We sleep in late this morning.  It feels good not to have to travel today.  After breakfast, we decide to walk down through the Narrows and on to the Colorado River.  The pictures in all the websites we visited show the Narrows to be a very unique place.  We will only be carrying our cameras and water, so this should be a fun day.  It is only a half-mile or so until you reach the beginning of the Narrows where a small waterfall cascades down. 

     Just past the waterfall, we come to the large eroded areas of the Narrows.  Wow!!  This is worth all the effort we have expended to get here.  I cannot imagine how many thousands of years it took for the running water to carve its way through the solid rock to produce this.  Some of the crevices are a hundred feet deep.  As we make our way toward the river, parts of the trail are sandwiched closely between a wall and the drop-off.  Navigating that section is scary enough without a pack, but would really be frightening with a pack.

     We walk on and in just a few minutes we reach the end of the Narrows, which is a cliff that is several hundred feet above the Colorado River.  The River is a dirty, brown color.  On several of my hikes, it has been a very pretty, green color.  We take turns getting each other's picture.  Art is just too tired to continue on the steep trail down to Deer Creek Falls.  We agree to meet back in the Narrows when I am through visiting the falls. 

     I head down the trail, which is initially fairly easy walking.  It makes a few turns and switchbacks and then comes to an area of solid rock next to a 45 degree dirt slope.  There is a faint trail out on the dirt, but that looks down right dangerous.  I look around, but don't see any alternative to the dirt trail to get down to the falls.  In what has to be one of the most foolish moves I have ever made in my life, I creep out along the dirt trail clinging to anything I can get my hands on to keep from slipping.  One false move here would result in a few bounces and then a fall hundreds of feet.  After I am out on the dirt trail too far and too scared to turn back, I see a girl coming up the correct trail below me and realize what has happened.  I am giving a lot of thought to the phrase that Bob Ribokas used in his Nankoweap trip report about "Being at Peace with your Maker."  I am definitely hyperventilating more now than I was with the deer encounter getting out to the trailhead.  I make a solemn promise to myself that if I survive this, I am never going to allow anything like this to happen to me again.  I am now on all fours sitting down and actually sliding down this incline until I finally reach safety.  No words I can write could express the utter fear I was experiencing.  The trail is easy walking now that I am on the correct one.  I get to the bottom and take pictures of Deer Creek Falls and some rafters.  The falls are spectacular. 

     On my return trip to the top, I come to the spot where I made the stupid trail choice.  I now notice that there is a small row of rocks placed at a right angle on top of the trail just before the dirt area.  Obviously this was put there to warn hikers not to proceed.  How in the world did I not see that earlier!!!  I make another promise to myself to be more observant in the future.  The rest of my trip to the top is uneventful and I meet Art at the Narrows.  After hearing my story, he reminds me of the saying in Bob Ribokas' trip report that he too read.  It's odd that he thought of the same phrase that I did.  We return to camp and have lunch.  Art discovers that he has left his sunglasses somewhere in the Narrows, but he is not going back after them.  The Park Service has placed a strange porta-potty near the main campsite.  I guess it is better than going in the bushes, but not by much.  Like Upper Tapeats, there are no metal boxes for food storage here either.  The other hikers are getting ready to leave, so we discuss whether to move to the better campsite.  Concerned about the difficulty of the hike tomorrow, we decide instead to go up to Deer Spring for the night when it cools down some. 

     The other group departs at 1:00 during the heat of the day headed up the Deer Creek Trail.  Having come down that yesterday afternoon in the heat, we feel that is an unwise move on their part.  We pack our gear and slowly move it from our little campsite to the bigger one.  When it is cooler at 4:00, we start towards Deer Spring.  The trail takes you about one quarter mile to the north before crossing the creek.  Right at that point sitting on a large rock are Art's sunglasses.  I guess that other group found them in the Narrows and placed them there.  We cross the creek, make our way through the cane and brush, and begin the uphill hike.  It takes about one hour to reach the spring.  Deer Spring is a mere trickle compared to Thunder River or Deer Creek Falls.

     We set up our tents on two flat areas in the Throne Room and get our pictures in the rock chairs.  Preparing and eating supper is a challenge due to the mice.  We just thought they were bad the last two nights.  They are not bashful about walking out on top of your boots and trying to get your food almost out of your hands.  I am glad I am sleeping in a tent and not out in the open tonight.  Not wanting to deal with the heat tomorrow, we agree to leave early.  Our plan is to get up at 3:00 and leave by 4:00.  However, I have to say that I am more than a little apprehensive about hiking the trail at night with only our headlights since I have already made three trail decision booboos during the daylight. 

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