Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / New Mexico / Gila Wilderness

Middle Fork Gila to Jordan Hot Springs

Gila Wilderness, Gila National Forest (near Gila Cliff Dwellings)

Jordan Hot Springs sits beside the Middle Fork of the Gila River, a few miles inside the Gila Wilderness from the Gila Cliff Dwellings. The usual way in climbs over a low divide, drops through the short slot of Little Bear Canyon, and then wades upstream along the river.

Backpacker called it a 13.6-mile out-and-back overnighter, and noted that the 2012 fire that burned through much of the wilderness didn’t burn this route.

The hike

Start at TJ Corral, about a mile from the visitor center on the road to the Cliff Dwellings, according to the NPS day-hike handout. The Forest Service lists Little Bear Trail #729 at 4.4 miles. It climbs north over the divide between the West and Middle Forks, passes the Lilley Park Trail junction near the top, and then descends into Little Bear Canyon. The Forest Service says there is no reliable water along it.

Backpacker’s 2013 guide describes piñon-juniper grassland, a saddle at mile 1.2, and a 6,300-foot pass, the high point, about 0.3 mile later. A dry wash leads into the slot canyon, which Backpacker says is prone to flash flooding; turn back if storms threaten. A 2024 Desert Lavender trip report found the climb hot and exposed over dark basalt, with a small waterfall and seep springs in the canyon, and reached the river at 4.25 miles.

At the Middle Fork, turn left (upstream). The NPS handout puts the springs 2.5 miles up with 15 crossings, and Backpacker found the water shin- to knee-deep. Desert Lavender reported waist-high New Mexico raspberry and wild grape along the banks, and beaver dams that have pushed parts of the trail onto new routes. Gila Trails Info noted in December 2024 that the dams had made travel harder and the crossing deeper.

The springs are on the north side, a short way up from the river past a marshy, grassy seep, according to the NPS handout and The Outbound. Backpacker described three pools about 50 feet above the river, the largest about 20 feet across and 3 feet deep. NPS gives the water as about 90°F.

You can also walk out the long way. From the Little Bear junction, the NPS handout says it is about 6 miles and “dozens of river crossings” down the Middle Fork to the Middle Fork Trailhead at the visitor center, then a mile of road back to TJ Corral. Near that trailhead, Light Feather Hot Springs comes out of the ground at about 140°F, hot enough to burn skin, NPS warns.

To keep going upstream to The Meadows and loop back by the West Fork, see the Gila Middle Fork–West Fork Loop.

Tips

Camping

No permit is needed for backpackers, according to NPS; organized groups need a Forest Service permit. NPS asks you to camp at least 200 feet from any spring (hot or cold), stream, or trail, on high ground with no sign of flooding, and away from archaeological sites. Hang food at least 10 feet up and 4 feet out. Forest Order 03-06-00-25-002 (through May 18, 2027) limits camping to 14 days in any 30. The forest lifted all fire restrictions on July 20, 2026; NPS asks that you use only dead and down wood, build no new fire rings, and scatter old ones. Treat all water.

Inside Intel: Backpacker’s 2013 guide pointed to several established sites at about mile 6.8 and suggested water from the small creek just west of camp when the river runs muddy. Desert Lavender’s 2024 group found sites scarce above the springs and recommended one about a mile upstream, next to the river and hidden from the trail.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

15 crossings to Jordan Hot Springs:

The NPS handout counts 15 Middle Fork crossings in the 2.5 miles up to Jordan Hot Springs, shin- to knee-deep for Backpacker, and beaver dams have deepened them. Our five tips cover footwear and when to turn back.

Read the crossing tips →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.