15-04-23.    Day 12.    Hiker Trash Tour

Crossing the Gila in the dark at 5:30 am was to much to digest so we settled on 6:30 as the sun was coming up. We woke at 6:00 and needed to start in shorts. Oh boy… It was cold. Phil decided to have the best sleep he had ever had in two years, he slept in till Sourdough served him coffee at 6:20 in bed. I got back into my Zpacks 10 degree bag to wait till the last minute to get out. Since we were in no hurry, I boiled water.  The Via coffee that Phil brought made my hot chocolate taste much better. Off we went at 7:00 am for our first crossing. Oh …..Oh that’s cold. By 8:00 am I had lost count of the river crossings but knew it was more than I have ever crossed in all my backpacking experience.

By the time my feet thawed, it was time for another crossing. At one point I had to wrestle my way through 20 feet of thick willows.  As the sun came up the water warmed quickly. We settled into bushwack, cross and bushwack again up the river gorge.

W, Alex and I come across two old rafts and some trash. Decision time. W and Alex are Eagle Scouts and get it. We all took a load and carried it out on the tradition of the Hiker Trash Tour.. CDT 2015.

As we hiked we found two hot springs on the side of the Gila river. We stopped at one and soaked our feet.

We came to the Gila bridge and on to Doc Campbell’s to get our packages. Too much food. Really?…..yes really!. We loaded the hiker box with all our extras although we have 7 days of food to get to Pie town.

Off to the Hot Springs for a soak. Dinner and Sleep…

Gila Hot Springs. XX Miles

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