in the river

Next morning, we walked down to a road, then up a ridge, finally steeply down to the Gila River. A very Western scene, dropping into a big canyon with red, brown and black overhanging cliffs at multiple levels.

Once down, I filtered water, having trouble with my Sawyer Micro Squeeze... It takes 15 minutes to get a liter of water... I'd already done maintenance on it in Silver City, but it didn't work for long. It would be a day with paradoxically little water because I didn't have the patience to filter as much as I needed.

But I was always in water! Feet and legs were wet for the next 16 miles. Snippets of trail run as far as they can, then, stopped by cliffs at an oxbow of the river, end by pointing into the water again. We passed one CDT hiker, Snail Trainer, from the UK, then saw no one else all day. But I did frighten a rattlesnake. I couldn't see him, but he rattled at me, while I tried to work around the pile of twigs and branches he was hiding in. Lemonhope got a short warning from one later, as did I. He also saw carp in the water, struggling to capture some insects on the shore, or perhaps a smaller fish. We passed by a rank smelling area, possibly with a dead cow according to comments in the app.

I thought I'd get blisters from walking in wet shoes and socks, but it wasn't a problem. Also, the feet stay cool. In the end, we did 23 miles, camping at a hot springs after twelve hours on the go. We would have jumped in, but without towels or sun to dry us, it was better to eat dinner and prepare for bed. I set up my tarp again, but Lemonhope had left his stakes at the last campsite! He'd hope to get new ones in the morning at Doc Campbell's, and indeed, that worked.

Ice cream breakfast at Doc's. Next to me is Flaka, Lemonhope, Gargoyle.

In the morning, my shoes were frozen! But I just had to visit the hot spring to thaw them and and get them on. Another mile of river crossing and admiring the cliffs, and we hit highway 15 for the short walk to Doc's.

There we met many we know, and more wandered in throughout the day. I took a shower, bought six days of food for the next leg, hung out with folks, meditated and caught up on this blog.

Most of my pictures are in the good camera, and they'll have to wait for Pie Town to get uploaded.

I bought a better water filter there, so I should be drinking enough again now!

nice dog at Doc's

We also visited the cliff dwellings, which were very strange... People lived here from about 1270 to 1300 AD. Driven there by drought, though it's unknown why they left. A hiker named Golden with a van took us there and back. First time in a car in ten days!