The May 1968 issue of New Mexico Magazine has a good story and pictures on an annual jeep trip by the Las Cruces Four Wheelers and the Las Cruces Jeep Club. Fifty-five people in 17 four wheel drive vehicles, including at least one Landrover, Scout, Bronco, Flatfender and CJ-5 (several of these), made the 32 mile trip through a portion of the San Francisco River.
The article includes a map, pictures, and tales of their exploits. As you can see from the pictures, they spent plenty of time deep in water, crossing the river back and forth. The article begins on the map page (page 2). It’s a pretty large picture.
I recognized the country instantly from the photo. Been down there many times hiking and on horseback. ATV’s have trashed the place so it’s about to be closed to vehicular traffic.
The early days of exploring that area must have been amazing. I can’t say I’m surprised the place will be closed to traffic.
Hey folks. I have been going down there for 20 years and can attest that the Frisco has not been trashed by 4 wheelers,AT ALL. Indeed it would be impossible to permanently damage this area more than the US Forest Service has already succeeded in doing.
The Whitewater Baldy fire has caused massive dunes of woody vegetation, and rubble, to be deposited- particularly where the Frisco comes into Big Dry. It’s an impassable mess for our 4-wheelers and our swimming hole is barely recognizable. The reason the FS wants to close the Frisco has nothing to do with 4-wheelers and everything to do with an agenda to create more wilderness. Areas that have been closed to motorized vehicles are now overgrown, vermin infested fire hazards . If you don’t believe me go to the Bird Sanctuary and see the weedy mess for yourselves.
Furthermore,the DEIS for the Gila TMP states there is no significant damage occurring from motorized vehicles. As is the case with most disturbances in the forest, fires are the biggest culprits. I say this as I look out my window at a portion of the 300,000 acre charred landscape of the San Francisco/Whitewater watershed.
Sounds like a good excuse for Ann and I to check it out for ourselves 🙂 Thanks for the comments.
We used to run the Frisco every year once maybe twice a year. The pink jeep in the picture is our jeep. The trip is beautiful. So sorry to hear of the mess there after the fire.
Different perspectives, I reckon. The cows used to trash it, too, but better management has moved it into a more desirable weedy and vermin infested condition! Anyhoo, all that vegetation did a great deal to mitigate the damage from the recent floods, it works like “hair armor”, bending with the flow to reduce scouring. Really, I love Jeeps and I spent a good bit of time in the ’70’s driving in sensitive riparian areas myself – but cows and four-wheelers don’t have any business in stream ecosystems. No matter how much fun it is…
Because of the Mexican Black Hawk area, OHV can no longer make this trip. There is a pretty good trip off of highway 78 to the Martinez Ranch. The road hits the San Francisco just about a mile above the mouth of the Blue River. It would be a great late spring trip.