Lost and Found

Day 13

Date: 06.05.2022

CDT Mile: Mile 204.7

Miles hiked: 24ish Miles \ 38.4 km

We slept in today as today the river crossings will start in about 4 miles. We heard the Gila river is cold, and getting your feet wet and cold before the sun is out is not my favorite. We just started hiking, when we saw the footprints of a mountain lion, as we think. Great news! Just outside our campsite! Well, my foodbag which hang just outside my tent on a tree is still there and we are all still alive😁

The first 4 miles are downhill hiking to the canyon over loose lava rocks. Not easy downhill hiking, you have to stay focused to no twist your food on these loose rocks. Then we arrive at Sapillo Creek, the first creek with loads of water - simply beautiful! And we hike on, crossing the river 3 times in less the one mile, however, it was sadly the wrong river\canyon entrance🙈 thanks god Dogbite noticed and we didn't hike further into that canyon, as there was a beautiful trail with loads of shoe prints but it leads up the wrong valley! Peter and Kate were following us too, all together we had to return. The Gila river is a beautiful canyon. You hike along the riverbed, but because the riverbed is existent once on this one site and then suddendly only on the other side, you have to keep crossing the river many times. The water however ain't that cold and I love crossing water. Cools your feed and legs and cleans them😁 However, only for seconds then as soon as you climb up the other side, you are covered in dirt again. The riverbed scenery chances too. Sometimes is beautiful white sand you hike on like on beaches (hard to hike on though), sometimes it's rocks, sometimes it's bush walking, sometimes it's dirt and sometimes it's like in the forest (my favorite ground for hiking). The trees down here are beautiful too. Kate is the best Gila Guide ever. There are many trails on the riverbanks. And often the trail just disappears again. Also you need to see when you have to cross the river (sometimes you could hike on longer on one side, but the water gets too deep to cross it there). But she always seems to find the right trail and in a fast hiking speed. So I connect to Peter and Kate and we all hike together. However, somehow Dogbite and PlusOne are missing. We stop for lunch shortly before 1pm, hiked already 12 miles, when 15 minutes later Dogbite turns up. But no sign of PlusOne. Still 15 minutes later no sign of her. We get worried and Dogbite hikes back the trail, but returns without her. He can't even remember which trail he hiked back, there are too many small footpaths. This canyon is 'easy' to hike, you can't suddendly hike the wrong direction (always hike up the water flow) but there are many trails so she must have taken a different one passing us, without seeing us (also we didn't see her). Also, there are Bears and mountains lion's down there... Of you don't know for sure she is fine, you are worried. We start hiking again after eating lunch. Dogbite hikes back again down in the riverbed, we hike the trail and agree to meet in 7.4 miles at the hot springs. We hike very fast but even after 1 hour no sign of her. And then suddenly, there is a sign on the ground made out of woodsticks, +1! So we know she is fine and she is ahead of us. Every now and then I screamed her name but never heard anything back. Around half an hour later we finally meet up with her. She is fine, just feels bad because she knows we were all worried. And Dogbite is still behind us looking for her... She said she heard me screaming, but it sounded as if the sound came from ahead of her. So she thought we passed her and hiked faster to catch up!🙈 What a mess! She also screamed back, but we never heard anything... I am just happy we found her and that nothing happened. We break for half an hour and then hike on again until PlusOne finds a spot where Dogbite can't miss her at all (if he is still behind us!), even if taking a different trail. I hike on with Peter and Kate to the hot springs, as we agreed to meet there. And we don't certainly know that he hasn't passed us on a different route while finding PlusOne. Oh and while all that search and rescue was going on, we also run into a rattle snake. This is only my second one I see on trail, which is very hard to believe, but I don't mind at all😆

I arrive at the hot springs shortly after 5pm, but they ain't that nice. Small ponds with a dirty ground and only 2 people can fit in. Kate and Peter decide to hike on 3 more miles to Doc campbell's Post and campground. There is a small store and nicer hots springs. They are open to public though and you have to pay a small entrance fee. I wait for Dogbite, PlusOne and Simple who arrive shortly after 6.30pm. Also we decide to hike on to Doc Campbell's. My legs burn as if I had put on chili on them. I am worried that I touched a poisend tree. But it could also be that all that bush walking made many small cuts in my legs which are now burning. We get there just before dark. This was a long and emotional day! Our longest miles day so far! But it was also a beautiful day. We even get to have a hot shower before bed and I made sure to soap in my legs, just in case it was poisend leaves I don't spread it out more all over my body. Good night y'all!