I started out today with another soak. I wish I could get used to this, but unless I’m soaking in a cow trough, it probably won’t be happening any time soon.
This hot spring is huge and could easily fit 20 people. The water isn’t too hot so you can stay in a long time.
I was the first in the group to wake up and start hiking, so I spent most of the morning solo. This meant I got to clear the trail of spiderwebs with my face and I got to see some wildlife!
About half a mile from our camp I spooked the first of two bears I would see today. They were both black bears, but their coats were a lighter brown color. On the PCT I didn’t see any bears, so this was a bit of a surprise.
After seeing the second bear I noticed these footprints in the trail. They were coming towards me, so I’m glad I didn’t come across the bear while they were on the trail.
This is a photo of a quick snack break from one of dozens of river crossings I did today. The trail winds around the canyon, crossing to whatever side is convenient for walking.
It was pretty fun at first, but after 3 days it can get a bit old. The wet and sandy feet aren’t fun either.
Since we’ve been in this canyon for a few days, we’ve gotten to see how the rock changes as we get closer to the start of the river.
This section has been absolutely beautiful and so far it’s the only one we’ve seen any non-CDT hikers.
After a long, long day, we ended up at this lake/reservoir. It’s pretty low right now and I’m not sure how it feeds the river since the outlet is above the water level. Somehow water is still flowing.
The landscape here is drastically different than what I was used to in New Mexico. First it was harsh desert. Then it was a water filled canyon. Now we have rolling hills and pine trees.
We’re almost done with the Gila River alternate and should get back on the “real” CDT tomorrow or the next day. I put “real” in quotation marks because even if the original track for the trail doesn’t go through the Gila River, it’s the de facto trail since almost 100% of thru hikers go through it.