Day 16 (May 11, 2021)

Snow Lake to 102.4 on Gila Alternate, 25.1 miles!)

What a beautiful night to cowboy camp. It was perfectly clear and remote so the Milkyway could be seen clearly. Magic.

Now that I was off the Gila, the strategy of where to go revolved around water sources. For today, there was a decent source at about 5 miles, but then nothing good for a long while after that.

The first part of the trail was dirt road leading to a trail up the Middle Fork of the Gila. However the Middle Fork is not flowing above Snow Lake. There were some wet spots and pools. One of these served as my first water source. The first part of the trail after the road was through a narrow canyon then gradually opened onto high rolling hills/desert. The final climb away from the Middle Fork was ridiculous; no switchbacks, just straight up. Oh well. I guess I needed the leg workout.

Now I was in a high treeless area and it was windy. The trail was a dirt road or gravel road the rest of the day. Though treeless at first I could see ponderosa pines in the distance. My second break was under a lonely tree far from the others. It was obvious it had been used before as a break tree based on the well worn foot path too and from the tree.

The trail Led back into ponderosa pine forest, which predominated the rest of the day. Then the trail turned onto a well maintained gravel road. This road climbed steadily to nearly 9000 feet before descending again. This descent was into and across an open valley with lots of cattle. Though there was a well there, my water consumption had been down due to lower temperatures and a cool breeze and I was able to press on to the next source.

My goal was a water source in a canyon that someone had listed as having a campsite in Guthook. It was several miles short of a key water source for tomorrow.

Final part of day was back into hills/mountains and then the canyon with the well. I was disappointed when I reached the well; there was no good camping close by. I did not want to go backwards to some sites I had seen because I knew the mileage I had to cover the next day between water sources, so I pressed ahead. About 2 miles later I found a good site on a rise above the trail. It actually set me up nicely for the next day.