<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div>I was hiking with Tom Holz (AKA Bigfoot) and we took the high-water route from Snow Lake to Doc's exactly as Jerry describes. This was on the advice of locals in Pie Town who had been down to check it out as well as the ranger's office for the Gila Wilderness. When we crossed over at the Meadows it did not look terrible, just slow going. If I had to do it again I might have just gone for it, especially after I read an account from another SOBO who went through maybe 1-2 weeks after we did:</div>
<div><br></div><a href="http://marks-talesfromthetrails.blogspot.com/2013/12/middle-fork-of-gila-river-cdt-2013.html" target="_blank">http://marks-talesfromthetrails.blogspot.com/2013/12/middle-fork-of-gila-river-cdt-2013.html</a><br>
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<br></div><div>He averaged around 10 miles a day (down from probably what was a high-20's to low-30's daily pace) through that section, so it was slow going but sounded very rewarding.</div><div><br></div><div>We completely bypassed the southern section of Middle Fork south of Doc Campbell's after doing a lot of research (rangers who were being honest with us, other hikers, forest service trail crews) that said that while the stretch from Snow Lake to Doc's was doable, the section south of there had portions that were not only nearly impassable but also dangerous, with logs stacked on top of each other (a lot of the trees that get swept down the Gila end up getting jammed up in that section).</div>
<div><br></div><div>There will be some northbounders next season who slog through that soon and we'll know what exactly it looks like - I don't know any other sobos from 2013 who did the southern Gila section - maybe Huck or one of the people in the front of the pack.</div>
<div><br></div><div>-Shian (Barrel Roll)</div></div>
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