CDT - Day 14 - Gila River
This morning I was woken up by an owl at 3am, and I would have just rolled over and gone back to sleep, but I needed to pee. Yesterday I was freezing in my quilt, and I learned that I need to fluff the quilt out every day before using it, I did that last night and it made a huge difference. I slept in my boxers, but unfortunately that means getting up early to pee when it's 35°F outside means throwing some clothes on.
It was still freezing cold when I rolled myself to get up, I put my gloves on, and started making the usual oatmeal and coffee. My fuel canister was acting a little weird so it took a while to boil the water, luckily I have an extra l fuel canister for when this one runs out completely. It seems like a fuel canister will last me about 13 to 14 days, I'll keep an extra one in my pack so that I never run out.
As beautiful as this area is I know that as soon as I start my hike I'll be making river crossings, and lots of them. Even though it's cold outside the water temperature seems to be very mild, I wonder if that's because of all of the hot springs dotted along river?
A few miles into my hike I heard what sounded like growling or grunting, my immediate thought was that it might be a dog. Then within a few seconds I saw pack of javelinas on the trail. One of them grunted and charged at me, but then backed off. I had to wait about five minutes for them to leave the trail so that I could safely pass.
Today was the first time I had ever soaked in hot spring. There's a really beautiful hot spring called Jordan Hot Spring, and it was glorious. I skinny dipped in it for a little. It felt so amazing. It's actually interesting how warm the Gila River, and I suspect it has to do with all the random hotsprings sprinkled along the river. There are random areas where you cross the river and you can feel the warmth.
At around mile 12 for the day I almost had a heart attack when I heard the rattle of a very angry rattlesnake. The snake was right on the trail about 5 feet in front of me. I slowly backed away, it was the fattest rattlesnake I had ever seen. It moved off the trail and I slowly walked by, keeping my eyes on it.
The final creature of the day that I saw was a beaver in the process of building a dam, it was swimming across the river with a huge branch in its mouth. I let swim up stream before I attempted to cross, and as soon as I stepped into the water the beaver splashed the water with its tail and dove under. Hopefully I didn't disturb the little guy too much.
The end of the day I was in a little bit of a panic, I was watching the sun go down behind the canyon, and I was struggling to find a campsite in the ever narrowing canyon. At one point I slipped while crossing the river and nearly fell in, luckily I only fell on my butt. My pants are now utterly filthy.
Oh, also fires! Towards the end of the day I noticed a lot of smoke in the direction I was walking. I texted my friend Kaila, via the Garmin InReach, and asked for info on it. They told me that it was a 25 acre fire about 15 miles west, and that if I was headed towards Snow Lake it won't impact me. A couple of hikers walked past my campsite and asked if I knew anything about the fire, and I relayed the information.