Gila Wilderness Loop-Day 2
At 5 a.m. we woke up, packed, had breakfast, and left by 6:30. Everyone was in good spirits as we started up the Middle-Fork canyon. It was in the low forties, and we watched the sun creep down the canyon walls as we walked along. Splashing through cold river crossing after cold river crossing, it was almost 8 a.m. before the sun reached the canyon floor to warm us. And warm us it did. We eventually reached the low 80s later in the day.
We walked the canyon 8+ miles up to The Meadows camping area, where we stopped for a snack and a bit of a rest among the towering ponderosa pines. From there, we pushed on, up the next, less traveled, section of the Middle Fork. It would be 6+ more miles of sketchier trail through the canyon to our camping spot. The canyon narrowed even more in places, and the sheer walls loomed overhead.
It was in this section that Cappuccino slipped on some rocks in the river and accidentally went for a swim. Slinky was with her and helped her keep from slipping downstream. I came back and waded in to help, but when I went to stabilize her feet, so she could push up and out, I slipped and went in, too. Now all of this was happening in about six inches of water running over a shelf of rock into a 3-foot-deep pool. I was able to scramble out of the pool fairly quickly, but soaked everything from my waist on down. Cappuccino was lying on her side half in the pool and half in the shallow water and was able to finally get out and stand up with Slinky’s help. We were all laughing pretty hard when it was all over.
It was a long 6+ miles winding through the canyon, but we finally got to our camp area about 3:45 p.m. Everyone hung out their wet clothes to dry in the sun after setting up camp. Then, following some much-needed rest, we all had dinner. Since it was my birthday, Cappuccino had brought a raspberry crumble freeze-dried dessert. It was delicious, and we shared it all around with a small celebration.
My first reply disappeared into the ether. I’ll try again after my bike ride.
That darn ether has a lot of my most witty stuff that I can’t quite remember when I have to reconstruct it.
One more time. I did highlight your quote “we watched the sun creep down the canyon walls as we walked along” which reminded me of our early morning hikes into the Grand Canyon, both on the Bright Angel and South Kaibab Trails. We left so early to beat the inevitable crowds and the unrelenting heat. Glad to hear you and Cap didn’t twist an ankle or knee. Those slippery rocks are cousins to ones we know of in Romero Canyon in Montecito and Rattlesnake Canyon in Santa Barbara. Love to see you just troop along through the rushing creeks. The RC will be our hike of choice with your bride and Hannah when you return to the Golden State.
Hey Dan, Glad you can relate to our adventures with adventures of your own. It, no doubt, makes it a little more real. Of course, the Middle Fork Canyon is not the Grand Canyon, but what it lacks in grandeur it makes up in intimacy. Usually only a a hundred or two hundred feet wide with walls towering 700 to a thousand feet on either side, one can commune with this space in a way the Grand doesn’t allow. Walking through the river every 50 to 100 feet is a kind of recurrent baptism in this wilderness and reminds you this is no ordinary trail.