Saturday, March 28, 2015

Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area

Another one of our day trips out was to the Gila Box Canyon and the Gila River.  The Black Hill Back Country Byway  that we took last month is just to the east.  There are a lot of different routes that you can take through the area with all being as interesting as the other.  We had been told about Bonita Creek so we took that route.

We stopped in town and picked up things for a picnic, so we stopped at the entrance to have our lunch.  The area was an overlook of river before you entered into the canyon.

Our  next stop up the canyon was at another picnic area where the wildflowers were beautiful and a vermillion flycatcher was flying around. 

We finally made it to Bonita Creek – a small creek that flows into the Gila River.  What a neat place; the only thing was there was no place to just sit and watch the birds and/or wildlife.  We spent some time just looking around and listening to the quietness.  The creek has a rocky bottom and was really shallow so we took our shoes off and walked for a way.  After about ten minutes our feet were freezing though as the water was cool, so it was time to get those shoes back on and get out of the creek.  This is a place I would love to come back to with chairs, blanket, and a picnic so we could spend more time.  Lovely place . . . . .

On our way back down we stopped at an overview of the canyon and the river.  We notice some people rafting down the river so I took a video.  As we went on down we stopped at one of the camping areas to see what they were like and the people we saw rafting were there getting out.  Talking to them I found out that he was attorney in Colorado and was there with his family on vacation.  Talking to them now has us wanting to go rafting down the Gila River as it really sounds like it is fun and a great place for some fun rafting with little white water but nothing to big.  The canyon and river were so neat there and the wear of the water against the rock over the years was amazing.

This is really a beautiful place and one I am glad we did not miss seeing

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