Ed and I were stoked to get to Doc Campbell’s today. We’d have a shower, be able to do laundry and maybe even score a burger and beer. We struck out in the morning with a positive attitude. We could do this!
We only had about 5 miles (8 km) of river trail before hitting Hwy. 15 and a road walk to Doc Campbell’s. Things were going reasonably well when we came upon a sign that said Hwy. 15 was straight ahead, while the Gila River Bridge was to the left. I hadn’t heard of a bridge crossing, but I knew we wanted to hit Hwy. 15, so we went straight ahead.
Heading to Doc Campbell’s
The trail pitched steeply uphill. Or should I say up-mountain. After climbing for a while we checked our app and – rats! – we’d taken some unofficial trail that led to the highway. We decided to continue to the highway instead of doubling back. These things happen.
The rest of the climb was quite taxing, but once we got to the highway it was all downhill to Doc Campbell’s. Doc 
Campbell’s Outpost was started in the 1960s, I believe. Today Doc’s granddaughter, Kristy, runs the place with her family. It’s so nice!
There’s a huge store that has everything hikers need to resupply. There’s also a nice selection of food. We had steak-and-jalapeño burritos and Doc’s famous homemade ice cream. Yum!
Plotting Out the Day
As we were hiking to Doc’s, a guy stopped to chat. His name was Bo and he lives in the area. We mentioned we’d gotten a day behind schedule and had hoped to see the famous Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, but now it looked like Ed would have to miss it.
Bo said he’d drive us up there in a few hours, after we’d washed up. How kind! So Bo later drove us to the visitor center, then to the cliff dwellings. He gave us the keys to his van and said he’d bike back; we could drive his van after we explored the cliff dwellings. Again – how kind! He also said he had a treat for us in this cooler in the van.
Cliff Dwellings, Pizza and Beer
The cliff dwellings were pretty cool. Native Americans lived there about 700 years ago – in small spaces carved into the cliff face. Pretty amazing. Back at Doc’s, Bo had left us some IPAs, which we enjoyed sitting outside. Bo dropped by with his 
own beer, and we ordered some pizzas from Doc’s and invited Bo to dine with us. He’s an interesting guy.
That night Kristy said we could sleep in the bathroom if we’d like, rather than outside in the grass. The bathroom has a large, open space outside of the two showers/toilets, so we decided to set up in there because it was getting cold at night. It was actually pretty warm inside for many hours – a little too warm!
Oh, I had arranged for this guy from Silver City to pick up Ed and drive him back to Silver City and his rental car, which he needs to get back to Albuquerque tomorrow to catch his flight out on Friday. Bo said he was headed into town anyway, and offered to take Ed instead of us paying $100 for the ride. Gosh, such kindness!
Snowshoe
Today’s Miles: =8 (12.9 km)
CDT Miles to Date: 271.7 (437.3 km)
CDT Miles to Go: 2,828.3 (4,551.7 km)
