The Gilas

About a month ago I had a crazy idea that I would like to spend spring break on some sort of out doorsy adventure. The last time I had been camping was with Tash, Leland, Katelyn, Cassi, Hayley, my friend Rose and Raymon (I can't remember if Rochelle and Mimi were there I always get this trip and bryce canyon mixed up). The funny thing was after we'd set up camp, a guy pulled up in his suburban and asked us what we were doing on his private property. He was cool and let us stay for that night. So I hadn't really had a real camping expereince for a while. I approached my friend Mark in the ward who is something of an outdoors guy and quite knowledgeable in New Mexico terrain. He was all for the idea and picked a place that is about an hour north of Silver City. For the non-New Mexicoites Silver City is the destination of the various groups in the movie "Rat Race."

We winded our way up into the pines and ended up leaving my car once we hit the mountain road, or I should say trail because it was hardly a road. It took us about an hour to offroad our way up the ten miles to the summit. From there we were on foot, and hiked into the canyon with full packs for about two miles. Our campsite was at the confluance of the Gila River and the Sapilla creek.

With tents pitched and all, we felt adventurous and decided to hike up the river and check things out. The water was freezing! Picture the pacific ocean but ten degrees colder. We did some "cliff" jumping although it was more like "boulder" jumping because the cliffs weren't very high. The time passed quickly and we barely noticed the sun had disappeared behind the canyon walls. We hurried home, knowing that with the sun was going what little warmth we had. We spent the rest of the evening warming our numb bodies in front of the fire and eating tin foil dinners.

At about ten or eleven Candice and I crawled into our little two man pup tent and got in our sleeping bags. An hour later, this :

me: "Candice? Are you awake?"

Candice: "Yes."

Me: "Can you sleep?"

Candice: "No, I'm freezing my butt off."

We move closer to preserve body heat. An hour or two goes by. then:

Me: "I'm so cold I think I'm going to die."

Candice: "I don't want to die!"

Me: "Don't let go! I'll never let go!"

Candice:"Don't you go saying your goodbyes!"

Another couple hours go by. I wake up and see something in the cracks of our tent.

Me: "Candice I think its light outside!"

Candice: "Thank goodness! I've had to pee for three hours."

So we got up and Jared stoked the fire, and we warmed ourselves. Our spirits were still pretty high despite the lack of sleep. It turns out Jaime and Mark in their little tent had froze the whole night too. That day we hiked up the creek to a place that reminded me alot of those small canyons and caves we explored on our Lake Powell trip with the Mccuistions and the Phillips many years ago. We did some more swimming, but the fear of going to sleep that night didn't leave me and candice. When we got back to camp that night, all five of us played slapjack and poker in mark's tent. We decided to save ourselves from another night of hypothermia and the four of us smushed into Mark's little two man tent. We were crowded and had take turns sleeping on our sides but we were warm. My legs unfroze for the first time since we had made camp.

The next day we hiked out and headed home. It was a pretty awesome trip, hypothermia and all. It felt really good to accomplish something. And I'm glad I got to know some people in the ward better.