Gila Wilderness: Little Dry Creek Trail and Bead Spring Trail

While the insides of our packs were stuffed to the brim with couscous, dehydrated spinach, frying pans, sporks, sleeping bags and other sundry backcountry gear, the outsides were dressed with items that spoke more about our mission in the Gila: various hand tools, a crosscut saw, and our bright green and blue helmets swinging from our packs made it clear we were there to work. The eight of us spent our days sawing, axing, and lopping our way through several gnarled miles of trail corridor. The camp stoves and fires brought us together in the evenings as we tried out new recipes, more often than not involving the word ‘surprise.’ We always managed to find water for tea and time for stories at the end of the day. Little did we know that after twelve days of work we would have crosscut and axed over two-hundred trees, hiked an average of sixty miles each, collectively endured no fewer than fourteen wasp stings and countless blisters, and cleaned and made use of one abandoned cabin while evading both Hantavirus and a suspiciously friendly mountain man named Sonny.