Gila R- Middle Fork Day 3

The rain started about 5:30AM. Warm and dry, I turned over and went back to sleep to the patter of rain on my tarp. We were up a little before the sun, about 6:45AM and the showers had moved on. Overnight lows have been in the upper 40s making getting out of a warm hammock more bearable. We were fed, packed, and ready to go by 7:45. With only 8ish miles over to the West Fork and all of it on good trail, we felt no rush to get started.

We left the Middle Fork canyon on the Prior Cabin trail right from our campsite. Switchbacking up 400 feet in two miles under threatening skies, made for a relatively easy ascent. Once out of the canyon, I was surprised to find the easy slopes of the uplands covered by a park like forest of Ponderosa pines. Mile after mile the forest continued with its mostly grassy understory.

Once out of the Middle Fork canyon proper, the terrain became rolling hills and, over the next 4 miles, we would ascend an additional 400 feet to the edge of the West Fork canyon. Our journey was accompanied by intermittent light to moderate rain. Rain gear and umbrellas made it tolerable.

About noon we reached the Prior Cabin just as the sky opened up and a torrent of rain issued forth. A true deluge, we took refuge under the roof of the small cabin porch and escaped the brunt of the storm. In true mountain fashion the heavy rain was gone within 20 minutes, but moderate showers continued for an hour. We used the time to have a pleasant lunch.

John Prior had built a cabin in this area about 1880. He was killed some years later by Native Americans and the cabin eventually fell into ruin. In 1955, the Game and Fish Department built the existing cabin to check on hunters and now shares it with the Forest Service. All I know is that it is a great lunch spot in the rain.

After lunch we continued toward the West Fork canyon through the Ponderosa and the rain. We got to the canyon edge about 3PM and descended via a switchback trail into the interestingly named Hells Hole canyon which connects to the West Fork. Hells Hole is a rough and highly eroded valley that early trappers probably found “hellish” to navigate. However, it does provide a break in the West Fork canyon and relatively easy way down to the river. Two miles and a 1,200 foot descent later we were at the river.

After casting about for the camping spot I remembered from a previous trip, we finally found it on the far side of the river. Although I had worried all day that the rain might make the river rise and thus impassable, we had no difficulty fording it in ankle deep water. A grove of Ponderosa proved the perfect spot for our hammocks as we set up in the rain.

Until tomorrow, safe travels and happy trails…