Wild West Adventure: Gila Wilderness, New Mexico

One day here and you’ll know why Aldo Leopold lobbied to make the Gila (“hee-la”) the country’s first protected wilderness, back in 1924. In late fall, embrace cool nights and comfortable days while traversing deep canyons, forested mesas, and high ridges—if you can drag yourself out of the hot springs.

- Ryan Wichelns

The insider

Author John Murray’s The Gila Wilderness: A Hiking Guide is the go-to guidebook for this 559,000-acre tract—which makes Murray the consummate expert. Murray’s been exploring the Gila for 40 years and has hiked every one of its 300-plus miles of trail and “pretty much everywhere” in between.

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