CDT JOY: Gila Wilderness – The Hike

Day 121: 26.7 miles

Highlights: Savannah. Snow lake. Crossing the Gila.

This morning I was back at my normal wake time and woke up to frozen chunks in the mud from my overnight breakfast and ice crystals in my water bottles. I ate the mud and then made some hot tea to warm myself up.

Midnight, Whiskers and I sat in our sleeping bags for a few minutes longer than usual not wanting to go out into the cold to use the bathroom and pack up. We left the camp shortly before 7 in the morning and began to go down another dirt road.

We had a magical trail from a hunter who offered us Gatorade and a Pepsi and then we went down to the first water source, which was a solar tank. The water filtered clear but had an earthy cow smell and taste. I tried masking it with a sweet tea drink mix and it didn’t really work.

At 11:11 we stopped to make a wish and then had a musical party along the way. We were so in the music zone that we missed a trail junction and again found ourselves about a mile off the trail.

We took the opportunity to go for a hike and watched the landscape change from forest to open fields and savanna. The clouds came out and we had a delicious lunch next to a lone alligator juniper tree.

I wasn’t expecting the change in scenery but it was a refreshing difference from the forest we’ve had for several days.

Views of the savannah on the trail

From Savannah we headed into the canyon and crossed the middle fork of the Gila River, which was dry. The trail followed the canyon and then joined a dirt road that led to Snow Lake.

At the lake we had dinner with another group of hikers and then hiked again at sunset. From this lake it was the first time we crossed the waters of the Gila River.

Dinner with Whiskers, Pyro, Ribbed, Cal, I’ll Be and Midnight

We hiked at night for 3 miles and headed to a flat area near the trail under some pine trees. I changed into my night clothes, enjoyed some hot tea and went to bed for the night.

Day 122: 46.7 miles

Highlights: Gila High Route. Jordan hot springs

Today I put on my waterproof socks to try them out on the Gila. Yesterday I was dry from rock jumping, but there was no way around the fact that I would get my feet wet today.

For the first hour we were strategic about where we would place our feet to avoid the freezing water before the sun entered the canyon, but then we crossed several areas that had been dammed by beavers and walked through thigh-deep water to reach the trail in and out of the river.

We took a lunch break near a junction and dried our feet and gear when I woke up this morning to frost covering my sleeping quilt.

After lunch we took the junction to the High Gila Trail to have some dry-footed time and see if we could spot any wild animals like a Gila monster, mountain lion, or gray wolf.

We didn’t see any of those, but we did come across a cool tarantula and a beaver or badger. The high route took us through a pine forest and past a cool cabin before connecting with another junction and we walked in a zigzag pattern to the Gila River.

There are so many tiny plants around here, and I keep getting spikes of plant matter embedded in my clothes. There are black needle-like thorns and some spiked disco balls from other plants that unknowingly stick to you and push you around until you remove them.

My socks on the road with black needles like thorns

We decided to take a night hike to get to Jordan Springs and had dinner by a fire made by other hiking friends. We then crossed one last river at night to reach Jordan Hot Springs.

It was a warm spring and I felt fine, although after a while I started to feel cold due to the frigid night air. Midnight, whiskers and I sat in silence in the pools for a long time. I was daydreaming about what life after the trail could be like. What it would be like to have a career and an apartment, and how different it would be from this moment and the last two years of my life.

After leaving the hot springs, I used my towel to dry off and put on my wool clothes before heading to camp for the night. This was the last one to stay on the trail for a while and I was very happy to go to the hot springs and experience them today.

Day 123: 12.0 miles

Highlights: Lightfeater Hot Springs. Doctor Campbell. Gila Hot Springs.

I woke up without an alarm for the first time in a long time in the field. The sone had just come out and it was after 7 in the morning. We decided to start a little later today as we had a shorter walk to get to our resupply boxes at Doc Campbells and we knew we had freezing water crossings and the more sun the better for our bodies.

I had a hot coffee and a honey bun and packed my gear. From Jordan Hot Springs we returned to the trail and followed the Gila River crossing dozens of times. My feet went numb after about an hour and I felt colder as the morning went on instead of warmer as I expected. We had to wait until almost 10 in the morning for sunlight to penetrate the canyon and provide heat.

A little later we came across some natural hot springs again on the side of the trail. We had an early lunch and then took a one-hour break in the warm hot springs. It was wonderful to warm up after being so cold this morning.

Then it was 2pm and we had 4 hours to get to Doc Campbells. We exited the canyon and entered the Gila Cliff Dwellings visitor center. The area was closed due to the current government shutdown, so I was not able to visit or see it.

Midnight, mustaches and me next to the monument sign

Then there was a walk of a few kilometers to our resupply. Fortunately, the road was not busy and time flew as we listened to EDM and jammed as we walked.

At the store, I loaded up my electronics and went in to buy a lemon and berry ice cream, a Gatorade, a microwavable frozen mini pizza, and my box.

I had packed my box in Chama and didn’t do a great job of fixing it properly. I sent myself 3 bottles of coconut oil, too many breakfasts and not enough lunches. With the extra food from this last transport I was able to make it work, but the store had a fantastic selection of resupplies for hikers.

Visiting Doc Campbell

Midnight, Bigotes and I did the laundry and spent several hours in the store. After finishing washing clothes, we headed to Gila Hot Springs Camp and prepared for the night. We had dinner with Thunderbear and Pangora and then spent some time in the hot springs before heading to bed for the night.

Day 124: 17.2 miles

Highlights: Leaving Gila Hot Springs. Camp and Fire after the last river crossing.

In the morning I returned to the hot springs to take a bath and warm up. After being in the pools for about 30 minutes, I got out, dried off with my towel, and put on my Tumble On robe. As I dressed in layers I began to feel dizzy and my vision began to blur and darken.

I sat on the bench next to my clothes and told Midnight and Bigotes what was happening and that I might faint. Midnight brought a bottle of water and I couldn’t see it because of my vision, but I looked for the bottle cap and took a drink. After a long minute, the vision began to return to grayscale and then slowly returned to normal. I made sure to drink the entire liter of water before heading to camp to eat breakfast and pack up gear.

We intentionally didn’t leave camp until 9am as the shade in the canyon kept the weather very cold and we didn’t want to do as many water crossings with wet and frozen feet.

Once the sun entered the canyon we set out and walked down the road to meet the Gila River and then crossed back and forth several times. This side of the Gila had no beaver dams that we could see and the water was wider and flowing faster than before.

We hiked and were able to see mostly the social trails with an occasional walk back towards the river. I had a slight headache from dehydration from the earlier hot springs, so I took my time and kept an easy pace.

After lunch, the trail got much worse and the pink line on the FarOut map no longer represented the trail accurately. That’s why you had to get to the river and see if you could find a faint trail of footprints.

Several times I was on one side of the river and Bigotes on the other and we could both see trails to follow and neither of us knew which one was right.

On our afternoon break, Bigotes and I waited for Midnight at a trail junction, but after an hour we didn’t see her and then through outreach messages I discovered she was well off the trail and nowhere near us. We met later at the last crossing of the Gila River.

We were all a little defeated by the bush and the late start and after passing by a fire near dusk we decided to end the day early and enjoy a fire in nature.

My legs after the Gila River Bushweck

Later that night, Catch Up and Soul Mate joined us and we shared stories by the fire before heading to bed for the night.