We are up at 3:30 this morning.  Since I am a little low on water, I store my pans dirty after cooking my oatmeal.  We do better getting around this morning, finish packing our gear, and hit the trail at 4:45.  Even though it is pitch black, we have no trouble finding the trail with only our headlights.  We pass two different groups who are camped near the east end of the drainage.  In no time at all, we come to the Thunder River-Bill Hall Trail junction.  How in the world could we navigate around the drainage properly in the dark, but fail to do it correctly during the daylight coming down the first day.  We take the Bill Hall Trail and begin the steep uphill climb on the long finger leading up to the small cliff section.  This is no fun at all, but at least it is cool.  When we are halfway up the finger, the sun comes up revealing an overcast sky.  In another half hour, we reach the top of the finger and make our way to the cliff.  It is much easier going up the cliff than it was coming down, so we leave our packs on again.  We can see last night's campsite far in the distance.  The clouds are much darker now and a loud roar of thunder begins.  The sound reverberates around the Canyon.  Art says that is common in the Tucson area, but I have never heard that before.  Rain has been falling off and on the last few minutes.  Art was indeed right yesterday about the weather forecast.  I did not bring any raingear, so I put on my fleece jacket. 

     We make our way around to the south toward the base of the final climb.  The wind has picked up and it starts to rain heavily, so we take refuge in a stand of cedar trees.  Fortunately the rain subsides in just a few minutes.  It would not be fun to make that final climb in the rain or on slippery ground.  Art is adjusting some of his gear as I head up.  In about 30 minutes, I am standing at the top at Monument Point.  Art arrives shortly thereafter and realizes he left his sunglasses back at the cedar trees.  This time there is no reprieve for his glasses.  We walk the final half-mile through the burned tree section to the parking lot.  A celebration is in order.

     We talk a while with two hikers who were right behind us and then pack our gear into the vehicles.  After the drive back to the Jacob Lake Inn, we celebrate properly with a cheeseburger and fries.  Art heads for Tucson and I head for Albuquerque to spend the night and then on to Oklahoma the next day.

MAIN INDEX | HIKING INDEX | BACK TO DAY 4 | FORWARD TO POSTSCRIPT