We are up at 5:00, pack our gear, eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast, and drive to the Monument Point parking lot.  We are off at 6:15, a little bit before sunrise.  Because of the toenail problems I had on my April hike and the knee problems on my hikes in 1999 and 2000, I am a little apprehensive.  Hopefully things will go better this hike.  We walk through the open gate that marks the start of the trail.  The trail meanders around, up and down for about a half-mile through an area where all the trees have burned.  In about 30 minutes, we reach the large cairn that marks the initial descent through a very steep section with lots of loose rocks.  The sun has just come up, so that should help us going down this section.  Most of the websites we visited described how difficult this part of the trail is.

     In about 30 minutes, we finish this initial descent and, while a little challenging, it was not as hard as we have been led to believe it would be.  The view toward Bridgers Knoll is quite striking.  The trail now begins to loop around to the north for about a mile and remains relatively level.  Eventually we go through a few switchbacks and then come to the small cliff section that drops down about ten feet.  This is the second section that all the websites say is fraught with danger.  I brought a rope to help lower our packs if needed.  Art and I decide it is about as easy to climb down this section with our packs on.  We both reach the bottom of the cliff safely with no problems.  Again, while somewhat challenging, it was not as difficult as we expected it to be.  However, I would agree that this is an area where extreme care should be taken as a fall here would not be a pleasant experience.  The view out across the Esplanade is breathtaking.  

     From this point on, there is one large finger that descends to the Esplanade.  It is steep with numerous switchbacks and lots of loose rocks.  We found this to be one of the harder sections so far and very tough on the knees and toes.  Just as we reach the base of this finger, we meet up with the Thunder River Trail junction.  It is hard to imagine that anyone would come down the upper portions of the Thunder River Trail and hike the extra five miles it requires as opposed to the shorter Bill Hall Trail.  In only a few minutes, we are out onto the rock-hard portions of the Esplanade.  This requires following the rock cairns to stay on the trail.  As we approach a large drainage coming west from Bridgers Knoll, we find a cairn that suggests the trail goes down into the drainage.  It seems strange that the trail would lead down such a difficult route into the drainage.  Art and I look for other cairns, but finding none, we begin the scramble down into the drainage.  This is a challenging experience and we take a rest break at the bottom.  Equally as challenging is the climb out of the drainage as its south walls are quite steep.  Eventually we make our way to the top and meet up with the trail.  Obviously someone has played a trick on us with that fake cairn.  We are not amused.  We immediately come across the cryptobiotic soil our permit advises to avoid walking on.  It is quite unique: a fluffy soil that appears to be growing upward.

     In another half-hour we come to Flying Saucer Rock.  Just over half an hour after that we reach the Mushroom Rocks.  It's easy to see how they got their names.

     We each cache two quarts of water behind a cedar tree and continue across the Esplanade.  Just before reaching the top of the Redwall, we have lunch near where I expected to find the Lionshead rock.  I never could find it, though.  A few minutes after resuming our trek, we reach the top of the Redwall.  The view looking down on Surprise Valley is magnificent.

     Art has been using water at a greater rate than I have and he is nearly out.  This is not a good sign as we still have a long ways to go including descending the Redwall.  The trail going down the Redwall is steep and tough with lots of rocks.  Near the bottom we meet two different couples coming uphill.  We remark to ourselves that their trip planning is poor to be coming up the Redwall that late in the day when it is already hot.  Of course, maybe we shouldn't talk too loudly as Art is now out of water and I have been sharing my last quart with him.

     It has taken about an hour and a half from the top of the redwall to reach the trail junction in Surprise Valley.  The elevation loss coming down the redwall is nearly 1200 feet.  The trail splits into two segments here: east towards Thunder River and west towards Deer Creek.  We take the east fork.  The trail is easy walking and relatively flat.  That is a good thing because our shared water has now run out and it is getting hotter.  It seems like we have been walking forever across Surprise Valley.  Although I walked right past it, Art sees the cairn that marks the southeast triangular trail junction for those coming up from Thunder River and proceeding to Deer Creek.  We do not want to miss that tomorrow.  Art is now completely fatigued and insists that I go on ahead to reach the water at Thunder River while he stops to rest.  I realize that it is not normally a good thing to leave your hiking partner, but we really have no options at this point.  I trudge along, finally reaching the ridge overlooking Thunder River.  Geez!! I cannot believe how steep that descent is.  It is every bit of a 60 degree incline.  None of the websites we visited warned us about the steepness and difficulty of this last descent into Thunder River and Tapeats Creek.  This is a mentally depressing moment for me realizing how much work I have left to reach Thunder River, much less to go on to Upper Tapeats Campground.  I later look at the map and discover the elevation loss from the ridge to Tapeats Creek is 1400 feet.

     There are dozens of switchbacks to deal with the steepness of the trail.  However, my knees and toes have done reasonably well so far.  I just hope they hold up under this latest challenge.  I finally reach the cutoff to Thunder River about 45 minutes after starting down from the ridge.  It is very nice to have my pack off my back.  I quickly make my way to the river, filter some water, and drink all I can.  I then fill one of my two water bottles with filtered water and carry it out to the trail.  I am sure Art will be along before too long, although I cannot see him looking up towards the ridge.  He will be thrilled to see that full water bottle sitting there in the middle of the trail.  I go back to the river and talk with a lady from Phoenix while having a granola bar.  After another 15 minutes, I am a little worried about Art, so the lady and I wander back out to the trail.  We discover that my full water bottle is gone.  I just hope the river runner who came by a few minutes ago is taking it up to Art, because I will be plenty mad if he has stolen one of my bottles.  I finally see Art at the top of the trail and a couple coming down also.  If the couple beats me to the bottom, I am afraid they will claim one of the better campsites, so I put on my pack and head downhill as fast as I can.  This increased pace is now hurting my knees.  It takes me another hour after leaving Thunder River to reach Tapeats Creek.  Hopefully the campground is not too far.  In another ten minutes, I reach the campground and find that the first two of the three total sites is taken.  I plop down in the third site just as the couple pulls in behind me.  I wonder if they are off permit.  Even though this is a small site, I guess we can share it with them.  Amazingly Art is right there with them.  It turns out they were concerned about Art's condition up at the ridge and volunteered to carry his pack down.  Where were they when I needed them!!  It also turns out that the river runner did deliver my water bottle to Art, so everything worked out well.  This couple is camped in the second site and had been doing a day loop-hike down Tapeats Creek to the Colorado River, over to Deer Creek, and back up and across Surprise Valley.  It must be wonderful to be young and energetic.  Art and I set up camp and cook supper.  Art is clearly exhausted and admits he could not have made it down without their help.  I kid him the rest of the hike that the buzzards were beginning to circle over him back there in Surprise Valley.  We quiz the couple whether tomorrow we should be doing the route they took for their day hike or sticking to our original itinerary of backtracking uphill and going across Surprise Valley.  They feel our original plan is probably better considering the poor condition our legs are in.  Our total hiking time today was eleven hours.  It should be much shorter tomorrow.  If I had known how tough it was getting down here, I would have scheduled two nights here.  The mice are everywhere, so I put my food-stuff in my tent before going to bed.  You would think the Park Service would have metal boxes here to store your food.  Art collapses into his tent and I don't see him again that night.

MAIN INDEX | TRIP INDEX | BACK TO PREFACE | FORWARD TO DAY 2