May 25, 2025

Gila R Alternate mile 87

Hiked today: 20.2 miles / 32.5 km

It was pleasantly cool as we started off this morning. Although we still had a number of river crossings, the sections of trail in between them were much longer.

Eventually, we made it up a short slope to Snow Lake. We were surprised to find that it was actually a man-made dam and there were people enjoying the lake for fishing, canoeing, and picnicking. We stopped up at the carpark and ate our lunch under a shady tree. Amenities included a toilet block, a tap with water suitable for drinking, and a rubbish bin. We made use of all of them and then headed on down the dirt road, which was our next section of trail. Since leaving the Gila River Canyon, we had noticed how dry the ground was. A ranger drove past us and stopped to warn us of the very high fire danger and to check that our stove was not going to be a problem. He was pleased to see that we are using a small propane stove.

We had a further stretch of walking by the upper stretch of the Gila which was completely dry,  then the trail took us to a pond feed by a solar powered pump. We were able to take 3.5 l each which should last us until the next water source tomorrow. There was a steep hill to climb immediately after the water collection,  and then we followed a dirt road along the grass covered hilltops until we found a suitable tent spot. Hopefully we are sheltered from the worst off the wind.

We have seen a number of different birds in the last couple of days, including a mallard duck, a grebe, a beautiful blue bird, turkey vultures and a stork.