Posted by 23.6 miles (37.9 km)
I was super keen to experience the Gila River so was on trail by 5:45am. It was a six mile descent on single track to the river itself. There was just sufficient natural light to hike by without a headlamp.
Those six miles came really quick and I found myself within the Gila Canyon by early morning. The promise of water and shade did not disappoint. And the trail was incredible. Nice and wide, soft underfoot and well marked with cairns.
It was like a different world down here with new tree species and plenty of lizards and frogs. I spied by first bear scat too so they obviously live here too.
Sure enough the first of hundreds of crossings of the river came up and there was nothing for it other than to charge in, shoes and all. Feet would be wet for the next several days. I’d heard most hikers end up with cracked skin on their legs simply because of the amount of times legs get wet and dry again in the sun. More of an issue for me would be sun protection on my pale legs.
Not at all keen to use sunscreen and have it wash off in the water I opted to wear cheap leggings which I picked up in Silver City specifically for the Gila. These it would turn out nog only provided the sun protection but save the dry cracked skin as well.
The trail was flat and very fast. I remember hiking close to 3 miles and hour effortlessly as it meandered along the banks of the river and fording when terrain on on side had ran out.
Shear rock walls rise from the river for a 1000 feet or more. Eventually the trail following one bank would reach one of these walls with nowhere left to go other than across.
Mid morning I bumped into Steady who was having a break. We both recognised how quick this was and realised we would be able to reach Doc Campbells Trading Post to pick up our resupplies, half a day earlier than expected.
This got me racing. To pick up my resupply I’d have to make it by 4 pm, their closing time, otherwise I would have to wait until midday the next day. If I arrived anytime after 4 i would have to kill half a day tomorrow waiting for opening hours.
I made it with time to spare, including spending 20 minutes taking a dip in a natural hot spring water along the way. It was way too hot of a day to appreciate a hot spring.
I made to Doc’s by 3:15pm, purchased a small tub chocolate ice cream, a cold coke and picked up my resupply box. Steady arrived soon after. We spend the next hour of so going through our resupplies under the shade of the porch sorting out what we’d sent ourselves a bit more than a week ago. Obviously too much. My box was super heavy and there was no way I was carrying all that I’d sent myself. Plus I had some left over food from this stretch thinking it would take more time than it did. I culled my food down to the essentials for 7 days and no more – I would try to make it 6 days to Pie Town but carry 7 days just in case.
From Doc Campbells we proceeded across the toad to the RV park to continue looking through our resupplies, off loading any unwanted food to the ‘hiker box’. A hiker box is essentially just a box that hikers can place any gear or food too good to throw away from which other hikers can take items for free. These make variety the spice as you can easily swap out a one type of nut bar you bought for example for a different type that anothrt hiker has left. Hiker boxes near major resupply points are always huge will lots of options and most people tend to mail themselves too much food.
The RV park was great and had everything a hiker needs: flat and shady tent spots, covered area with tables and chairs, toilets, shower, water , wifi and electronics charging.
Mick Beckers 