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Turkey Creek Hotsprings at night. The pools are lit by a flashlight i rigged for underwater use.
Soaking in a natural hotspring is more than just a relaxing float in nature's jacuzzi--it's a science, really. Creating the perfect temperature with a mixture of the naturally flowing creek and the scalding, 160 degree water that seeps from the rock is a feet of human ingenuity and engineering. Over the course of our 2 night stay at the hotsprings themselves, my hiking comrades and I developed a solid method of temperature control. To do this, we would build rock dams around the hotspring intake, while letting some creek water gently flow in. I earned the nickname "beaver" for my masterful dam work. I like to keep the soaking temp around 105 degrees, perfect for a late night soak while passing around the whiskey--warm on the outside, warm on the inside.
Turkey Creek Hot Springs, located in New Mexico's Gila National Forest, is a remote and secluded natural hotspring, that requires a good amount of off-trail scrambling to get to, so it gets little traffic as far as hot springs go. When the natural seeps of hot water mix with Turkey Creek, it provides an unbeatable, luxurious, 100% natural hotspring soak, whoa buddy. 5 stars! We pretty much had the place to ourselves.
My bed for two nights. Not a bad view, but the darn waterfall never turned off. Can't a guy get some peace and quiet?
Just below the soaking pool was a picturesque little swimming hole, complete with a waterfall. The temp in here was about 85 degrees thanks to the hotsprings just above it, making it perfect for a dip at any time of day or night.
Red Spotted Toad.
We had the pleasure of having a good buddy, Austin join us for the trip. He works for New Mexico Game and Fish as a herpetologist, and had some work in Turkey Creek looking for the threatened species, the Chiricahua Leopard Frog. Though he never found any, it's always cool to have him around to identify anything we run across, like this red spotted toad. I love the eyes.
We also came across a Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake, identifiable by the banded markings--red on black, you're OK, Jack. Red on Yellow, you're a dead fellow. The poisonous coral snake looks a lot like it, but has yellow bands next to the red ones. The kingsnake is harmless, but the coral snake can kill you.
Overall, we spent 4 nights in the Gila Wilderness, a truly wild place. We covered about 20 miles, most of it off-trail scrambling, and although we didn't see any big mammals, we saw signs of cougar and bear in the form of scat, tracks, and freshly upturned boulders. During our stay, we only saw one other group of people. There is really nothing more rewarding than a long day of hiking capped off with a relaxing soak in natures jacuzzi. Hot-tubbin' on the late night! At turkey creek hotsprings. Awesome.
