Moonshine Canyon to FS 28 14 mi :: 217 mi :: Sunny, warm, gusty wind It takes us all morning to walk the last 4-1/2 miles of the Middle Fork canyon. The miles seem so long. We take our last and coldest bath in the river at breakfast. We emerge from the canyon at Snow…

The Meadows to Moonshine Canyon 16 mi :: 203 mi :: Sunny, warm to cloudy and humid We’re up early for another day in the Middle Fork Gila Canyon. Today rock walls and spires are even more magnificent. I see caves high up in some of the cliffs. There are endless crossings as before. We…

Gila Cliff Dwellings to The Meadows 13 mi :: 187 mi :: Sunny, warm to clouds and humid We bid a fond farewell to Arnold and Marlice around 7 am. Our bodies are feeling pretty good. At our high point I turn on the phone – no service. Little Bear Canyon eventually becomes narrow with…

Gila Cliff Dwellings 0 mi :: 174 mi :: Sunny, warm Ann is still limping a little in the morning, so we decide to stay here for a rest day. I stay in the tent late, reading the bloody grand finale of Hamlet. We need a little more food for the extra day, so instead…

Gila River Bridge to Gila Cliff Dwellings 5 mi :: 174 mi :: Sunny, warm Ann wakes up with a foot cramp that won’t go away. We have breakfast in camp, but it’s still there. We wonder if it will just work itself out, and start walking up the road. A mile and a half…

Gila River to Gila River Bridge 12 mi :: 169 mi :: Sunny, hot The prospect of river crossings does not sound good early in the morning, so we linger in the tent. Ann patches her pants and I make some notes on our maps. The crossings aren’t bad once we get going. Our map…

Tadpole Ridge to Gila River 13 mi :: 157 mi :: Cloudy and cold, sunny afternoon It’s a cold morning, hard to get out of the sleeping bags. But when we do get up we pack quickly to stay warm, and head down sheep corral canyon. It’s still cold and cloudy when we stop for…

FR506 to Tadpole Ridge 11 mi :: 144 mi :: Partly cloudy, windy When we finally reach Bear Creek, I sit down with the GPS to try to locate us in a known position on the map. It’s off again. Ann notices the bearing is off by about the same amount as the magnetic north…

Silver City to FR506 16 mi :: 133 mi :: Sunny, afternoon showers We start slowly through town with our packs on. It’s a different feeling from the days before – we’re traveling now. A ways up Little Walnut road a car pulls over to ask if we are CDT hikers. When we say yes…