Continental Divide Trail – Day 12
May 13, 2023
Miles Today/ Total: 20.0 / 237.7
After leaving the Gila River before Doc Campbell’s yesterday, I kept my feet dry the rest of the day and my socks and shoes dried out. I woke up this morning knowing that as soon as I started I would be crossing the River again all day.
It started just outside camp. I crossed and knew my feet would be wet all day. The trail was very well marked for most of the day. At many river crossings there would be cairns on both sides showing where the trail went. The majority would move away from the river and into the woods.
The best part about today was the canyon walls tower above. Many of the walls were 300-400’ tall and have towering spires or hoodoos on the top. The river twisted through the canyon so much that many times I was able to see both sides of the towering walls.
The canyon was fairly narrow, but always had small patches of dry land on one side or the other. In some areas the canyon would open wide and a large forest or meadow would be found.
One of my favorite areas was a series of cascading pools through a rocky section. The small waterfalls looked amazing from the bottom forming steps upward. From the rock ledge above it was even more spectacular to see the green pools pouring from one level to the next.
The river changed as I traveled upstream as well. It started out with all gravel or large rocks in the riverbed and as I neared the end of the day the riverbed started becoming more slabs of rock.
The sun was out this morning, but gave way to clouds in the afternoon. There was some thunder crashing in the distance, but it just sprinkled a couple of times very lightly.
I found a campsite about 6:00 and set up my tent and cooked dinner. Just as I began to eat it started sprinkling again and I moved everything inside the tent for the night. It continued to sprinkle on and off for a few hours and then became more of a light steady rain. As I lay here typing this I can see lightning flash and hear thunder in the distance. Sounds like it will be a wet night.
