Day 18 - Gila Past Snow Lake

5/2/2018. About 15 miles

Trail got better. Not as many crossings. Though crossings got more slippery as stream bed was not broken up. Lots of trail. 

Then we left Gila and continued up the Snow Lake outlet. Didn’t realize it till too late.  We both had 1/2 liter of water left. We thought spigots would be on at the lake Campground. They were not. Lake was low and a long walk down. 

So we counted on water ahead. Got lucky at T-Bar Canyon stream and filled up. Went a mile farther to a tough campsite. 

Day was miserable. Wore rain jackets to stop wind. It sleeted on us several times, including lunch. Just kept getting colder. 

We camped late. Landstar ate in his tent and went to bed. I cooked under my tarp and then hit the sack. 

I got a weather forecast and it was going down to 28 deg tonight. Wore extra in bed. 

Day 17 - Continuing on Gila

5/1/2018. About 13 miles today. 

Walking this morning was a nightmare. Rocks, sand, bushes. Tough trail to follow. 

At a meadows we met riders from Texas. mules and horses. Said trail ahead was iffy. 

It got worse with narrow banks, falls, and not much trail. Crossings everywhere. 

The falls required a pretty good scramble to get around. Not sure how horses would do it. 

Landstar’s back legs are shredded from thorny growths. Bleeding good. Tomorrow we will wear full pants instead of shorts. 

Camp site was a bit rough. I pitched on a side trail. 

Day 16 - Doc Campbell’s to Middle Fork

4/30/2018. About 14 miles

Nice night at the RV Park. Warm and windy. Ate breakfast at a picnic table and used a privy!

Stopped at Doc’s to check messages. Then did a 3.4 mile toad walk yo the Gila Cliff Dwellings NM. Bought a cookie and they said we had to carry the wrapper out!  Cheap. 

The river is smaller and shallower in a more narrow canyon. Trail is clearer but more sandy. Not much solid dirt. Either sand, river rock, or river. Lots of photos. 

Knee brace and Ibuprofen are working. Hope I’m not jinxing it. Stopped for the usual long lunch break at 1200.   Crossings got more frequent. The trail became less used. We saw a couple of groups backpacking and one couple with a dog playing in the river. 

When I bent over to wash dust off my trekking poles my 1/2 liter Nalgene bottle fell in the river and floated downstream. It took a while to catch it walking through the river at breakneck speed. I’m amazed I caught it. Landstar did’t see what happened and thought I went nuts. 

Finally found a small camp site. 

Day 15 - Gila to Doc Campbell’s

4/29/2018. About 9 miles. 

We stayed on the Gila till about 1115. A few more crossings. Then we did a 1.2 mile road walk into Doc Campbell’s. We all bought soda, sandwiches, ice cream and more. We also got our Resupply boxes. Then ate some more, charged our devices and used the WiFi. 

We got a camp site in the RV park across the street. It had showers, jacuzzi and Wind. 

We had canned beef stew and fruit cocktail for dinner. 

We were camped a few feet from a mule and horse paddock. 

Day 14 - On the Gila

4/28/2018.  About 15 miles. 

We started out going down steeply into the Gila River valley. The knee sucked. I took Ibuprofen and Landstar lent me his knee compression brace. 

When we hit the Gila we would alternate crossings with trail that cut across bends in the river. A couple of crossings came up just short of my waist. Some were pretty strong current. 

The land trail was often back from the brushy river front and hard to find. Cairns got more common as we proceeded.  

The vistas are fabulous.  And the river fairly warm. Today we had storm clouds and strong wind but just a few sprinkles. 

We found a high camp site just big enough for two tents. It didn’t storm over night. 

I took 74 photos today. Scenic!

Day 13 - Bear Creek to Just Shy of Gila

4/27/2018. About 15 miles. 

This was a tough day. We started out of the Bear Creek valley with lots of water. We thought it would be dry. But decent water for about 4 miles. 

Lots and lots of uphill.  Tough uphill! All the way up to 8000 feet again. Water was ok, and included a spring in the middle of the trail. But past the waypoint for it. A local told us to fill to our limits. We needn’t have. 

Going downhill my knee started bothering me. Suspect a pull or strain of some type from yesterday’s tumble. 

We camped off the dirt road just before the Gila. Decent spot. But my knee bothered me most of the night. 

Day 12 - Silver City to Gila

4/26/2018. About 15.8 miles. 

We started the day by heading to the Silver City Cafe for eggs, sausage, hash browns, toast and milk!  It opens at 0700. So we got on the trail by 0800. 

The trail was actually the road through and out of town. At about the 5.5 mile mark it became a dirt road. 

We stopped at a Gila NF spot with picnic tables and water. The toilets were still locked. 

The dirt road narrows after a while and goes through pine forests. Nice!  Still dusty and dry. We stopped for lunch on actual (dried) grass. 

Unfortunately the road got terrible. Steep, rocky and at times covered in loose sand and gravel. I took a tumble. 

At about the 13 mile point we got to Bear Creek. Our second water source. Up the dry stream bed we came to flowing water. The water report suggested only puddles ahead so we got nearly four liters. Then walked along the flowing stream to our campsite. 

My tarp has been a nightmare. The stake broke, the new tensioners didn’t work and tonight I pitched it upside down. It’s too embarrassing to show you a photo. 

Hope we don’t get a hard rain. Good night.