Gila Wilderness On Fire

Well, there has been some unfortunate, if not unexpected, news this last week. A small lightning-caused fire on the extreme western border of the Gila Wilderness started on April 20th. Known as the Hummingbird Fire, it was growing slowly over the first week, but gusty winds ultimately kept aircraft from flying, so ground crews were on their own. This allowed the fire, aided by the winds, to grow to 3,000 acres by early last week, and at last check, it was over 5,600 acres. The town of Glenwood west of the fire is on alert, but the winds are mostly blowing the fire eastward. And eastward is where our Gila hike is located. See map below.

It seems unlikely that the 241 personnel, 2 large airtankers, and a type 1 helicopter will be able to get much in the way of containment done in the two weeks left before our trip. And if that is the case, we may need to pivot to another location, if for no other reason than the smoke. Cappuccino, Slinky, and I are all keeping an eye on this developing situation.

In other news, after talking about meals last time, I went out and actually bought most of the food I will need for the upcoming Gila trip and the Santa Fe to Taos Trail in June. The only things missing are the perishables like cheese sticks, flatbread, and sausage sticks.

I did the math and the weight comes in at 25 oz of dry weight food per day with 2,500 calories daily. Or about 100 calories per ounce of food, which is a kind of minimum long-distance hikers shoot for. This is not a weight loss diet. In fact, just the opposite. Frankly, I would prefer 3,000 calories daily and will probably supplement what I have with an extra snack or three. 😁

The final thing is that I have been increasing both my distance and elevation gain on my training hikes as of late. I did make one mistake recently and took a shortcut to the top of a nearby butte. The regular trail rises 800 feet in 1.9 miles. The shortcut goes up the same 800 feet in 3/4 th of a mile. That is a 20% grade. It seemed like straight up. The pack did not help as you might imagine. But I did get a good workout. I have, however, crossed the shortcut off my list. 1.9 miles sounds just fine from here on out.

Just an FYI- Next week the Professor and I will be in Kansas visiting Jolly Rancher, Scatman, and Level at JR’s ranch, so my blog may be brief or late or both.

Until next week, safe travels and happy trails…