We sleep in until after sunrise since there is no need to rush around. The hike today should be a lot easier than yesterday's. Our campsite is just a few feet from Tapeats Creek with cattails and crimson monkey flower growing there.
The nearby creek sure makes filtering water easy. After breakfast, we pack our gear and leave at 9:15. Our plan today is to carry minimal water uphill until we reach Thunder River. That should make the climb out a little easier. I am glad we are going uphill for the first part of the hike today, because I don't think my legs could handle much more downhill right now. After about ten minutes on the trail, we turn westward and begin the steep uphill portion. There is an interesting area of barrel cactus on our left.
We reach Thunder River in about two hours. It is just as pretty going uphill as it was coming down. It's hard to believe that all this water gushes out of the side of the mountain. It reminds me of Roaring Springs on the North Kaibab Trail. We rest a while by the falls, have a snack, and then filter water. Since he ran out yesterday, Art decides to carry three quarts of water for the trip across Surprise Valley and down Deer Creek Trail. I am going to bring two quarts.
We begin the final climb to the top. It takes about one more hour to reach the ridge. The hiking time so far from Upper Tapeats Campground to the ridge took just over three hours including our break time. Maybe we should have started out earlier this morning, but surely we can make good time now. As we make our way across Surprise Valley, there are some interesting cave-like holes in the redwall.
It seems like we should be making better time going across Surprise Valley, but we aren't. Fortunately we do find the cairn at the southeast triangular trail junction and take the southern leg headed west to Deer Creek. It would be a real bummer to miss that and accidentally head back toward the redwall. After another hour and a half, we reach the next triangular trail junction on the southwest side of Surprise Valley. This is the beginning of the Deer Creek Trail. It is downhill from here all the way to Deer Creek. Art has been drinking his water like a horse, so I hope he doesn't run out again. We walk another hour and then take a break by an interesting rock with linear, horizontal layers. It obviously is a lot farther over to Deer Creek than we thought it was going to be. We assumed we would be there by now. The farther we proceed the steeper the trail gets and it has more rocks. In another hour, we can see a ridge in the distance. Hopefully we won't be greeted with that same experience we had yesterday at the Thunder River ridge. We approach the ridge after another 40 minutes and come to a very unique multi-barreled cactus.
We are now right on the edge of the last ridge. The trail drops abruptly from here to Deer Spring and Deer Creek. Art has run out of water, so we again share my last quart. We soon come to a huge boulder pile with a cairn right at its edge. Again we are stumped as to the proper way to proceed. It seems that the only way on is to start boulder hopping. You would think they would have made the trail better here. For five minutes or so, we climb over and then slide down these large boulders. Only when we get to the other side of the boulder field do we find that the correct trail took a different direction back there. This is the second time we have missed the trail, but this time I suspect it was our mistake. The descent from the ridge is tough, but not quite as bad as the one at Thunder River. We eventually reach a four-foot drop down where two ladies are coming uphill. One is the lady I met yesterday at Thunder River. She explains she has done this trail many times and confirms that there is no boulder field you have to traverse. Alright, so we screwed up. She tells us to be sure and visit the "Throne Room" at Deer Spring. We say goodbye and in another ten minutes we reach the trail junction to Deer Spring. I go down to the spring to filter water while Art rests. After filling our bottles, I am determined to get some pictures while there is still a little light. I first have to jump across several rocks in the stream and then climb a short, but steep hill to reach the Throne Room. The lady was indeed correct that this is a neat area. Someone has gone to a lot of work to erect the huge rock chairs here. Some are six feet tall. These slabs of rock must weigh a lot.
With full water bottles, we need to be heading on. It will be dark in about an hour or so. There are several more switchbacks to go down and then this huge thicket area of canes and willow bushes to get through. While there is a small trail through the brush, with all the stuff I am carrying on my back, I keep scraping the sides. At one point, I have to get down on all fours and crawl through. I am a little ahead of Art and when we come to a "Y" in the trail, we get separated. I take the right fork and he takes the left one. This time, though, I made the correct choice and find an easy way to ford the creek to reach the trail on the other side. I meet up with Art several hundred yards downstream where he has a tougher time getting across the creek. It shouldn't be much more now before we get to the campground and its single, large site. At last, we are finally there, but another group of seven people coming up from the Colorado River has beaten us to the campsite by about three minutes. One guy still has his pack on. I am heartbroken. I cannot tell you how disappointed I am to have to keep going to find a place to camp. We are both dead tired and it is almost dark, so we pick the first place we find a little ways down the trail. It has taken us nine hours to get here. We quickly set up camp and cook supper. The mice are as bad here as they were at Upper Tapeats. I thought Art was exhausted yesterday, but he absolutely crashes in his tent this evening, never to be seen or heard from again that night (except for his snoring, that is). I do not want mice holes in my stuff, so I store my food items in my tent and hang my pack from a tree. I am really looking forward to a leisurely day tomorrow. MAIN INDEX | TRIP INDEX | BACK TO DAY 1 | FORWARD TO DAY 3
|
