Hello lovelies,
Short update:
* I met up with Little Feet, but our hiking fun was short-lived
* The Gila thus far has been some of the best hiking I’ve ever done
Longer updates
After 2.5 days of holding up in Lordsburg and making tiktok videos, Little Feet finally arrived on Amtrak only an hour or so late. He had new shoes for me (as my other shoes were a half-size too small). We went up the trail about 15 miles and it was glorious.
After another 40 miles of hiking, we found ourselves in Silver City, quite quickly due to a fire detour and some lovely road walking with a few other CDT friends.
While hiking, Little Feet befriended the only other gay guy on trail, and they decided to zero in Silver City. I went up the trail, and had a pretty intense 28 mile day of bushwhacking up a hill with dense manzanita before dropping a few thousand feet into the canyon of the Gila River.
Hiking this section has been a fun game of crossing across the river every few hundred feet in search of the trail. The trail, once detected, can usually be found somewhere on a bank of sand, rock, or grass. Cliffs stand above you, ending somewhere high in the sky, and the landscape could not offer better hiking. This morning I was rewarded with my own personal hot springs in an idyllic little part of the trail.
I’m hanging at “Doc Campbell’s” with some other hikers before continuing on later today. I’m using this time to feast on glorious calories while cautiously dreading the 5-day food carry I need to get me to Pie Town.
With love and adventure,
Jeff