In honor of my 55th birthday, we returned to our favorite hike in the Gila Wilderness, via Little Bear Canyon and along the Middle Fork of the Gila River to a spectacular warm springs. This was our third (and my fourth) attempt to reach the springs. In 2007, Dennis and I celebrated our first anniversary by riding out a severe lighting and thunderstorm, huddling under a scrub oak tree while we were pelted with three inches of hail. We returned two months later on a glorious October weekend to finally complete the hike.