Gilman Tunnels reopen after rock slide-related maintenance work

JEMEZ SPRINGS — You can once again drive into the Jemez through the Gilman Tunnels on scenic N.M. 485 to FR 376. After repeated rock slides, the tunnels and access to the Jemez recreation area along the road from the south were blocked in October, but it reopened to traffic May 22.

“The Jemez Ranger District experienced a storm event in 2022 that caused considerable rock fall at the Gilman Tunnels. At that time, we identified the need to schedule periodic maintenance to mitigate rockfall hazards and ensure this popular destination can be enjoyed by future generations,” said Jemez District Ranger Jeremy Golston of the Santa Fe National Forest in an email.

The area closed in October to shore up the walls of the tunnels and the surrounding area.

“The two narrow and unusually high tunnels were cut through Precambrian granite in the 1920s to facilitate passage of logging trains through this particularly rugged and constricted section of Guadalupe Canyon, known as the Guadalupe Box,” according to the website of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources. “Logs that were harvested in the western Jemez Mountains in the 1920s were taken by narrow-gauge railroad to a sawmill in Bernalillo. The tunnels were enlarged in the 1930s to accommodate logging trucks. Logs were hauled out of the mountains and then loaded on trains at Gilman logging camp, which was established in 1937 about two miles south of the tunnels. The railroad was shut down by flooding along the Jemez and Guadalupe Rivers in 1941. The highway now occupies the old railroad bed.”

FR 376 is still closed north of N.M. 126, so people will still need to hike in to reach San Antonio Hot Springs trailhead.