly along our route, and also somewhat larger Glenwood a few miles to the south.

Sunflower Mesa is one of several broad, sloping plateaus that descend eastward from the Arizona border toward the San Francisco River valley near Alma. The landscape is quintessential New Mexico - wide open, with far-flung mountain vistas, and an austerity that invites contemplation. The GET in this segment follows graded Forest Service roads, offering easy walking and straightforward navigation. Besides the occasional rancher or hunter driving by, you're likely to have these roads to yourself. The mesa is prime range land, though most of the developed water sources are earthen stock ponds, unreliable and generally unpotable. Plan to fill your bottles at the end of the segment, in Alma or perhaps from the river. The one ford of the San Francisco along FR 106 is across a generally modest creek, and in some years the drainage is entirely dry by autumn.

ROUTE DETAILS

Forest Route 712 terminates at the trailhead for Charlie Moore Trail 307. Pass through the gate in the north-south fence (waypoint 17180, elev. 6300'), leaving Arizona and the Apache National Forest to enter New Mexico and the Gila National Forest. Follow the road that heads southeast, away from the fence. In about 0.1 of a mile (waypoint 18010) another road joins from the right and heads back to the border at a metal tank (likely dry). Stay on FR 712, which now turns northeast. First though, pause for a photo at the "border monument" here at the junction. The mileage listed on the sign seems to be a bit off the mark.

FR 712 becomes less rocky as you proceed along Sunflower Mesa. Remarkably, the state line is almost precisely the end of the GET's cobbly, volcanic terrain, the standard underfoot fare since Safford. Pass a couple of unlikely troughs, including near a cattle guard along the road at 0.9. The junipers continue to decrease in size and number with the elevation, until only grama and other short-grass remain. Ignore various lesser tracks to reach a prominent t-intersection with FR 105 at 3.8. Turn left (north) at the unsigned junction. FR 105 bends clockwise as it climbs a low hill and passes beneath a pair of tall power transmission lines. The prominent lone peak off to the northwest is Whiterocks Mountain. To the east you may note snow in springtime atop the Mogollon Mountains, here in plain view across the San Francisco River valley. A full moon rising over those mountains from this vantage is an experience the author won't soon forget.

Follow graded FR 105 gradually off the mesa, noting the return of junipers, as the increased slope angle must favor them as it does other drought-tolerant plants and cacti. At 5.7 (waypoint 18050) turn left (east) by the entrance to a private ranch. Cross the dry, but cottonwood-nourishing wash of Vigil Canyon at 6.6. Just beyond, a convenient, if decidedly front-country, camp could be made near the lone live oak at left. The wash may sometimes flow where the canyon narrows to the east. Note on the map where the road comes close to the sycamore-lined drainage again, where you can clamber down the bouldery embankment in search of refreshment. (More secluded camping is possible in the drainage here.) Keep straight at 7.3, now on FR 106 (C004), which also heads right (south, as C003 / Smoothing Iron Rd). (Note that the roads in this area are referenced by county route number - on signs and some maps - and also by forest route number.)

Ignore a lesser road that forks right at 7.9 and continue on graded 2WD FR 106 to a prominent fork at 9.0 (waypoint 18080). The GET heads left here, but hikers planning to walk into Glenwood for resupply can instead continue straight (southwest) on C004 to US 180, thereby cutting off about a mile of the highway walk. The San Francisco River is not readily accessible along this detour, due to steep banks where C004 bridges it. (The bridge could allow a way around the main route's ford during high water.)

The main route descends to a junction with FR 104 (C008, waypoint 18090). Turn right and continue a short ways to cross the drainage of the San Francisco River along the roadway. In the wet spring of 2005, the ford was 25 feet wide and shin deep, while in the fall of that same year the river was entirely dry here. Continue east among pastureland, crossing a cattle guard just before reaching US 180, at 9.6. Turn left (north) and walk the paved, 2-lane highway's shoulder on a bridge over Mineral Creek. The segment ends a short ways beyond, at a junction with Mineral Creek Rd on the right. (9.7, waypoint 18110, elev. 4900') The Alma Trading Company and Alma Grill, which has bottled water for sale and also an outside spigot, is located 100 yards to the north.

3Segment 17

Segment 194