CDT – Day 9 – Gila Alt to Corral

Gila Alt to Corral

23.5, 174.7 Trip Miles

Sunny, 80’s, Day 2 of Rain

6:45 to 7:30 pm

5 Gila Crossings, 5 Total

Totals

75 Lizrads

9 Horny Roads

5 Jack Rabbit

4 Snakes

3 Cotton Tail Rabbits

1 Toad

1 Mouse

After another so so night of sleep I got up late. Not more than a mile down the road I ran into Fozzy and HoJo packing up. I would only see Fozzy later in the day after my lunch break.

Thank God I wasn’t moving at this guys pace, I would have never gotten to Canada.

The hiking was grand as it was in the trees but it was pretty hot and there was a 2000′ climb about three quarters through the day.

I hiked in trees as I said but also through some amazing volcanic formations. The views were great and there was lots of water compared to other days.

I found this toad just off the trail near one of the many streams.

I got caught in a thunder shower on my way down to the Gila around 5 or 6 pm. It made the descent seems much longer than it was. Oh course when I got down to the river everything was wet. This made me push on further than I planned.

I wasn’t sore from the effort but it made it a late night at camp. The best part of the day was the trees and the smell after the thunder storm came through. The Ponderosa Pines smelled amazing!

This was the first day I hiked in trees for the entire duration.  A huge change from the previous days.  I really enjoyed this day until the rain.  When I finally got to camp I was pretty tired and cranky.  I didn’t let those I camped with see this but it felt like it took forever to set up my tarp, eat, take a whore’s bath in the river and move the tarp and reset it up as my first location sucked.

By the time I got in my bag I was way past tired.  I went to sleep dreaming of the Gila and what was to come.

Back to Day 8, Forward to Day 10

Scatman