Heading in to the Apache Kid Wilderness
Apache Kid Wilderness is located not far from Hwy 25 about 3 hours South of Albuquerque. I had gone to New Mexico to visit friends in Albuquerque and had wanted to do some backpacking while there. Where, I wasn’t sure. It was still high season and I didn’t want to fight the crowds that go to places like the Pecos or the Gila. So looking through the maps at REI I came across a map for Apache Kid Wilderness. The terrain on the map looked interesting and being near the Gila Wilderness – which I had been to before, and really liked – I figured the area was similar to that.
The trip I planned was mostly trail hiking out of the Windmill Camp trailhead, up into Indian Creek, coming back toward San Mateo peak and finally off-trail down into Springtime Canyon and back via the Indian Creek Trail. Four nights total.
Indian Creek Canyon
The map looked really interesting going through Indian Creek and the write up mentioned the attractions as ‘solitude, rugged beauty, and varied vegetation’ – what I like.
That summer was apparently a wet one for New Mexico, or so my friends stated. Warm, humid with sun breaks and some rain and lightning thrown in for good measure. A bit more humid than I was used to in the Sierra – even in July – but not that bad. The rain actually was a nice relief when it fell.
Indian Creek
Started the hike on a Tuesday with some hot sun midday. Typical high desert country, junipers and pines. Once over the pass, the trail dropped down into Indian Canyon and a small creek in the canyon. Another reason I picked this area – reliable water source. It was very pretty along the creek as there were more trees here and a certain lush greenery along the creek itself. And the further along the more scenic the canyon became. Had some slight rain that afternoon, nothing special, just nicely cooled the afternoon down. Set up my first nights camp in the narrows of this canyon… very nice.
Butterfly
The next morning, I scouted the area, heading up one canyon just to check out what the off trail hiking was like. Rugged and brushy. Hiked up to a small falls area where the canyon boxed in and decided that the trail looked like the best route. Also lots of bear sign… though never came across any.
The trail follows the main canyon and then starts to open up in a small high valley. From here the trail winds steeply up to meet with Trail 43 (Apache Kid Trail) and gets hard to follow. The trail was blazed well, but that didn’t stop me from missing a couple switchbacks. Now we’re starting to get out of the high desert flora and into the Fir-Aspen belt. Weather was still warm, but cooler at night.
San Mateo Peak
I followed the Apache Kid trail South and took the spur trail up to the top of San Mateo Peak at 10,000 feet. Good views from there. On top there was a corral, cabin and fire lookout but it didn’t seem to get much use. Flowers were in bloom up here and monarch butterflies were everywhere.
Looking down into Springtime Canyon
From the junction of the trail leading up to San Mateo Peak, I followed the ridge out to the Southeast with plans to drop down into Springtime canyon. What a grind that turned out to be. A 2500 foot drop that was scrubby and with loose rock. Once down in Springtime canyon… no water. I was hoping that there might be some flow through there, but as it turned out there wasn’t any the whole way out. Passed some old mining equipment and what appeared to be remnants of buildings, long since gone, and camped for my last night back out in Indian Creek.
I found the area, overall, interesting with lots of other areas left to explore. The terrain appears to be pretty consistent throughout the wilderness except around Indian Creek where it’s more rugged and rocky.
Tags: Backpacking, Canyons, Desert Hiking, Remote Destinations
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I am planning a 3 night, 4 day backpacking trip to the San Mateo Mtns and Apache Kid Wilderness. Do you know of any springs that would be running in the late Spring or any water sources that are reliable for drinking water?
My trip took place in August so probably a little drier than late spring. Indian creek, through the narrow canyon section looked to have year round water as it was flowing at that time. The lower section might have been dry if I recall right – more of a wash. I spent two nights along indian creek and I think it started to dry out in the upper reaches. The other place I camped was just below Twentyfive yard spring – along trail 43. There was water there. Other than that… it was pretty dry. I would think late spring would be a good time with the lingering snow to find water in normally dry creeks, but I suppose that would depend on this winter.
During your adventure,did you see any elk and if so in what area did you observe them…
no, sorry, I don’t recall seeing any elk on my trip…
ive backpacked in that area for 10+years. there mustve been a massive monsoon flood that came down indian canyon in 2015.
i usually backpack in spring & autumn to beat the heat tho there can be a fair amount of snow up high in spring. intermittent water can usually be found in indian canyon above robert’s canyon. water can also be found in the upper canyon about a mile before the trail starts climbing steeply. the steep climb to the top of has become more difficult as there is no longer a maintained trail. water can usually be found at 25 yard spring as was mentioned in a previous comment. i have always hiked the loop to springtime canyon. sometimes there is water at san mateo spring. i like to do the loop when there is some snow up high for water but not too much to make the hiking too difficult