From the creosote and cholla-swept sands of the Chiricahua Desert to the pinon and ponderosa cliffs of the Gila Wilderness, this byway embodies the wild freedom expressed by Chiricahua Apache warrior Geronimo more than a century ago. 

Born in a quirky desert town built over bubbling underground hot springs, the Geronimo Trail Scenic Byway taps the largest reservoir in New Mexico before kinking its way through rugged, carved canyons, thickly wooded mountain passes, quaint villages and ghost towns to the nation’s first declared wilderness. Here, in the Gila National Forest, travelers may connect to the Trail of the Mountain Spirits Scenic Byway or retrace their steps to back to I-25.