Fig. 1The Gila River in Lower Box Canyon
Photo: Mike Howard; Bureau of Land Management · Public domain
Landform
The first wilderness in the world, designated in 1924 at Aldo Leopold’s urging. Ponderosa benches, a canyon-cut plateau, and the Gila River’s three forks.
Field note
Leopold asked that one country be left without a road. The Gila still answers. Cliff dwellings sit in the south; trout water in the forks. Ponderosa parkland smells of vanilla in June.
