Posted by 23.1 miles (37.1 km)
The Gila Alternate route was something that I was always going to do on this hike. It means leaving the official CDT for four days but brings the promise of constant water and shade for several days, once down in the gorge anyway. I was keen to experience the deep canyon walls. And while I was looking forward to the cold waters I was not looking forward to the 120+ river crossings that would have to be done. That means wet feet for several days. It just seems there is no compromise out here. One extreme to the next. That wouldn’t be until tomorrow. First I needed to make a start on the alternate.
It was uneventful first seven miles in for the day on the alternate. A fully loaded resupplied pack always feels like a burden at first out of town too. It was around this 7 mile mark i ran across Tristan, Chowdah and Steady who were having their first break of the day. They all caught the shuttle in with me to the border on day one and I haven’t seen these guys since. None of these guys have taken a rest day yet hence they ended up in front of me and I was able to catch them again.
I walked with them a bit and got to chatting which is always good but they found my pace a bit too quick and let me go ahead. I’d catch up with them at tonights camp. Camp sites are pretty much dependent on where water is available at the moment and there is a camp site of Forest Service Road 282 with a water tank and spigot. This is where I would be staying and I suspected they might do the same.
For the most part today was quite difficult. Because its off the main trail there is no elevation profile to refer to on the FarOut mapping app so other than standard contour line reading there was no way to tell how much rise and fall there would be. There was a lot of both this first day and it was difficult in a baking sun. I was drinking so much water I had to collect more and filter it from a couple of different springs through the day. The sun I can deal with, it’s the high humidity that kills me. Very draining and has the sweat pouring out.
Near one water source I had read on socials that an old hermit living on public land, Doug, had taken to misdirecting hikers away from the trail by putting up a series of rock cairns, trail markers and had been confrontational with some hikers. It’s all public land but where he has his cabin he is claiming land as his property and doesn’t like the idea of the CDT being so close.
Anyway I had a fair idea of where these misdirection cairns would be and kept a close eye on the map. Sure enough at an obvious junction were the letters CDT spelled by rocks with a directional arrow to the left and horizontal branch placed across the right and correct trail at chest hight to block it off. To assist other hikers I knocked down the incorrect directional arrow, rock cairns and horizontal ‘gate’. I didn’t think any more of it until the crew arrived in camp that evening and talked me through their experience with Doug.
When they arrived at the same junction Doug the hermit was in a camp chair waiting for them. He was fuming I had removed his markers. Initially he would not let the others pass on the correct trail, physically trying to block their way by placing a stick in front of them. This wasn’t going to fly with the group. Doug was in his 70’s while Tristan was mid 30’s and was not going to be intimidated by the older chap, easily pushing pass giving back just as much mouth as was given. The others followed suit but Doug followed them, for about 10 minutes on the trail hollering and carrying on, telling them about his cabin and trying to get them to have a look. Crazy or what. Too weird for me.
I’d actually heard about this guy from a couple of CDT YouTube movies. He has tended to be really reclusive and rarely shows himself. This has obviously changed in recent times. There is one YouTube clip where a group of young guys visit his cabin and have a beer.
The rest of my afternoon was just putting one foot in front if of the other, negotiating many unplanned incredibly steep ups and downs while jugging water down.
Mick Beckers 