Cover Your Backside

In the fall we always make time to head to the Gila Wilderness for some backpacking adventures. The Gila is the first Congressionally designated wilderness area in the United States. It is 3.3 million acres of forested hills, majestic mountains and range land and is the home of the Gila River. It is not only our closest wilderness area for backpacking, but it is our absolute favorite. It is so beautiful there! We always wait until the fall after all dangers of the monsoon rains and flooding have past before loading up and heading to the sparsely populated trails (typically along the Middle Fork of the river). First I’ll share some pictures from our trips last fall, then it’s story time…

Heading to the Gila

Snow Lake (one of our entry points into the Gila)

Some lizards in the Gila

Some frogs in the Gila

This frightened snake tried to fit his body into a crevice in the rock. When he realized he didn't fit he slithered off into the river and swam away. I find snakes frighteningly cool, however, snakes that swim...terrifying.

Speaking of terrifying snakes, we see these frequently in the Gila. Each time is the same for us...desperately trying to remember the rhyme to remember which color scheme for deadly coral snake and which for harmless scarlet king snake???

We haven't ever fished in the Gila River, but on each trip we think we should because once you get several miles down the river into the wilderness, the fish seem so plentiful that you could almost scoop them up with your hands.

Speaking of fishing, Lily loves to "go fishing". In the fall there is always an abundance of baby fish in the shallows. She will stare into them picking her moment to pounce and run and pounce again. She's never caught anything, but she has so much fun!

On one trip last fall we saw a javelina and her babies while hiking. We grabbed Lily and carried her for a while and tried to make plenty of noise so that mama javelina had a chance to go away with her young. So glad we did for safety's sake. We knew how dangerous they could be, but it put a really fine point on that fact several days later in the trip when we found this javelina jaw bone...just look at those tusks (though I suppose we should be more afraid of what killed the javelina!). This was such a cool find that I strapped it to my backpack and carried it for several days to bring it home.

On most backpacking trips to the Gila we don't see another human soul. When we do see someone it is typically during hunting season and looks something like this.

We have backpacked into the Gila enough times that we have our favorite spots to set up camp. After a long day hiking we can't wait to put up the tent and relax by a fire.

Ever heard the expression "dog tired" (well, of course you have). Well, Lily never slows down until we get into camp and she makes a good illustration of that expression.

Living here in the high desert of New Mexico is such a contrast to the the river valley of the Gila Wilderness. While we do love our desert homestead, it is such a joy to visit the relative lush oasis of the river a mere 60 miles south of us as the crow flies. We find it so beautiful and awe inspiring that we had over 500 photos from last year alone to cull through to share with you--it was a difficult job, but we narrowed it down to these.

Now, as promised, it's story time. Usually I share a story where I have made some misstep or fumble of some sort, however, this time I get to share a rare story where Jim is the subject of the faux pas. It happened on our last backpacking trip in the Gila, but it doesn't get interesting until after we have been home for several days. One evening he comes in to tell me he thinks a spider of something has bitten him on the butt cheek, and it was itching and hurting. Upon inspection, something had left a red welt similar to some kind of bite or sting, so I gave him some cream to relieve the discomfort while it healed. After a few days he began to think it might be poison ivy. We have heard there is poison ivy in the Gila but have never seen it there ourselves. And believe me we have kept an eye out for it.

While we had no experience with poison ivy (which comes an many different shapes and sizes), Jim does have plenty of experience with poison oak. Enough experience to know that he is terribly sensitive to it and it is awful! Sure enough, his one welt started spreading and turning into huge weeping blisters. And it was spreading around his hip and on his waistband in front. For almost a week I was lining his underpants with sanitary napkins. even multiple pads for the heaviest of flows would not contain the weeping blisters overnight, so I had him sleeping on towels. We tried every lotion and potion, oils and soaps that we could think of. Not only was it not getting any better, it seemed to continue spreading. Exasperated, I finally broke down and bought some adult diapers for him to wear--with a side note for him not to get too comfortable in them as they were only temporary!

We did some research online to identify what variety of poison ivy it may have been. Sure enough, we did find the likely culprit. There was a photo a specific variety at the end of the season after the leaves had fallen and nothing was left but a dried stalk about 6-12 inches high. That was it. We had seen thousands of these near the river and thought nothing of it. So, Jim must have had one of these dry stems poke him on his bottom while squatting over his cat hole do do what everyone does, but no one talks about.

All's well that ends well. After suffering for a few weeks, Jim happened to have an appointment for his yearly check up. Since we were in the heat of the Covid outbreak, our doctor did appointments by phone when possible. When she asked if there was anything else she could do for Jim, he off-handedly replied, "Not unless you have a miracle cure for poison ivy...". Well, she did, so he made and appointment to see here where she gave him a shot of cortisone (and pills for a week I think). There was an immediate decrease in the weeping (the blisters were weeping, not Jim), and discomfort. By day two it dried up and was beginning to heal. Sure enough it was a miracle cure that no one ever told us about. There is no promise that Jim won't get into poison oak or ivy again, but one thing is for sure--he will never suffer through weeks of itching and burning and weeping blisters again. Instead we will get right to the doctor for some cortisone. None the less, my advice to him is the same: when you are in the wilderness, always watch your backside!