A short distance down Sapillo creek we encountered the Gila River for the first time. It is flowing fairly high these days. Helen doesn’t have any trekking poles and is a little nervous about crossing the river so she decides to hang out with us for the day. She found a stick to help her cross and we only needed to help her a couple times when the current grabbed her pack and tried to swing her around.

I managed to stumble on some large underwater rocks and fell face forward into the river.  I came up and regained my footing after being completely submerged.  I was fine, but my phone was not.  I stupidly did not have it in a waterproof case and now the touch screen isn’t working around the edges.

We reached the point where highway 15 crosses the Gila and barely made it to Doc Campbell’s before they closed at 5:00. I went as fast as I could and actually passed Melissa on the short road walk into Docs. Doc Campbells is a small family run store/campground and a popular resupply point for CDT hikers. The store people are very nice and my resupply box arrived just as I was sipping a soda under the awning. Unfortunately their wifi password has an “a” in it and that is on the edge of my phone screen.  I can’t enter the “a” because of the water damage so no wifi for me.  The phone seems to be working except for the touch screen.

We are in a hiker bubble from everyone leaving Trail Days in Silver City at the same time, and the campground was crowded with other CDT hikers. There were many hikers in the various hot pools, and we ended up with 7 other hikers crammed into our one campsite – way too close for me!  Everyone was very conscientious, but I didn’t sleep well.  I kept worrying about my broken phone and if I was snoring or bothering others with all my tossing and turning.