SUMMARY:  We spent the morning still following the Gila River as it winds and twists its way along through impressive rock walls.  Sometimes we were on nice trail, and sometimes we had to bushwhack, but we reached Doc Campbell’s Trading Post just in time for lunch, including their famous ice cream.  Then it was “sort the food” and even more important, try to figure out another hiking route.  We do NOT want to deal with the Gila anymore!!!!!  It was absolutely agonizing trying to figure things out from our maps (which are not set up for an alternate route) and I was almost in despair until “Becky the Horse Lady” drove in with a trailerfull of horses.  She showed me exactly what to do, and I was able to mark it on our maps.  By 4:00 pm we were on our way–sure hope Becky’s ideas will work!!

DETAILS:  What a nice campsite we had last night!  There were so many soft leaves that we were very comfortable.  But 5:20 am in a narrow canyon with a lot of trees is actually pretty dark.  We had to use our headlamps to pack up, then we hiked until the sun peeked over the edge of the impressive  cliffs, and stopped in a sun patch on a bench by the river for breakfast.

The rest of the morning, the trail was a mix of very nice pathway, clearly marked with rock cairns, that alternated with  bushwhacking through willows, tall grass, dead plants and flood debris from 2013.  At this point we were starting to mutter to ourselves, “I am so DONE with the Gila!”  At every bend and twist of the river, we hoped for a glimpse of the bridge on the road that goes to Doc Campbell’s.  Finally there it was, and we cheered!  It didn’t take long to walk the two miles to Doc Campbell’s store, and we arrived just in time for lunch.

The guy who runs the Doc Campbell’s Trading Post is apparently the son of the original owner, and he is…shall we say, “a character.”  He’s a mix of very helpful but very impatient.  The first thing he said was, “Hikers–you go around to the side of the building and don’t loiter out front.”  Well, around the side of the building was a very nice setup for us hikers–a lawn, picnic table, faucet for filling water bottles, a place to plug in electronics, etc.  I left my pack there and went inside to ask for our resupply box.  “Go find it yourself” was his reply.  So I ended up wandering all over the store, finding hiker boxes piled randomly here and there.  Ours, it turned out, was actually halfway up the stairs to the second level, and I was starting to get seriously worried about finding it.  What a relief to spot the big brown box with a green stripe on the side!

Then we had lunch–a whole pint EACH of Doc Campbell’s famous homemade ice cream (it was GOOD!) plus sandwiches and juice.  Our lunchtime also included discussing what to do about the trail.  Neither of us wanted any more Gila River, but our maps did not adequately cover an alternate.  We were too far away at this point from the official trail on the Bear maps to even consider switching and going over there.

Fixit’s idea was, “No worries–we’ll just head out as best we can and figure it out as we go.”  My view was, “This is very rough, rugged country with hardly any water sources.  It would be crazy to just start hiking and hope we find our way.”  Mr. Campbell, the store owner, tried to describe a possible route for us, but it did not make sense, and he did not want to waste time explaining it any further.  (Like I said, he’s very helpful but also very impatient!)

So I found myself in a seriously agonizing situation, caught between my own determination to not go anywhere till I knew fairly certainly where we could find water, and what the trails were, with Fixit very annoyed at the delay, because he wanted to go see the Gila Cliff Dwellings before they closed for the day.  “Stop fussing over the maps and let’s GO!” he said.  Finally I suggested, “Why don’t you just go on ahead and see the cliff dwellings, then wait for me there and I will catch up with you once I get a route figured out?”  Fixit was getting ready to head out when a lady arrived with a trailer full of horses.  Turned out she was Becky the Horse Lady, sister of the guy who owned the Trading Post, and she knew every trail for miles around.

I told Becky what we wanted to do–get to Snow Lake, but without following the Gila River.  “No problem!” she said.  “I’ll show you what to do.”  And she did.  Very clearly and easily, she described a good route, with water sources, and we found it on my maps and marked it.  Whew!  Talk about an answer to my frantic “Help, Lord!  What can I do??” prayers.

By now it was after 3:00 and the Trading Post was about to close for the day.  Just as we headed out, Stummy and Masshole arrived, completely exhausted and saying, “No more Gila!  We are DONE!”  Mr. Campbell very kindly (though saying, “Hurry up, we’re actually closed now!”) let them go in to find their box and buy some food.  We wished them well and hurried off down the road, hoping to make it to at least be able to SEE the Cliff Dwellings, even if we couldn’t get IN.  All along the road we saw signs saying, “Wildlife Management Area.”  There was no sign of any wildlife–just an obviously flood-ravaged and forest fire damaged area where even the plants (never mind wildlife) were desperately trying to survive.

Turned out that you can’t see the Dwellings from the parking lot, and the trail to them is gated and locked.  Oh well.  Our alternate route that Becky the Horse Lady described to us began from that parking lot.  It was suppertime and we sat down at a picnic table by the visitor center to eat.  A very bold bird flew down and sat on the table with us, to beg for crumbs.  Where the trail began we found the usual “gauntlet” of warning signs about rattlesnakes, etc.  But one sign made us say, “Grrrr!”  It said that the government had recently started to release Mexican wolves in the area, and that they were larger than the local wolves, but not to worry, “they will not harm humans.”  Yeah, sure.  We’d been hearing from ranchers how the wolves kill just for sport and not for food, and are decimating the cattle.  The sign included dire warnings about the consequences to humans who kill the wolves.  Great.

We began hiking along Becky’s alternate, but came to a point where even the alternate trail was all messed up by the 2013 flood, and we were back to bushwhacking along the West Fork of the Gila.  Fortunately, we were in a nice wide valley, not a canyon, so the bushwhacking was easier.  Added to the “fun” was the fact that a forest fire had started up, and we could see the smoke clouds from where we were.  It appeared to be a long distance away from us, so we figured we’d be OK.  At 7:00 we stopped to camp, figuring we should be back on proper trail tomorrow morning.  This has been a really hard day, not hiking-wise but heart-wise.