Led by Double E Ranch Staff member, Mark Rinsler, or another qualified Double E Ranch Staff member, you'll travel by horseback from Ranch Headquarters to explore and experience the majestic beauty of the Gila Region: creeks, canyons, meadows and mesas, wildlife, plants and Native Ruins.

An avid horseman, Mark is also extremely knowledgeable about the history, flora and wildlife in the area.  When he is not in the saddle exploring new horse trails, he is out hiking through the canyons and valleys of the Gila Region in his quest to find hidden Native American sites.  There are several interesting sites easily reached along your journey. With a degree in cultural anthropology and a Masters in Journalism, Mark is relentless in his desire to learn about the history of the Old West and share it with you, the world of nature in the Southwest and Native American Culture in the Gila Wilderness region. 

Mark  will reveal some of the most stunning wilderness vistas imaginable!  Uncover and explore the history of ancient Native American village sites located along Bear Creek.  Your horse will be steady and sure-footed, willing to carry you there and beyond. Gila Wilderness Expeditions uses horses which are seasoned and safe in the mountains and rocky, rugged terrain of southwestern New Mexico and the Gila National Forest Region. 

The Gila Wilderness and Gila National Forest was the home of the ancient people, the Mimbres.  Allow yourself a glimpse of the homes and lives of the people of the Mogollon culture who lived in the Gila Wilderness Region from the 1280s through the early 1300s. The surroundings probably look today very much like they did when the cliff dwellings were inhabited. It is surrounded by the Gila National Forest and lies at the edge of the Gila Wilderness, the nation's first designated wilderness area.  This designation means that the wilderness character of the area will not be altered by the intrusion of roads or other evidence of human presence.  The area in which you will explore is now known as The Double E Ranch. 

Pre-Historic Cultures...before the Apaches, the region was home to the Mimbrenos, an advanced pre-historic Indian culture. Highly artistic, they are known for their  exquisite black-on-white pottery featuring nature motifs.  The Mimbres made their homes farming and hunting along the Gila River and Bear Creek, living in pit houses, shallow caves and small cliff dwellings. Earlier Indian cultures most certainly lived in the area. Limited evidence of hunting by the earliest inhabitants (9500-6000BC) has been found in several highland areas. Widespread evidence of the Archaic Culture, which is considered part of the Cochise Culture dating from 6000 BC to 300 AD, has been found in the region.  The sites you will visit are all located on Double E Ranch and privately protected. 

The Mimbres Valley region is historically significant primarily because of the Mimbres Indians who lived here almost a thousand years ago. The Mimbres people are an enigma to archeologists, because they can only speculate about their beginnings and especially about their ultimate fate.  The Mimbres culture was relatively isolated in southwestern New Mexico and eastern Arizona. It reached its zenith about C.E. 1050 in the Mimbres river valley 20 miles east of Silver City, New Mexico. Resource stress (sound familiar?) caused by overpopulation, drought and pressure (perhaps) from the emerging Chichimec Casas Grande power base, 100 miles to the south, put them out of business by 1130 C.E. They appear to have been a peaceful bunch with regular contact with other contemporaneous Southwestern cultures (Anasazi, Mogollon Tularosa, Hohokam and the Chichimec trading cultures).

Archeologists believe the Mimbres culture evolved from the Mogollon culture, which itself possibly evolved from the Anasazi and/or the Hohokam cultures. During the Mimbres phase, the move was made from pit houses, to semi-pit houses, and then to above ground pueblos. The dead were often buried under the floor inside the house, with a pot covering their head. The big puzzle is what happened to the Mimbres people. It is speculated that the original Mimbrenos moved away, and were integrated into other cultures, possibly to the south. It is not likely that they were driven from the area by warfare, as evidence points to an exodus extending over a period of years.

Mimbres pottery is the most famous artifact of the Mimbres culture. Pottery was made in plain and corrugated brown clay, polychrome, black and red, and the famous black and white. The black and white pottery usually depicted animals encountered in daily life, daily routines, or geometric designs. Cranes, turkeys, fish, mosquitoes or hummingbirds, small mammals, and humans often grace Mimbres pottery.  The expertise of the Mimbres potters is considered superior to that of any other Native American potters. A characteristic of pots found associated with a burial is that of the "kill hole".  A piece was broken out of the bottom of the pot. It is postulated that this might have been to release the soul of the deceased.  Approximately 10,000 ceramic bowls have been unearthed and easily that many remain buried in hundreds of small ruins located where ever water was regularly found.