Saturday June 1, 18.6mi/29.9km

W Fork Gila River (54.4/6560ft) to Highway 15 (70.0/5660ft) (NM) +3.0mi to Doc Campbell’s

I packed up my tent and departed my cozy little Grove of pines. Today I will be following the West Fork Gila River pretty much all day. There seemed to be less poison oak and a little bit of a trail which was nice. My first stream crossing came pretty early at 7:30 when it was still cold in the canyon.

As I continued to hike downstream the trail improved a little bit.

And it was a pretty open forest with little underbrush.

I passed a group of guys who cheerfully complained about the deteriorating trail as they hiked upstream, but hiking in my direction it was dramatically better than yesterday!

I passed by a cool looking cliff feature that reminded me of the hoodoos in Bryce canyon, although on a much larger scale. I’m not sure if this feature has an official name.

As the morning wore on, the day started to get pretty hot and all these little stream crossings were pretty enticing for a swim.

I stopped keeping track of the number of stream crossings. Wading through the cool water felt really good, it felt like the temperatures were now in the mid 80s.

The shady riparian areas were also quite cool and welcoming.

Hi new friend!

I had a short lunch break in the shade and then continued on to exit the wilderness.

I passed through the Gila Cliff dwellings National Monument which I had visited on the CDT in 2016, and it was really cool but I had no desire to do it again. I was looking forward to town food!

After leaving the trailhead and all the tourists behind, I walked on the paved road for a couple miles which is part of the official GET.

Then I reached a junction where I had to decide if I was continuing on the get or exiting. It was nearly 90F now, and is forecasted to be the same all week so it was an easy decision. Exit the heat! I hiked another 3 miles down a different paved road to Doc Campbell’s Outpost, which is a popular resupply point for both this trail and the CDT.

A while ago I had shipped myself new shoes and a box of food here, with the understanding I would be continuing on the GET. I’ll have to come back in the cooler months of fall to continue this hike, so I collected my boxes.

I set up my tent in the designated spot for hikers, got a shower, and then checked out the hiker box. It was pretty impressive, the CDT has really grown since 8 years ago when I hiked it.

I took a stroll around the campground, see the sights and met some friendly cows.

I also met some friendly people who had traveled from Texas and were willing to share their fancy meal with me. They had bought a ton of fresh ingredients at H-E-B, basically the Wegmans of Texas.

They were a fun group, and it was their last night in civilization before they set out on a 7-Day backpacking loop in the Gila wilderness. Pretty amazing meal and a great way to celebrate the end of this segment of the GET! Even better, One of them wasn’t joining the backpacking trip and she offered to drive me down to Silver City, almost an hour away. From there, I can get public transit back to Arizona and Flagstaff where my car is stored.

These four days on the GET have been pretty amazing. I can’t wait to come back and finish the rest of it in cooler weather!