Mimbres, NM, March 12, 2020-- The Gila National Forest has hundreds of miles of trails for hikers and with three wilderness areas, hiking can be an adventure. The Wilderness Ranger District wants you to be aware there can be many "watch out situations" that could be encountered while in wilderness areas.

The Gila National Forest has received significant snow fall in the higher elevations and rain in lower elevations. When it rains it causes the snow to melt. This creates a "watch-out situation." The Gila River becomes rapid and deep, and as of today is about 15' deep and running at 795 cubic feet/second. Do not underestimate the power of water!  6 inches of fast-moving water can knock over and carry away an adult. The USGS provides a tool showing the gauges which measure streamflow in New Mexico waterways. This link is https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nm/nwis/current/?type=flow. At the bottom of the "Current Conditions" page is the Gila River Basin and the gauge readings are identified. The "Gage height, feet" identifies the depth of the water mid-stream, and the "Discharge, ft3/s" identifies how quickly the water is moving.

Please use this information to keep yourself and your fellow hikers safe. If the "Discharge, ft3/s" is more than 350 cubic feet/second it is moving to rapidly for you to safely cross.   

For more safety tips on Hiking in Wilderness areas please refer to https://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/gila/recreation/hiking.

For information on the Gila National Forest, check out our website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/gila.