Page 93 - Volume 3 - Walks In The Black Range

28. Rabb Canyon Box Contributed by Devon Fletcher
The hike begins about 3.4 miles west of the (now closed) Lower Gallinas Campground. There are large pullouts on both sides of the road for parking. The old, narrow and steep road which starts at the pullout on the north side runs alongside NM 152 briefly, then heads northeast before turning back to the northwest, descending rapidly most of the way. It is pleasant walking in the piñons, junipers and ponderosa pines. There
was even a trickle of springtime water here and there running over the bedrock. In about a mile we were in the canyon bottom right at the Rabb and Noonday confluence.
Looking up Rabb Creek,
there's more to this mostly
treeless section that lasts
for over a mile than one
might think given the
elevation (6,400 feet) and
the location in the very dry
Black Range. I noticed that
surface flow was limited to
a shallow channel a few
feet wide, but the ground
was soggy over a wider
area and was green with
moss and other clipped
greenery. There was an
occasional bit of bunch
grass that had grown up
high, and if the summer
rains go well the "stream"
itself is invisible amidst
four foot high grasses
come the Fall, as I had seen
it in October. I speculated
that the lack of trees along
the stream might have as much to do with the saturated ground as with persistent heavy grazing.
Further on we found a small wet meadow area, degraded for sure, but still green and surviving. Soon after that we came upon many seeping springs (Valentine Spring) coming out of the low cliffs on the west side of the stream and a trickling waterfall from a side canyon (most likely spring fed as well) that filled a deep pool. We had already seen several deep pools (2 - 4 feet deep) fed by subsurface flow in the slow moving creek, and as we moved into the box canyon carved into the bedrock, the pools got deeper still.
There were little falls that we had to scramble around as we listened to their music in the previously nearly silent stream.
Eventually we came to boulder strewn area that was an obstacle to continuing with our short legged dogs, plus there was little room to maneuver on the stream sides that didn't involve hopping from rock to rock. Willows now grew and the grasses were thick in this stretch that is difficult for cattle to enter and the still pools looked to be over my head. It was warm, and had it been a little hotter we might have been tempted to get right in one of them.
The alternate way into the Rabb Creek Box, is to start out on the well known Rabb Park Trail (FT 747) either from the
rough parking and camping area right off NM 152 (see Noonday Box for directions) or by making the really rough drive to the dispersed camping area .75 miles beyond where the trail actually begins.
I've been on this one a couple times before, so I knew what to expect, another Gila National Forest uphill both ways special. FT 747 starts with a rough steep climb on loose gravel and rock, followed by a pretty leisurely stroll on the ridge top and then a long descent through a side canyon down into Rabb Park, which meant a long, slow ascent, a pleasant stroll, and a slippery descent on the return trip.
I was in Rabb Canyon in 47 minutes. Instead of heading upstream, following the trail to the park, I turned left and
began boulder hopping and scrambling around the deep pools of tea colored water. I stepped lightly through the tall grass that made the runs in between nearly invisible even though the trickling sound was always there.
Early on I inadvertently disturbed a red tail hawk at close quarters as it drank from the stream. Flying up to a juniper on the hillside, it let me know its displeasure with a few grouchy screeches. Down and down I went. Pale frogs scooted about on the bottom of the still pools that had only the thinnest layers of silt and organic material covering the bedrock. Piles of sticks and branches on the low benches streamside made it clear that when this narrowest section of the stream floods the water has no place to go but up.