Mineral Creek isn't suitable for boating, but hikers will enjoy the dramatic cliffs, rock towers, caves, and small waterfalls found along this free-flowing tributary to the San Francisco River. The lower portion of the canyon in particular is one of the most aesthetically interesting and unique canyons in the region. Here, visitors hike up the creek bed, which is also the trail in many sections, requiring constant creek crossings and rock hoppings to ascend the canyon.
Thanks to perennial water, the area hosts an impressive array of wildlife, including mountain lion, black bear, bobcat, coyote, deer, elk, turkey, and the endangered Mexican gray wolf. Birding is popular in the area with reports of the threatened Mexican spotted owl. Since 2010, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish has been stocking Mineral Creek with threatened Gila trout. Intrepid anglers report nice-sized trout in the creek.
Ecologically diverse, Mineral Creek hosts forests of ponderosa pine, piñon-juniper woodlands, and riparian forests of cottonwoods, as well as sycamores, alder, box elder, walnuts, and willows. Gambel oak, aspen, and Douglas fir can all be found in the uplands.
The well-established Mineral Creek Trail requires some hiking along rock slabs along the creek and leads through narrows of salmon-colored rhyolite cliffs and towers and over stretches of warm slickrock past several small waterfalls dripping with bright algae. Cliffs rise hundreds of feet into the sky, sheltering the canyon from the hot summer sun. The hike requires several minor creek crossings as well as wading in certain short sections. Exercise caution for flash floods during spring runoff and summer monsoon season.
The trail passes the ruins of Cooney, an old mining settlement. Little remains of Cooney save some scattered chunks of wood and metal, brick, piping, a concrete foundation, and nails. These are not the only signs of human activity in the canyon, however. Archaeological research indicates that Mineral Creek has been utilized by Indigenous people for at least 10,000 years and probably far longer.
The Mineral Creek area is ideal for hiking, backpacking, hunting, fishing, geology viewing, and other recreational opportunities for those seeking remote and wild experiences.
