The morning was cold and smoky. A fire had started nearby and as the air cooled overnight, the canyon filled with a smoky haze.
We had three miles to our next resupply stop. A small convenience and gift shop called Doc Campbell’s.
Since it was such a short walk, we decided to take another soak in our private hot spring. It was a great way to start the morning, even if it was a bit chilly getting out.
Doc Campbell’s lets hikers send them resupply boxes and they also have a good amount of hiker food to do your resupply there. On their website, you can even preorder your food and they’ll have it all ready for you. This is what I did and my food was ready when I arrived.
We all dumped out our bags and packed up our food. We have 127 miles to our next stop. We’re hoping for 5 or 6 days.
The trail took us close to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument so we decided for a quick detour to check them out. The history in this area is incredible and the dwellings are over 700 years old.
It was a short 1 mile loop to see the cliff dwellings. This took us out of the canyon we had been following so we climbed up over the mesa and dropped into Little Bear Canyon, which led back to the Gila River.
This section was absolutely incredible. It stands toe to toe with the canyon in Zion National Park, but without even 1/100 the crowds.
Our final destination for the day was Jordan Hot Springs. These springs were huge and could fit probably 20 people comfortably. There were about 8 of us thru hikers and another couple of people out overnight.
I think I’ll have to head back to them in the morning.