Friday May 31, 20.4mi/32.8km
Hummingbird Saddle (34.0/10,380ft) to W Fork Gila River (54.4/6560ft) (NM)
There was no wind last night, and it was surprisingly warmer than I thought it would be. I hiked out of camp in shorts in the warm sunny weather.
The trail was still great, and no blowdowns either. I was able to move along pretty quickly though I did pause to watch this snake slither across.
I could see the ridgeline up ahead that I would be hiking, leading to the summit of Mogollon Baldy peak.
As the peak got closer, I could see a little bit of snow still left on its Northern slopes.
Once I was at the top, I took a pretty long break to explore the buildings and chat with the caretakers.
Sandy invited me up to the tower (which is also their living quarters) to see some of the views.
It was pretty windy up there so they invited me in to chat, and we talked for awhile about all the local trails, mountains, and history of the area.
By now it was almost 1pm so I said goodbye and headed down the mountain.
I descended pretty much the rest of the day, all the way down to the west Fork Gila River. The terrain alternated between burned forest and meadow and regular forest. I think this area was called Snow Park.
Cool little stand of trees in a meadow.
At one point I heard a bunch of crashing in the brush, so I stopped and listened…and two Elk came running by!
Once I was further down, I entered the unburned forest which was also full of Lupine flowers.
It was nice to be hiking in the shade and out of the hot Sun.
I came to a trail junction and I noticed the strange names, Rawmeat Creek… Who named these things?
I finally finished my descent off the mountain and crossed White Creek, where I refilled my empty water bottles.
And for the last hour of the day I followed the West Fork Gila River, which I will be following all day tomorrow as well.
It also had a couple strange names at its trail junctions. Hell’s Hole?!
If you see a fork in the road, take it!
I thought it would be easy to find a camp spot in the pine forest that surrounds the river, but much of it was either slanty, or had poison ivy. Eventually I settled for a little spot amongst a copse of pine trees that seemed fine.