Golden
Link Falls
From
this best view point we could find, we could not see the bottom of 200’ high Golden
Link Falls.
note the angled
fallen fir tree in the upper right-hand corner of this photo... it is a 40
footer.
70’
high Lower Golden Link Falls
is a couple hundred
yards downstream... it takes a lot of “body juice” to climb to where these
falls can be photographed.
The best place to view Golden
Link Falls is from on top of the canyon rim northwest of the falls about 100 to
200 yards away.
beta facts:
name- Golden Link Falls
height- upper falls – 200’ the lower is 70’ high
elevation- 8600’
and 8200’
GPS coordinates- ±33°17.528’N 108°41.955’W
flow- perennial
best season- wet times like Memorial Day of a
wet year or July and August rainy season
accommodations- Gila Wilderness
ownership- Gila National Forest
access- 8 miles on trail
with some bushwhacking and game trails
nearest town- Glenwood is about 10 miles west of
here
fun fact- Gila high country’s BEST…!!!!! …but
hard to get to…!!!!!
Here
is a special flow reference: This photo above was taken at noon on May 19,
2010. That day the Mogollon Creek Water
Flow Gage was at 40 cfs.
This information will help
you gauge the moisture content of the area to get a feel for how the good falls
will be flowing.
See: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nm/nwis/uv/?site_no=09430600&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060
essay bro
Big Dry Creek in the high Mogollon
Mountains is as rough of country as New Mexico has. I have both hiked and floated the Grand
Canyon and I declare upper Big Dry Creek an equal in it’s grandeur.
We lost count of 15 to 40 foot high waterfalls as we engineered our way
up thru the 1200’ high Big Dry Creek Cascades.
This steady string of waterfalls is almost one-mile long and provides a
“canyoneering” experience second to none.
From Golden Link Cabin, five hundred to one
thousand feet high, sheer-walled terraces climb peaks towering more than a
half-mile overhead. This is as grand as
mother Earth gets. The four hundred foot
free-falling ribbon of lace called Chasm Falls
cascades into this canyon from the south... in splendor that very few know New
Mexico even has.
Golden Link Creek enters Big Dry Creek from
the north, just above Big Dry Falls. It
has two high waterfalls of it’s
own 70’ high Lower Golden Link Falls and 200’ high Golden Link Falls. Golden Link Creek’s lower half-mile is all
steep whitewater that cataracts thru a 600’ deep twisting Chasm... with
awe-inspiring wild grandeur. More
waterfalls wait to be found up each of the three creeks that desend the north slopes of 10,658’ Sacaton
Peak.
Hanging Rock Trail and Silver Drip Trail
are the two most direct routes into the upper Big Dry Creek drainage. Both have been abandon
by the National Forest Service. We will
soon loose these “two most spactacular trails of the
Gila Wilderness”. They are both marked
on the map below as “unmaintained trail”.
If we outdoor-people use these trails and care
for them each time we hike them... they will be preserved... otherwise they
will be lost.
Golden Link Falls is found on
the right-hand side of this map below
For a new
updated and much enlarged map of this area click here
Enhanced
USGS 7.5’ topo map
________ONE MILE_______
Upper Big Dry Creek has one of the finest collection
of waterfalls in New Mexico...!!!
Send questions and comments to dscott@TheMarbleSculptor.com