Iron Lake - Gila Wilderness - April 9, 2005 - Member Trip Report
| Hike Name: | Iron Lake - Gila Wilderness |
|---|---|
| Country: | United States |
| State: | New Mexico |
| Trip Rating: |  |
| Trip Date: | April 9, 2005 |
| Duration: | 2 days |
| Trail Conditions: | Fair to Good |
| Trail Traffic: | None |
| Trip Weather: | Partly Cloudy |
| Trip Winds: | Heavy |
| Trip Precipitation: | Snow, Hail |
| Trip Temperature: | High: 51-60, Low: 21-30 degrees Fahrenheit |
| Trip Report: | Friday 4/8/05 We departed on Friday night, April 8, and drove an all-nighter to reach the trailhead. We pulled about 1:00 A.M., had a beer and crashed. Saturday 4/9/05 We rose fairly early considering our arrival time, and hit the trail about 9:15. Weather was beautiful, in fact I was in shorts, with no wind and a brilliant blue sky. Snow on the road forced us to park the car 2 miles from where we had hoped, but we made the trek down the road and reached the trailhead with no problems. At 10:00, we headed off into the Gila Wilderness and Iron Lake. The weather got increasingly bad, and by 3:00, we had whiteout conditions, with driving snow and 30-40 MPH winds. Temps dropped into the high 30's and we pushed hard to make it to our camp spot. The trail was literally disappearing under the snow, when instantly the weather went back to what it had been in the morning. Blue skies, temps in the 60's and no wind. With this little blessing, we pushed on for the lake, and arrived about 4:30. We took the time to set up camp and had a late lunch while we waited for the evening fishing to start. Iron Lake is illegal to fish in, but Iron Creek is OK, so we fished the Creek until dark, then returned to the camp for dinner and several cups of Irish coffee. Sunday 4/10/05 Got up early and fished the Creek for a couple of hours. Broke camp around 11:00 and headed back towards the car. Half way back, we had a flashback of the weather from the day before. Snow, hail, driving wind and colder than all get out. We finally struggled back to the car and got ready to leave, only to have the weather go back to being beautiful. With a close eye on the sky, we spent an hour fishing in Willow Creek, then loaded up and headed for our next camp site in another part of the forest. A fairly good trip, weather be damned! |
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