May 4 Day 10 Silver City En Route to Doc Campbell's

I was so worried that sleeping alone would be scary and difficult, but it ended up being not bad at all.  Exhaustion will do that to you.  I fell asleep quickly and stayed asleep.  It rained a llittle bit during the night, but nothing unreasonable.  

The morning was clear and gorgious, clear skies, high elevation, great views!  A large scary cloud was threatening, but as the sun got stronger it just dissipated.  This, I have learned, is a pattern of the desert weather.  I was ready to pitch my tent if it started raining hard.  It is just too cold to try to hike through it.

(Barbed wire and gates. The CDT)

I was trucking along and doing really well today.  I even caught up with a German couple, Ratna (Indonesian woman who moved to Germany 14 years ago), and her husband Wide-Angle (lots of photos and photo equiptment). They were finishing up a lunch break by the Gila River.  

(Ratna and Wide Angle as we are rained on......again)

Our first crossing of the famous river that we would soon cross over 80 times. 

 My goal was to do 25 miles to Doc Campbell's that day to catch my friends, but I quickly realized that that was just going to be impossible!

(Resigning myself to a slower pace. Happily)

There was a really epic flood 2 years ago that destroyed much of the trail and knocked down A LOT of trees.  There was, therefore, a lot of cross country and trail finding and trail blazing.  Add in the river crossings and you slow WAY down. there were also random little thunderstorms that scared us into hiding underneath trees or overhanging rocks.  

(Or under umbrellas)

We got so fed up we called it quits relatively early when yet another thunderstorm interrupted our attempts at hiking efficiently.

(River crossing!)

We totalled 14 miles.  11 miles short of my goal, but really it was slow going. 

(Snakes. They'll slow you down too)

 I was also accepting of the lower miles to give my foot a break.  Having had that terrible arch pain, I was in no rush to repeat it. It was probably a good idea.  It also allows us to enjoy the beauty of the place.  

Flowing river, big canyon walls, lots of wildlife.  I almost stepped on a huge snake!  It wasn't a rattle snake, but it immitated the sound of a rattle snake with its mouth.  Anyone know what it was?

Overall it was a fun day!  New terrain, river crossings galore, new company, slower pace.  My arch was feeling much better due to the slower pace and the cold river water.  It was also ice to carry such a small amount of water all the time since we were walking in our source!  Weee!