About Wolfhorse Outfitters Guides & Location
WolfHorse Outfitters presents a Native historical and indigenous perspective of American western history, with a deep respect and appreciation of a sacred relationship with the natural resources, once preserved and protected by Ndé ancestors.
Whether it is a Day Ride, Hiking Tour, Multi-Day Pack Trip or Adventure Ride, or Horseback Lesson, each and every participant has a uniquely personalized experience. Using detailed reservation information and good communication with participants about their desires and goals, WolfHorse Outfitter guides very thoughtfully customize each booking. For horseback lessons––from beginners to advanced––safety, relational horse husbandry, and enjoyment are high priorities.
Participants enjoy the very best of Mother Earth’s offerings–––for that season, the weather, the time of day/night, the length of trip/tour/lesson, and the skill-level of participants. With personalized horseback riding lessons, restricting trips to no more than 4 people, and group hiking/backpacking tours to no more than 10, every participant gets individual attention and empowering guidance into wilderness discovery.
WolfHorse Joe Saenz is of Huichol and Tci-He-Nde (Red Paint People) ancestry. He provides extensive guiding experience in horseback and backpacking expeditions. His experience extends throughout the American and Canadian Rocky Mountains, Mexico’s Northern Sierra Madre, and Alaskan Brooks Range. He shares the wisdom of Apache lifeways teachings in all tours and trips. Joe continues the Apache traditional environmental stewardship of Nde Benah.
Learn more about WolfHorse Joe Saenz in New Mexico Magazine, "Listening to the Land".
The Gila National Forest is located within the ancestral lands of the Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache Nde and encompasses three wilderness areas: the Gila; the Aldo Leopold; and the Blue Range. Soaring eagles, hawks, heron and kingfishers grace the sky, while deer, elk, antelope, black bear, cougar, lynx, bighorn sheep, wolf, coyote and javelina haunt the shadows of the forests, meadows and canyons.
Located in southwest New Mexico, the Gila Wilderness is America’s first and largest designated wilderness. At 3.3 million acres, the Gila National Forest offers one the continent’s most pristine and wild areas known today. Elevations range from desert at 4,500 feet, to alpine at 11,000 feet. The Gila River’s immense watershed system creates valleys, mesas, and canyons only imagined in dreams.
This beautiful area has immense variety in terrain: more than 1,400 miles of trails; ancient cliff dwellings; four of the six life zones (areas with similar plant and animal communities); hot springs; 360 miles of streams; and five lakes. The northeastern and far eastern sections of the Wilderness tend to consist of high mesas and rolling hills, ranging in elevation from approximately 5,000 to 8,000 feet and cut by the deep canyons of the Gila River. The vegetation there consists primarily of mixed junipers and pinyon pines, grasses, and at the higher elevations and on northern slopes, ponderosa pines. Vast stands of ponderosas cover the central part of the Wilderness in this area. The river canyons offer spectacular cliffs, with mixed hardwoods and ponderosa pine growing along the riparian bottoms. The far western and southwestern sections of the Gila Wilderness consist of high mountains, particularly the Mogollon Range, with the highest elevation reaching 10,895 feet. Steep side canyons are common, and vegetation includes Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, aspens and a variety of ferns. The area includes the drainage basins of both Mogollon Creek and Turkey Creek.
Apache People were created here and have inhabited these sacred mountains, valleys and canyons throughout time. The Ndé (Tci-He-Nde, Tsoka-Ne-Nde, Bidanku, Ndé-Nda-i) Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache People, predate all other cultures in the area. Traveling through Dzil (sacred mountains of the Gila region) offers opportunities to discuss living conditions, survival philosophies and history of the Apache.
Ndé’s fierce defense and mobile lifestyle allowed this region to flourish and exist in harmony for countless generations in its purest essence. The ancient Pueblo cultures of the Gila Cliff Dwellings attempted to settle this region, unsuccessfully. In more recent history, well-known Apache band leaders, war leaders, and warriors, like Mangas Coloradas, Cochise, Nana, Loco, Victorio, Naiche, Chihuahua, Geronimo, Porico, and Lozen, joined forces to drive all intruders from these sacred grounds.
Experienced and dedicated WolfHorse Outfitters guides bring visitors into the living history of this beautiful, nurturing, and sacred land.
WolfHorse Outfitters Base Camp, 125 Arenas Valley Road, Arenas Valley, NM
Driving Directions from Silver City Head East out of Silver City on Highway 180. Go past the light at 32 Street by-pass. Continue East on Highway 180 approximately 1.5 miles.
At that point, on your right you will see a sign for Whiskey Creek Airport / Kirkland Road. Immediately get in the left lane, continuing East on Highway 180. You will see the U-Stor-It storage facility. Just across from the storage facility is Arenas Valley Road. Turn onto Arenas Valley Road where you will be heading North, toward the mountains.
Continue on Arenas Valley Road for 1.2 miles until you arrive at some large Cottonwood and Elm trees at the second arroyo crossing. Turn left at the sign WolfHorse Outfitters 125 Arenas Valley Road.
From there, drop into dry arroyo, cross the arroyo, take the right fork, go through the portal to an open grassy area where you will arrive at WolfHorse Outfitters’ structure painted turquoise with deep forest green trim.
We will be waiting for you.
Map to WolfHorse Outfitters Base Camp
Woody’s Corral Trailhead by Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument
Typically, WolfHorse Outfitters multi-day pack trips meet at Woody’s Corral Trailhead off of Highway 15 by the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. Ample parking is available. Please note that NO CELL SERVICE IS AVAILABLE once you pass Pinos Altos, NM.
Distance from Silver City and Gila Cliff Dwellings is 40 miles, but allow for drive time of approximately 2 hours. WolfHorse Outfitters Day Rides and Hiking/Backpacking Tours generally leave from our Base Camp. Typically our pack trips head into the wilderness from Woody’s Corral Trailhead off of Highway 15 by the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. Ample parking is available. Please note that NO CELL SERVICE IS AVAILABLE once you pass Pinos Altos, NM.
Distance from Silver City and Gila Cliff Dwellings is 40 miles, but allow for drive time of approximately 2 hours.
Woody's Corral in the Gila National Forest is a one-stop shop. This beautiful area has immense variety in terrain: more than 1,400 miles of trails; ancient cliff dwellings; four of the six life zones (areas with similar plant and animal communities); hot springs; 360 miles of streams; and five lakes.
Woody's Corral is in the Gila National Forest (575/388-8201; www.fs.usda.gov/gila) near the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, 44 miles north of Silver City, New Mexico, on Highway 15. Woody’s Corral is about a two-hour drive from Silver City.
The roads are very windy, and the last five miles are extremely steep! Be forewarned: This isn’t a road for worn-out brakes.
The Gila National Forest contains the nation’s first designated wilderness; the Gila Wilderness Area. We have Aldo Leopold to thank for this 558,000-acre wilderness. Leopold was a United States Forest Service employee who worked tirelessly through conservation efforts to safeguard the Gila forest.
Today, the Gila National Forest encompasses three wilderness areas: the Gila; the Aldo Leopold; and the Blue Range.
Silver City Sun-News, September 17, 2020 by Staff
SILVER CITY – Silver City and the Gila Forest are at the center of the Nde Benah — traditional homelands of the Chiricahua Apache. From the mid 1800s to the early 1900s, Apache bands living in the area were scattered, executed or sent to distant lands to perish. Chiricahua Apache Nation Nantan (President) Joe Saenz, historical consultant Doug Dinwiddie, and Dale Giese of the Fort Bayard Historical Society offer insights on the return of Apaches to the Gila region and the plans to establish a Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache headquarters at Fort Bayard where the Apache can sustain and celebrate their heritage and again be a voice for protecting their original territory. [MORE]
GMCR/KURU 89.1 Gila Mimbres Community Radio 3rd Monday of Each Month from 10a-11a Mountain Time
In honor and support of the Chiricahua Apache Nation, Joe will present current Native issues, Apache Culture & History, personal stories, special guests, music & more! This is a new radio show which is part of Kindred Continuum – a weekly program on KURU 89.1FM created by Laura Ramnarace. Tune in and join Joe for Smoke Signals!
GMCR/KURU 89.1 Gila Mimbres Community Radio
Tread lightly on the Earth featuring Joe Saenz – Nantan of Chiricahua Apache Nation, Owner and Operator of Wolf Horse Outfitters, and member of the Apache Red Paint Tribal Council and Mountain Horse Singers. Dr Kim McCreery – co-producer of Earth Matters and Regional Director/Staff Scientist of New Mexico Wilderness Alliance – hosts this weeks program and they discuss the sacred Apache connection to the land, the wild Gila, predators, and the Gila River. They also discuss two important upcoming events here in Silver City that Joe will be participating in – Community Development, Tourism, and Public Lands – an economic forum – and Red Paint Powwow and Indian Market. Earth Matters airs Tuesday & Thursday at 10am and 8pm or you can click below to listen anytime to Earth Matters / Joe Saenz
Horse & Rider, September 17, 2020
by Roseanne Florey
Saddle up and ride into the Gila Wilderness with Wolfhorse Outfitters, an outfit run by Joe Saenz, an Apache who specializes in taking out small groups and teaching survival skills.
I’m always keeping my eye out for an adventure, and I found one with Wolfhorse Outfitters, out of Silver City, New Mexico. It’s an outfit run by Joe Saenz, an Apache who specializes in taking small groups into the Gila Wilderness. We chose his Drag the Wolf Trail ride that goes into the Gila National Forest. Named after an Apache War Party code, this ride teaches survival skills. A maximum of four riders go out for at least five days. [MORE]
The New York Times, September 20, 2013
By Zora O’Neill
…on a hike with Joe Saenz, a local Chiricahua Apache guide who led us into the juniper-dotted hills of the national forest, his backyard and ancestral home. As we walked, Mr. Saenz told us how the Apache purposely left no trace on the land, quite the opposite of Silver’s “built to last” ethos. “They could’ve learned from us,” he said, wryly, referring to the white Americans who took over. “We could’ve taught them how not to overgraze. There might still be ranching here.”
Like everyone else we’d met in Silver City, Mr. Saenz was also interested in food. He showed us how to find the sweetest juniper berries, and pointed out where elk had nibbled the tender shoots of datil yucca. Read Full Article
Q Magazine Vol 3.2, University of Illinois December 19, 2019
By Jenna Kurtzweil
"…It's our homeland. This is our traditional country. The history that you have been told has been a lie, regarding our occupation and our presence here. …We have been here much longer than anybody realizes," [Joe Saenz] he said. “Our history, and our understanding, and our knowledge, and our relationship with this land has never changed.
"What we believe is that there is a reason why the Gila is the last free-flowing river in the state, and why the Apaches here were the last tribe to be settled."
The Gila Wilderness — “center of the ‘northern stronghold’ and traditional ‘summer grounds’” for the Chiricahua Apache —
was permanently colonized by Europeans in the late 1800s. After centuries of conflict with Mexican, Spanish, and European forces,
20 years of intense warfare with the U.S. military, and Geronimo’s surrender in 1886, “the Chiricahua tribe was evacuated from the
West and held as prisoners of war … in Florida, in Alabama, and at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.” Now, “greater numbers (return)
to (the Chiricahua Apaches’) traditional territory every year.” Saenz considers himself a part of this return,
bound for reclamation and recovery.
[READ FULL ARTICLE]
Albuquerque, NM
YouTube, March 9, 2012
Explore on horseback our Nations first proclaimed wilderness, New Mexico’s Gila National Forest, from the unique perspective of your guide Joe Saenz, a Chiricahua Apache Indian and owner of WolfHorse Outfitters.
A panel discussion and presentation by the Silver City Museum, Chiricahua Apache Nation President Joe Saenz gave a talk about the return of the Apache to their homeland here in the Gila. He was joined by historical consultant Doug Dinwiddie, and Dale Giese of the Fort Bayard Historical Society.
Silver City and the Gila forest are at the center of the Nde Benah – traditional homelands of the Chiricahua Apache. From the mid 1800s to the early 1900s, Apache bands living in the area were scattered, executed, or sent to distant lands to perish. Presenters discuss plans to establish a Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache headquarters at Fort Bayard where the Apache can sustain and celebrate their heritage and again be a voice for protecting their original territory.
March 9, 2021 Silver City Daily Press
As part of the annual World Water Day celebration, the Silver City Watershed Keepers and Gila Resources Information Project will host two events that
highlight “how we value water in our community”
WolfHorse Outfitters Day Tours: A must do – See 20 traveller reviews, 14 candid photos, and great deals for Silver City, NM, at Tripadvisor.
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Saenz’s Wolfhorse Outfitters never takes a group larger than four, in order to ensure an intense, intimate education that’s both cultural and natural. But what …
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Take a wildlife tour at WolfHorse Outfitters Day Tours, United States. Get details of location & timings for better planning. Find reviews, ratings & map of nearby …
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Individuals seeking advanced horse husbandry and Apache-guided wilderness experience through volunteering or apprenticeships are encouraged to connect with WolfHorse Outfitters. Please reach out to us with your interest.