{"id":128,"date":"2016-05-09T06:46:03","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T06:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/?p=128"},"modified":"2017-02-25T15:38:04","modified_gmt":"2017-02-25T15:38:04","slug":"sapillo-creek-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montybillpct.net\/blog2016\/2016\/05\/09\/sapillo-creek-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday, May 9 Sapillo Creek Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"may-9-14\"SUMMARY: <\/strong> We thought we’d be having a Gila River Trail adventure today, but we made a huge mistake and ended up going up the Sapillo Creek canyon instead.\u00a0 It’s way prettier than the Gila River canyon, but it led us deeper and deeper into the wilderness–the canyon got so narrow we had to wade it in (for me) shoulder-deep water.\u00a0 We finally got to the point where there was NO way to go on, realized what we had done (groan!) and retraced our steps all the way back till we reached actual Gila River.\u00a0 The “trail” turned out to be very hard to find–we did lots of bushwhacking and river crossings–some were a wee bit scary.\u00a0 We are camped in the canyon tonight.\u00a0 Glad to be safe!<\/p>\n

DETAILS:\u00a0 <\/strong>We were really excited at the thought we’d be having a Gila River Trail adventure today, as we headed down into the river canyon.\u00a0 The views of the canyon and the anticipation of\u00a0 such a famous part of the CDT \u00a0kept me going even\u00a0though the last bit down\u00a0 was rough, rocky and slow.<\/p>\n

At the bottom, we charged straight ahead\u00a0to what we THOUGHT was the Gila River (it looked just like all the pictures of the Gila we’d seen on\u00a0hiker blogs)\u00a0and stopped\u00a0for breakfast plus a good washing up of our rather dirty hands, feet and faces.\u00a0 We\u00a0AquaMira’ed water as well.\u00a0 What we didn’t realize was this was NOT the Gila.\u00a0 It was Sapillo Creek.\u00a0 Had we checked our compass and maps we would have seen that the Gila runs north, but the creek runs east.\u00a0 Our map showed that we should turn RIGHT at the Gila, so blissfully ignorant, we turned right (to the east, if we’d looked at our compass) thinking, “OK!\u00a0 We should maybe make it to Doc Campbell’s today!”\u00a0and started walking along a very nice trail\u00a0through a lovely canyon into what turned out to be an unbelievable adventure, but also the loss of over half a day of CDT route hiking.<\/p>\n

The Sapillo Creek canyon really is beautiful. The cliffs\u00a0are impressive, and\u00a0there were huge sycamore trees, pine trees and oaks, draped with wild grapevines loaded with baby grape clusters.\u00a0 After awhile we came to a large cave in the canyon wall, where people had obviously had a lot of fun camping–there were fireplaces in the walls, shelves and even cooking equipment.\u00a0 Shortly after that, we crossed the “Gila” on a log, and the trail continued very clearly and nicely on the other side.<\/p>\n

But not for long.\u00a0 Suddenly the trail just disappeared.\u00a0 No problem, we expected that–we’d heard so many stories about how the Gila River trail had been trashed by a big flood a couple of years ago, and the hikers were all complaining about having to do a lot of bushwhacking.\u00a0 So with only a bit of grumping, we kept on going and going and going.\u00a0 But the canyon walls were getting closer and closer together, and finally we reached a point where the only way through was to wade.\u00a0 Beyond that narrow point, the canyon widened again.\u00a0 “Hmmm,” I thought.\u00a0 “I don’t remember any hiker blogs talking about this.\u00a0 Weird.”\u00a0 Just after that, again the canyon narrowed, and again we began to wade.\u00a0 But this time the water was getting deeper and deeper.\u00a0 I took off my fanny pack that was around my waist and hung it around my neck to keep it dry.\u00a0 Soon the water was at the bottom of my backpack and obviously getting deeper.\u00a0 I stopped.\u00a0 Fixit went ahead, and it was chest deep on him, but he made it.\u00a0 He took off his pack, laid it on the shore, and came back to help me.\u00a0 He took my pack, and\u00a0I followed along, clinging as best I could to the vertical wall of the canyon, in water that was shoulder deep on me.\u00a0 Fortunately, there was no current to deal with!<\/p>\n

By now both of us were saying, “This is CRAZY!\u00a0 How can they expect hikers to cope with this??”\u00a0 We were both completely soaking wet, cold and shivering, and some of our gear was wet, too.\u00a0 So we headed for a patch of sun (ahh did it feel good!), took off our wet clothes and spread out all the wet gear to dry while we talked about what to do.\u00a0 We looked up at the canyon walls for some way to climb out, but there was nothing.\u00a0 So our conclusion was “Keep going and see what we can find.”\u00a0 So on we went, but after a bit, the canyon narrowed again, the creek became very deep, and looking ahead we could see that it narrowed to just a slender crack.\u00a0\u00a0Fixit said, “I’ll take off my pack and have a look.”\u00a0 So while he bravely waded on into that deep, cold water, I sat on the bank and prayed like crazy.\u00a0 “Help, Lord!\u00a0 Please keep\u00a0him safe…please show us what to do.”<\/p>\n

Suddenly I had a thought:\u00a0 “Yes, this IS crazy.\u00a0 This CAN’T be the CDT.”\u00a0 So I got out the map and looked at it again.\u00a0 That’s when (duh!) I noticed that we should be going NORTH.\u00a0 One look at the sun and the shadows, and I knew we were going EAST.\u00a0 Just then\u00a0Fixit came back, shivering and dripping, to tell me the narrow crack was impassable.\u00a0 I told him what I’d just realized, and that we’d have to go all the way back to find the CDT again.\u00a0 We both groaned.\u00a0 The thought of redoing what we’d just been through was seriously awful.\u00a0 So again we looked up at the cliffs–were they climbable?\u00a0 Maybe….so we put our packs back on and made an attempt.\u00a0 Nope.\u00a0 The ascent would be too technical (well, for me, anyway–I’m sure Fixit could have made it!) So we turned around and started back.<\/p>\n

When we\u00a0reached the deep water passage, Fixit went first–he took off his pack and carried it resting on his head and shoulders so it would not get wet.\u00a0 Then he came back and did the same with my pack.\u00a0 Meanwhile, I crept along in the shoulder deep cold water, clinging desperately to the canyon wall.\u00a0 I guess I could have said, “Oh whatever, I’ll just swim” but I didn’t.\u00a0 I was trying to keep my wristwatch dry.\u00a0 (Fixit’s watch had gotten wet and was already starting to have problems that continued all the way to Canada)<\/p>\n

It was a very sad journey back\u00a0down the canyon.\u00a0 I kept thinking, “How could I be so stupid?\u00a0 I should have checked at least the compass!”\u00a0 and blamed myself for being so careless.\u00a0 At the same time, I was also thinking, “God, I am so grateful to You for your patience\u00a0with us and for keeping us safe.”\u00a0 Finally, after lunch, \u00a0we got back to where we had started, and found the REAL Gila River!\u00a0 Hooray!\u00a0 It was heading north!\u00a0\u00a0 But we couldn’t find the TRAIL.\u00a0 Grrrrr.\u00a0 After some bushwhacking and hunting\u00a0about, we finally located it.\u00a0 Turned out that we still had plenty of bushwhacking to do–yes, the trail still was messed over by the big flood–but at least there were some rock cairns occasionally to let us know we were on track.\u00a0 And of course, there were LOTS of crossings of the river as it wove back and forth across the canyon.\u00a0\u00a0 Some of the crossings were borderline scary, with enough strong current to make my trek poles vibrate.The pattern went something like this: Search for trail, bushwhack a bit, find trail, cross river, lose trail, repeat,\u00a0 over and over again.<\/p>\n

The Gila River canyon is pretty, and wider than the Sapillo Creek canyon, but I would say Sapillo Creek is the prettiest by far.\u00a0 I tried very hard to enjoy the beauty, but I was\u00a0mega frustrated by so much lost time, and very unhappy about constantly losing the trail.\u00a0 “Embrace the Brutality” says the CDT motto.\u00a0 I’m not embracing any of this, no way!\u00a0 But\u00a0we found a very nice campsite for tonight, on soft, comfortable duff, and hung all our wet clothes up to dry.\u00a0 Doc Campbell’s famous ice cream tomorrow!<\/p>\n\n\t\t