Silver City to Doc Campbell’s

5/8 - Day 9: 175 miles from Mexico

Today was a town day so we spent the day doing errands, laundry and resupply. I saw some really cool art window shopping in Silver City and would definitely be interested in coming back to this cool town! With a relatively short section coming up next, we had a great time resupplying at the Silver City Co-Op where we treated ourselves to Patagonia Provisions, organic snacks and bulk dried foods. It will be nice to actually eat a vegetable on trail!

We headed out in the afternoon planning on doing 7 miles. We stopped at a pavilion and had lunch (Radio packed out some amazing town food including a deli sandwich, potato salad, a scone, and cookies) and was nice enough to give Wonder Woman and I a few bites. My organic granola bars seemed sad in comparison.

We walked along the road out of town (where it hailed on us for literally 20 seconds) and into the Gila forest into some foreboding rain clouds. It started sprinkling, then raining, and we stopped to put on our rain gear and plodded along looking for a tent site. We ended up actually going a bit further than planned and did about 9.3 miles out today. We set up our tents and ate our fancy provisions. The forecast has a few days of rain on the horizon and we are heading into the Gila river section tomorrow.

5/9 - Day 10: 197 miles from Mexico

Today we climbed over a few gorgeous, pine tree covered mountains. We saw some cool rock formations known as the Devils Garden, and stumbled on a cool CDT register and photo op. We also had some of the first good flowing water on trail!

The climbs today were really tough and felt like they were going straight up the mountain. However the weather was pretty cool and it was overall a nice day.

We then descended sharply into the Gila River by later afternoon. Descending approximately 6,000 feet was not fun for the knees, but once we got down there the river and cave dwellings were beautiful.

We started crossing the river back and forth to follow the trail. The water was cool and felt great on my feet, and it was never high enough to get my shorts wet which was perfect.

While walking on some sandy marsh, Radio and Dan were up ahead, stopped. I heard a twig snap and saw some bushes shake and asked what they saw.

“A bear. A big one!”

“Kind of almost grey or silvery looking.”

Radio mentioned he had just saw some really fresh bear tracks and then saw the big, black shape move. By the time me and Wonder Woman turned the corner to see what the fuss was about, the bear was gone. We stood, watching the bushes and yelling, hey, bear! when something big and black/grayish came out of the bushes. It wasn’t a bear. It was definitely a cow. We all started crying of laughter - just seconds ago we were talking about the best way to bear proof our food, and now we were faced with a feral cow. We stared him down for a bit and then he ran off across the river.

We crossed a few more times and then settled in looking for a tent site.

We set up on some sand very far from the river, in case any flooding were to occur overnight - rain was on the forecast and we didn’t want to risk anything.

We pitched our tents and were laying down getting ready for bed. Radio reading, me writing the blog when all of a sudden a really strong gust of wind came in from all directions - swirling dust up into the tent and ripping our tent stakes from the ground, sending them flying. Our tent flapping in the wind, Radio got out and started holding down the fort while I scrambled to put all our non- waterproof items in bags to save them. Everyone’s tent needed to be re-staked and Radio did an amazing job keeping us together. Wonder Woman was nice enough to offer to let us stay in her tent but the storm blew over very quickly, as suddenly as it came on. Radio put our stakes back really securely and we went back to bed - or at least, I tried to get some sleep. It rained off and on all night but it didn’t get any more windy which was good.

5/10 - Day 11: 210 miles from Mexico

We woke up to some rain still going on and packed up and got ready for our first full day of Gila river crossings. The morning was cool and off and on drizzly, and we crossed the river maybe 20 times from shore to shore, finding the trail and losing it in bushy undergrowth and mud. It was so beautiful but my hands were too cold and wet to take many photos.

The wilderness itself was so alive - wild flowers, different trees and bushes, beautiful rock and cliff formations. The rain made it even eerier, and it really felt like the wilderness in the Annihilation movie.

We heard these strange sounds - almost like Jurassic park moaning and realized it was coming from some wild cows - and we saw the same silver bull we confused for a bear the other day, leading the pack. He stared us down and then the whole group of feral cows ran off down the river.

We crossed back and forth and then Radio made a discovery - hot springs along the river! It started out as warm mud, then steaming pools and further down the trail someone had built little tubs out of stone. We happily covered our hands in the hot mud and soaked our feet.

We kept up a pretty good pace today, trying to get to Doc Campbell’s (a general store we sent our next resupply box to) before they closed at 5. We ended up getting there at 2:30, making our way up the highway. The store was run by a really nice family and we got our resupply boxes and some treats. They didn’t have a restaurant but they did have a microwave and a toaster with coffee, so I bought a couple Mac and Cheese bowls to microwave and then helped myself to some homemade ice cream they had in the freezer. All of us were pretty dead by this point - tired from no sleep the night before and a hard day with no breaks so we zombied out on our phones sitting in the little shop.

There were a few other hikers around and when the shop closed we all moved out onto the patio. Girly Girl, who I met in Silver City, came in later and we were chatting. She gave me her fake wedding ring (a silicone outdoors ring she wore at work to discourage people from hitting on her) since I didn’t have a trail engagement ring, which was really really sweet of her.

The family who owns the store came out for an evening walk and brought their dog and little goat Itsy-Bitsy, who was the cutest thing ever. We all set up on the concrete patio and snuggled up for hopefully a more dry and comfortable night.