Gila Wilderness: August of 1998

Friday, August 17^{th:  The Long Drive Ahead}

I left right after work (Houston) and reached my brother Bill & sister-in-law Nancy's (Austin) at 6:00pm. Bill and Nancy already had our weeks worth of food prepared and ready to be put in our packs. While Bill, David (my other brother) and I were packing Nancy ran out to bring back pizza rolls from Double Dave's. This was great not only for the quick and starchy meal but the left over pizza rolls were easy to eat in the car. David and I did a last minute run to Academy.   We finally left Austin at 10:45 p.m. by Hwy 280 to Fredricksburg.  I dropped my car off at a friends house and we continued on to Del Rio at 12:00 a.m. (midnight).

We took turns driving through out the night.  We only stopped for an occasional break, or for fuel.   We did stop at a rest-stop off of I-10 that didn't have a roof.  Ingenious engineering actually.  West Texas is so arid that they must of figured it was better to not have a roof and let the public restroom air out.  Either that or they ran out of money to build the roof.  

Saturday, August 18^th: Going to the Trail Head

We Picked up New Mexican fishing licenses for $22 ($16 license, $5 Habitat improvement stamp & $1 vender fee) at Wal-Mart in Silver City. This was very convenient, since we went through Silver City at a reasonable time of day.

We stopped off at the Ranger Station in Glenwood to check on any new restrictions and talk about the trails.  This was just a precautionary measure for I had already called ahead a couple of days earlier.  One of my concerns was having access to water.   For Texas and the central plains were presently going through a drought.  A drought that had changed our original plans.  We where going to go to the Ozaks, but they too were going through a drought and the ranger station for the Ozarks had posted a campfire ban and said that most water sources were dry.  When I called the Gila ranger station and asked, "Are you going through a drought too?"  There was a pause and then laughter.  The ranger told me that they had rain every day for the past month and a half.

We then grabbed a hamburger and drank as much water as we could possible at one of the few restaurants in Glenwood.  We continued our drive to The Whitewater Picnic Grounds with the mountains of the Gila Wilderness silhouetting the skyline in front of us.   We did a last minute bathroom stop and hit the trail. The Picnic area was crowded. The Catwalk Trail (1.1 miles) was very well developed with parts of it cemented, but it still was a climb. The climb compounded with the fact that no one was used to the 5,400' elevation made the first part of the day brutal. I don't know of a hike where the first day wasn't brutal though. We took a food break at 1.7 miles As the Crow Fly's (ACF) From the Car. (FTC) The GPS made distancing easy. The trail map had coordinates on it but they were too far apart to try and use the GPS for an exact location. Our estimation using GPS coordinates were too far off. In the future we need to copy the location of the map where we will be going and draw in or copy graph paper over it for grid coordinates.

We thought we would do the first meal up right and we brought in steaks and instant mash potatoes for dinner. They were good but the steaks really weren't worth the extra weight. Especially how exhausted we were. We really just wanted something in our belly before going to bed.

Bill: "David really needs to get out more."

Sunday, August 17^{th:  The Second Day}

We slept for 13 hours last night. It doesn’t seem so bad when you remember that we drove all-night and hiked most the day yesterday. For Breakfast we had the dried fruit, which was way too sweet and needs to be replaced or mixed in with the trail mix. We started hiking at 10:15 a.m. and stopped at 6:30 p.m. We stopped at a meadow at a higher elevation.  There where clumps of lady-bugs around the meadow. 

We had Ramen Noodles for lunch, which was easily done with a hiking stove. It also provided a very needed and much deserved break. We had to deal with water logged wood again at night. This is definitely the rainy season. The Lipton Fettuccini Noodles were great dinner, but it needs garlic bread or something to go with it though. Maybe if you toasted a tortilla and put butter and garlic salt on it.

Monday, August 18^{th:  Going Over the Top}

We had oatmeal and cocoa for breakfast. It was a pretty cool morning and the stove allowed us to cook the water for both very fast. We Hiked through Spider's Saddle. This is was a major feat for us. We went up hill for 3 miles and down for 3 miles, not counting the switchbacks. Once again it’s the elevation that kicks our butts. Camp 2 was at 7000' and went to 9,400' back to 7000'. With the elevation changes you could see the change in foliage go from pines to birch.  It was pretty spectacular.  We also had to ration our water because water wasn't always available. Solved the wet wood problem. We used the extra Coleman fuel to help get the kindling to burn. We had quesidillas for dinner with Mexican rice and Backpackers Picante. It was GREAT!!!

Each person needed about 2 tortillas and some Velveeta slices. 1 package of Picante per meal.

Tuesday, August 19^th:  A Day Off

Slept in. We went fishing and caught very small Rainbow Trout (4 - 8"). We found that you really just need one ultra-light rode and reel per fishing group.   Most the pools are so small that only one person can cast into a pool at a time anyway.  So we just shared the ultra-light rod and took turns casting.  Good lures were the ultra-light beetle spins or spinner bait. The spinner on the small beetle spins attracted the trout more than the body of the lure did.  The trout would hit the spinner and swim away.  It is also easier to fish going upstream than going down. We had quesidillas for the 2^nd time and it's still good. The pancake breakfast tasted good even though we didn't have the milk or the egg that was required. We all agreed that we didn't need a large breakfast though. It rained; it's just a good thing it didn't rain yesterday. The travel cribbage board was great. Bill’s knees were bothering him a little bit. He would want to bring along an Ace Knee support bandage next time.

Wednesday, August 20^{th:  An Easy Walk Back}

We hiked 3.5 miles from camp 3 to camp 4. Camp 4 put us 1.75 miles ACF (as the crow flies) from FTC (from the car). It will probably be a 2 mile hike tomorrow. Even though we were all sore we are all in much better shape. We took the 3.5 miles easily and enjoyed the hike and the abeyance. We paid more attention to the terrain changes and some of the rocks under foot. We actually hiked out with some of rocks with crystals in them and joked that we were going to hike out with more weight than we hiked in with. We saw a Horny Toad too. It was so welled camouflaged that I almost stepped on it. 

For Dinner we had spaghetti and tomato sauce. We only needed 1 package of sauce. We can also reduce the fig nuttons. Bring the fruit granola bars or fig nuttons, but not both.  There the same thing.

Thursday, August 21^st:  Second Day Off

Went prospecting for crystals and had mild success. It rained off and on all day. We have been very lucky with the weather so far.  It has only really rained on our planned days off.  We played cribbage and cards. Had the last of the oatmeal and 2 packages per person is the right amount per meal. We skipped lunch again today. We just weren't hungry.  For dinner we had red beans and rice with garlic summer sausage and stovetop stuffing was good and lightweight. We were all stuffed by the end of the meal.

Friday, August 22^{nd:  Heading Home}

It pored last night, and it really put my tent through it passes. We had some minor leaks along the uphill floor seem. I put a towel and pair of shorts were the water was collecting in the tent. This helped to prevent the water from moving around in the tent and getting everything wet.

We hiked out pretty early in the morning and it took us about 13.5 hours to drive back to Austin.  We got to see the barren desert in the day light this time. 

Packs: Our packs weighed way too much. Bill hiked in with 50-55lbs and I hiked in with 40-45. Dave hiked in with 40 lbs.

Food: Bring Velveeta slices instead of blocks. Bring enough lunch for only half the days. We ended up eating trail mix and jerky most the time. Don't bring PBJ, it's too heavy. ALWAYS 2 DINNERS OF QUESEDILLAS unless it’s a 1-night stay then make it LUNCH and DINNER.

Equipment: Bring miniature cribbage board and a deck of cards. A refill of my stove was needed for the last meal, but I did shave with the stove to keep the water warm. Bring quick start fire starter. Bring toothbrush to clean rocks. Only really need 1 fishing pole per group. You can share the poles. Bring ace bandage knee brace. The camping stove worked great. Keep nylon sweats, pack 2 T-shirts, and wear 1 and 1 in car. Pack 1 pair of shorts; wear 1 pair and 1 in the car. Dave and I like dive booties; Bill liked tennis shoes. 2 boot liner socks, Bill would need 1 tennis shoe socks, 1 pair of underwear per day.

Environment: We didn't see much wildlife. But we only saw people on the first and last 2 days. The 2^nd to last day 2 hikers walked by and the last day we saw people again at the picnic area. With exception to the first and last day we never hiked through the same type of terrain twice. It always seems to change and be a different type of environment.