Contained Wildfire

Day 17

Date: 09.05.2022

CDT Mile: ?

Miles hiked: 17.5 Miles / 28 km

This morning was super cold. My shoes froze outside my tent. I slipped into my crocs instead and started to hike. However, wearing socks in my cross, they are a little too tiny. Also I cut off the rubber band at the back to get ride if some weight🤣 I think I got two more blisters because of that.

We finally climb out of the Canyon, leaving the Gila River behind us and reaching Snow Lake Campground. Campgrounds are great as they have tables with benches you can sit on, mostly a spigot with water you don't need to filter, a (ugly) pit toilet and (that's nearly the best part) trash cans! I love when I can ditch my trash bags! It's death weight, it mostly stinks (well, also the used toilet paper is in there, as we really leave no not natural trace), and it is bulky. It's so simple to make a hiker happy😁

After leaving Snow Lake we have to carry more water again, which is the downside of leaving the Gila River. The landscape changes into prairie country. Hot, no water, dry grass, little shade but I still love it. The grass looks golden and the hills are rolling into the landscape. The cows are always very curios and cute. It's a little uphill hike to a cattle pond lake, where we can get more tasty water and break for lunch. So here we are again, getting excited when we find a cattle trough for water! Christ, I never thought I look forward to them🤣 being back in the prairie and desert also means that you are constantly dirty. My hands are always black cause of my hiking poles, which I drop on the ground while breaking. The dirt is a new layer of my skin and even after showering I can't get it out of my skin pores. But it is also a great sun protector, preventing you from sunburn (specially your legs).

A short but steep uphill hike brings us back to a dirt road after lunch. As it is 13.5 miles without water, my pack is filled up and heavy again. There is a wildfire ahead of us and we were advised that a shuttle has been installed to drive us around the fire. I am kind of looking forward to the shuttle, as it will cut some miles (even if it is only 4 miles), but then I also want a continuous footprint from Mexico to Canada if possible and therefore am thinking if I can hike the road instead of taking the shuttle. However, when we arrive there we are being informed by the forest service, that as of today the fire has been contained and we are good to walk on. We can clearly see that one side of the dirt road is all black and burned, the other side however has not been touched by the fire. Am I sad or glad now? No miles to easy cut off but thanks to that I can still continue with my continuous footpath. It would have only been 4 miles, so it doesn't make such a big difference anyway. We hike 6 more miles to the next cattle trough, refill our bottles and camp just a few hundred feels away on a big field. It's a beautiful evening but its gonna be a cold night.