We are up early this morning and get away before 6:30. This climb is a lot more pleasant when it's still cool. We reach the point high above our campsite in about a half-hour. Dox Castle is the dominant feature to the southeast.
There is still some more work left to get from here to the Tonto section of the trail and the small butte that Tom and Keith climbed on day two. Not to be completely outdone, I climb up to the top of the butte while Tom gets my picture.
We see quite a variety of plants and flowers.
We reach a slick rock section of the trail and several pools of water. All of these pools were completely clear three days ago. It is surprising that the algae would take over some of the pools so fast while the others remain clear.
In a little while, we come to a waterfall obstacle and a bypass around it. Tom is more adventurous than the rest of us and heads up the creek bed and straight for the falls. With a little effort, he is able to climb to the top of the falls.
I find more blooming flowers than I did the other day going down.
We have another climb ahead of us and then the trail loops around some rock outcroppings and meets up with the creek again.
The next obstacle is a much larger waterfall that is a lot tougher than the last one, so everyone takes the bypass around it. This area reminds me a little bit of the Narrows at Deer Creek with all the striations cut into the rock by the flowing water.
I find an unusual white frog nearby. He is smaller than this picture makes him seem. I wonder if their color darkens as they age because I don't recall seeing one like this before.
As we make our way up the creek bed, we inadvertently get off the correct path and come across a rock cabin on the east side of the creek. It is completely overgrown with brush and trees, but appears to have been constructed quite well. Many of the stones seem to have been cut to fit. Even though it is hard to see in these pictures, it actually is in much better condition than Louis Boucher's cabin at Boucher Creek. I wonder if W. W. Bass built this as part of his North Bass Trail.
We pull into what we have dubbed as the J. B. campsite just after noon. After lunch, everyone lounges around in the shade all afternoon. We discuss climbing the Redwall and doing a dry camp above it, but no one is enthusiastic about doing that and there appear to be relatively few benefits. Anyway, our climb up the Redwall will be easier tomorrow morning when we are fresh and it is cool. It's also nice to have flowing water right next to our campsite.
It clouds up late this afternoon, but this is about all that's left around sunset.
Keith indicates that he will probably hike on out tomorrow and make camp at the car. Tom, Bob, and I toy with the idea of spending tomorrow night at Teddy's cabin. That would allow Tom some time to explore up on the Powell Plateau. The pressure has been on Tom the last few days to compose a poem for entry into the log book at Teddy's cabin tomorrow, so he gives us a preview of two different poems he has been working on. We agree to leave early again tomorrow morning. MAIN INDEX | HIKING INDEX | BACK TO DAY 4 | FORWARD TO DAY 6
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