7 minute read

TRAIL TOWNS

By Danielle Krolewicz

3796 NM-15, Mimbres, NM 88049

Ancestral land of the Chiricahua Apache

Population: Estimated 30 year-round residents

An hour and a half drive from Silver City, a winding road through the Mimbres Valley leads to Doc Campbell’s Post, a general store located along Highway 15. The Post sits directly on the Gila River Alternate of the Continental Divide Trail, one of the CDT’s most popular alternates taken by roughly 90 percent of all hikers. Doc Campbell’s Post is an essential stop in an otherwise very remote area.

When the Post’s owner and founder Dawson “Doc” Campbell moved to the valley in 1940, the “drive” took about eight hours because there were only wagon roads to follow. The road dead ends farther down at the Gila Cliff Dwellings, though for hikers traveling by foot, the five-mile trip takes closer to two hours.

Cliff Dwellings

According to the National Park Service website, “For thousands of years, groups of nomads used the caves above Cliff Dweller Creek as temporary shelter. In the late 1200s, people of the agricultural Mogollon (Southern Ancestral Pueblo) culture made it a home. They built rooms, crafted pottery, and raised children in the cliff dwellings for one or two generations. By approximately 1300, the Mogollon had moved on, leaving the walls behind.”

The Gila Cliff Dwellings were established as a National Monument on November 16, 1907, and it’s largely because of these dwellings that Doc Campbell’s

Post even exists. To understand Doc Campbell’s, it’s important to understand the history of the Campbell family, starting with Doc (and no, he wasn’t a doctor, no one knows exactly where the nickname came from).

Family History

Campbell moved to New Mexico at the age of seventeen from Pennsylvania, seeking refuge from hay fever. After working for years as a ranch hand, he saved up enough money to purchase the 320-acre Gila Hot Springs Ranch, from which he operated a guiding service to the surrounding ruins.

Although the remoteness of the undeveloped area prevented many from visiting the dwellings, people still found a way, and in 1942 Campbell was appointed nominal custodian of the National Monument, due largely to increased vandalism to the site. In the proceeding years, he worked to document and preserve the area, and in 1955 he was hired as its first seasonal ranger. When construction finally began on Highway 15, the road that would connect Highway 35 to the cliff dwellings, Campbell retired to prepare his business for the expected surge of tourists in 1962. In 1964, he opened Doc Campbell’s Post. The building is heated with water from the nearby hot springs, and cold water comes from the cooling ponds.

“It was open really only during summer months when there was fishing out here and then when there was a jeep group coming through,” said Kristy Lopez, Doc Campbell’s granddaughter. “They mostly sold fishing gear, souvenirs, and the grill—that was it for a while.”

Doc and his wife ran the store for ten years before selling it to Lopez’s aunt and uncle in the 70’s, and they ran it for the next 45 years. Lopez and her husband, Mike, purchased the establishment in 2018. Lopez, who was born in the valley, moved away when she was eight years old, but returned in 2016 with her three children to work at the store before taking it over.

As a retired Army Veteran, Mike believed in the importance of the outdoors, which became a driving factor in the couple’s decision to buy the business.

“The whole reason we came out here was [because] we have a heart for the outdoors. [Mike] spent most of his military years in special ops. There’s something very healing about the outdoors,” Lopez explained.

“We wanted to lead family retreats that catered to wounded vets, and any time we can encourage anybody to be outside and in nature and to slow down a little bit is what we want to do,” Lopez added.

Ch-ch-ch-changes, and Challenges

This year marks 60 years of the Post, and a lot has changed since it opened, and the development of the road led to an increased number of visitors. In 1955, just 711 people toured the site, compared to 24,000 in 1966. Now, roughly 50,000 people annually visit. In addition to CDT hikers, Doc’s is an outpost for jeeps, locals, tourists, snowbirds, car campers, and rafters— all with differing resupply needs, all of which Lopez tries to meet to the best of her ability.

“I remember the hikers coming in and they needed the one-liter Smart water bottles and a couple of other things, but my uncle didn’t want to cater to anybody. He was done, but I started taking notes,” Lopez remembered.

“Before we bought the store, I think there were maybe 40 resupply boxes that came in during the season. They just sat them on the stairs and [hikers] picked them up,” she recalled. During the 2023 season, Lopez reported that they held 375 boxes—not including small envelopes or letters.

Water in the Gila

According to locals, the Gila River is not safe to cross if it’s more than 200 cubic feet per second (cfs). However, the water levels can fluctuate greatly from week to week, and even day to day.

“[Hikers] will call me in March, wanting to know the water levels for April, but it really depends on the weather. When there’s an El Nino and La Nina, that does make a big difference in our moisture and our river levels,” she said. “It worries me because these same people are planning their hike from blog posts from 2016.”

“If we get a lot of rain in the high country, it will be flooding. We’ve had it in March where it’s 2,700 cfs— that’s major flooding which makes the rafters super happy, but not so good for the hikers.”

During another year, there was a “freak rain” in the spring where the Gila peaked at 1000 cfs for three days straight before it dropped. Two years ago, it never got high and was crossable the whole year. “That’s what makes it so hard to predict,” said Lopez.

“We always encourage the first [hikers] that hit Pie Town and go through to put details [on FarOut and Facebook] about how the trail and the river levels are,” she said. “[Because] it’s probably not going to be the same as last year, or the one before.”

Hiker Services: Know Before You Go

Hikers should be prepared by researching ahead of time—there’s still no cell coverage in the valley, and although wi-fi can be found in parts, it’s not reliable. Hikers choosing the Gila Alternate should come prepared with patience.

In addition to trying to help hikers plan by monitoring the Gila’s flow, Doc Campbell’s offers a variety of services to hikers. Showers are $5 + tax, laundry is $1.50 to wash and $1.50 to dry per load. Resupply boxes are currently $6 each, but larger boxes are more.

“We have to pay by the pound to dump and haul all [of] our trash, so the box fees offset the cost to dump and maintain the trash trailer and truck used to haul it.” If you choose not to send a box, there’s a selection of hiker-specific foods and supplies available for purchase.

Although Doc’s doesn’t offer overnight camping or a hiker box, hikers can find both of those things at either the Gila Hot Springs Campground or the Gila Hot Springs Ranch.

Whether you stop for an afternoon, a night, or a few, remember the big picture—this is their home, not yours, so treat it with respect. And then treat yourself to some homemade ice cream.

Learn more about the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument here.

Lend a hand for the trails you love. We are seeking volunteers for the 2024 season! Find a project near you, and join a community of trail enthusiasts on the Divide this summer. More info: continentaldividetrail.org/volunteer

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