Gila somewhere to Doc Campbells

Woke up early this morning, 530, so I could start hiking at dawn. Boy was that a good idea. I managed to get everything packed up right before a sleet thunderstorm rolled through. If I had lounged around for even one more minute everything would have been soaked.

I had a plan for today, hike early and fast to get to the hot springs. It was a good plan since I was able to generate a lot of body heat to counter the cold and damp from the remnants of the storm. The river crossings weren't any warmer. I thought I might have to stop and thaw out my toes a few times, or switch to my heavy wool socks. They are warmer but hold water. I was able to hike fast enough to just keep everything warm with my rain gear and toe socks. Right around 1030 the sun finally defeated the clouds and everything started to warm up nicely. Which was actually to bad cause I made it to the hot springs around 11. They were beautiful but I think it would have been nice if I had been slightly frozen and used them to defrost.

I soaked in the springs for a half-hour or so while trying to figure out my next move. I could keep going doing another 16+ mile day and not hit the hot springs at Doc Campbells as well as miss the cliff dwellings but I'd stay on schedule. Or I could do a short day and stop at Doc Campbells soaking in the hot springs then do another short day tomorrow to visit the cliff dwellings and end the day at yet another hot spring. The main problem was food. Docs only has a limited resupply and I had sent 6 days of food to cover 125 miles to my next stop. If I dilly dallied around at hot springs I might not have enough food. I decided to see what the limited resupply looked like then make my decision based off that.

I finished the hike up to Doc Campbells having crossed the Gila River 51 times. I somehow managed to get shin splints in my left leg. They started just after leaving the hot springs. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about them yet. Doc Campbells had enough resupply that I can hang out and let them heal here. I can just hole through it, or I can hitch back to silver city and let them heal up there.

There were 3 other hikers at Docs two of whom I had met before. Bearclaw who was at the kickoff, but she's getting off trail due to some rl issues. Boston who I met in Lordsburg and a new guy Gritts that apparently hiked the AT sobo in 13 same as me but a couple weeks behind.