Day 22. Part 1. Wednesday, March 22, Gila River Trailhead (access point for town of Kearny), Mile 262.8, elevation 1755, to Mile 279.3, elev. 1802 ft. Walked 16.6 miles, 1896 up, 1849 down.
Dear Trail Friends,
As you can see from the numbers, it was an easy day. Not as much up and down, and also not quite as hot. Though honestly it didn't feel easy. I managed to get lost and totally turned around and befuddled once before I found my way back to the trail.
My planned water stop at the Gila River was also quite challenging for me - both finding the way to the river (which involved a small detour off trail and crawling under a barb wire fence - I was very pleased with myself for entering the detailed instructions I would have liked into the comments section of the gps app), and getting the filter to work with the very muddy water - it required the use (and frequent change) of my bandana as a pre-filter, and then also backwashing the filter repeatedly to wash out the mud caught in it.
Another ordeal for me was a friendly garrulous thru-hiker who slowed to my pace to converse. It turned out I had had my fill of social contact in Kearny and was ready for solitude. I was surprised by the urgent intensity of my solitude need. He was a perfectly nice and interesting man. I just had no social energy left, and finally told him "I'm going to need to drop out of this conversation. I'm a little deaf, and also I prefer to hike quietly. " it took me an hour or two to recover from how depleted I felt from that unwanted social contact. I found it surprising. I still do. But it's something I know about myself. I find interacting with people very depleting at times. I wish it were otherwise.
Okay. So in some ways it felt like a hard day. But it was also stunningly beautiful. I woke up before 5 and was all ready to go over an hour before Gerry was picking us up. So I sat down and read the trail guide for the next passage of the trail. The book described this as the most beautiful part of the trail other than the Grand Canyon. Sometimes when people make a big fuss about how beautiful something is it spoils it for me. Not this time. It was definitely a day of "wow." Especially of course in the morning before the mid-day sun turned me into a monster.
And speaking of monsters. Guess what? I saw my first (and second) Gila monster today. The first was walking in its slow, clumsy, sinuous way (you have to see it move to get how it can be both clumsy and sinuous, it's an almost comic combination) down the trail in front of me. When it became aware of me it left the trail.
The second Gila monster was walking toward me on the trail, and seemed utterly unaware of my presence. I stepped off the trail but also closer to it, hoping to get its attention. They are slow but they are also poisonous. I said "I don't want to hurt you or be hurt by you, so we have to figure out a way to pass each other." Finally Gila #2 stepped off the trail.
Photo 1 is the first Gila monster. Isn't he (or she) remarkable - the colors and patterns. Intelligent design or evolutionary accident - either way: wow.
Photo 2 is a tiny horned toad I saw a little later. I used to see these a lot as a kid in the canyons of San Diego. I think they are magnificent creatures. Look how this one blends with his surroundings. Aren't the pointy things around his neck lovely?
And while we are talking about wild life, I also saw a cat on the trail. (Photo 3). Not a bobcat or a cougar but a big cat in the middle of the trail. I asked it what it was doing there without its person. It just closed its eyes and smiled and said "I'm a cat. People are my servants, not my masters" - and began to purr. I stepped carefully around it and continued on the trail.
I also met two interesting humans, Whisper and Katydid. Turns out I had met them before in 2015 in Saiad Valley when Whisper was picking up Katydid after a long section hike (or maybe during a thru hike?). Whisper remembered that I was camping with a woman named Barbara (who I remember a retired English professor hiking with her dog). Whisper was from San Diego, and even remembered that I told her my father had taught at SDSU. I was sad about my lack of memory but glad for her memory. I said how amazing that we would meet there then, and now meet again here.
"Not so surprising," said Whisper. "We are a small community of lunatics." Here they are in photo 4. That's Whisper taking my picture while I take hers!
To be continued in Day 22, part 2.
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