Richard and I leave camp around 8:30.  Everyone else has already gone.  We reach the old Hermit Camp in just a few minutes.  I notice that someone has welded an inscription (SCA 77) on one of the galvanized corral pipes.  I posted a question about this on the Grand Canyon Hikers Forum, but no one seemed to know what that stood for.  One of my Grand Canyon history friends thought it might stand for the Student Conservation Association, a group that frequently did volunteer work here at the Canyon.  If so, maybe they were down here forty years ago welding up that corral fence.

Leaving Hermit Creek 10-15-2017 @ 8:31	Old Hermit Camp corral 10-15-2017 @ 8:42	Welded inscription on pipe 10-15-2017 @ 8:42

     Richard and I leave our packs at the corral fence.  We then climb a small rise behind the corral and begin to find all kinds of old stuff.  The submerged structure below looks to us like it might have been a water tank.

Old storage tank 10-15-2017 @ 8:50	Old storage tank 10-15-2017 @ 8:50

     Further up the hill is a rock storage building.  Those two cans of "Dale's Pale Ale" in the second picture below look relatively new.  I did an internet search when I got home and found out that it is still sold today.  The rest of the building has lots of tools, equipment, and water canteens in it.

Storage building 10-15-2017 @ 8:50	Ale in storage building 10-15-2017 @ 8:51	Inside storage building 10-15-2017 @ 8:51

Inside storage building 10-16-2017 @ 8:51	Tools in storage building 10-15-2017 @ 8:51	Canteens in storage building 10-15-2017 @ 8:51

     We then find what must have been the cable tram pulley wheels and a lot of steel cable.  The concrete structures are large and substantial and must have been used to anchor this end of the tram.  All this is pretty cool.  I can't believe I had never seen it before.

Old cables and pulleys 10-15-2017 @ 8:54	Tram pulley wheels 10-15-2017 @ 8:54	Concrete anchor 10-15-2017 @ 8:55

Tram pulley wheels 10-15-2017 @ 8:55	Concrete anchor 10-15-2017 @ 8:55	Collapsed building rubble 10-15-2017 @ 9:00

     We pick up our packs and head toward Monument Creek.  Richard quickly leaves me far behind.

Leaving the old Hermit Camp 10-15-2017 @ 9:33	Here I am dragging behind 10-15-2017 @ 10:11

     Just past the Hermit Trail sign we meet two guys coming from Monument Creek.  One of them has an interesting looking backpack made of a blue, plastic-like material called "Cuben Fiber."  I had never heard of that nor had I seen a pack made of it.  It appeared to be a no-frills, very light weight backpack.

Hermit Rapids 10-15-2017 @ 10:12	Osiris Temple in the distance 10-15-2017 @ 10:23	Tower of Set in the distance 10-15-2017 @ 10:36

     We are approaching Monument Creek and after climbing a small rise, we get our first view of the Monument.  You then loop around to the right and descend into a small drainage that leads to Monument Creek.

First view of the Monument 10-15-2017 @ 11:00	Drainage leading to the Monument 10-15-2017 @ 11:09

     In a few minutes, we reach the Monument, a vertical column of rock about fifty feet tall.  I have heard of people climbing to the top of that, but that doesn't look like too much fun to me.  Actually, that looks pretty darn scary.

The Monument 10-15-2017 @ 11:30	The Monument 10-15-2017 @ 11:33	The Monument 10-15-2017 @ 11:39

     We pass the three porta-potties that were here my last time this way.  Since they had a new bathroom at Hermit Creek, I thought they might have a new one here too.  Richard and I put our stuff down in the same campsite I had my first time here.  After lunch, we toy with the idea of going down to Granite Rapids, but decide instead to explore the creek below the Monument.  It is very easy walking at first, but then the creek bed narrows and the rock sides start to get steeper, smooth, and slick from the flowing water.  With only some very mild scrambling, we make it quite a ways downstream, but eventually the greater depth of the water brings our exploration to an end.

Exploring below the Monument 10-15-2017 @ 3:10	Exploring below the Monument 10-15-2017 @ 3:12	Exploring below the Monument 10-15-2017 @ 3:12

Exploring below the Monument 10-15-2017 @ 3:16	Exploring below the Monument 10-15-2017 @ 3:17	Exploring below the Monument 10-15-2017 @ 3:19

Exploring below the Monument 10-15-2017 @ 3:20	Exploring below the Monument 10-15-2017 @ 3:23	Exploring below the Monument 10-15-2017 @ 3:25

     Back at camp, we set up our tents and relax a while.  Anyway, it's happy-hour.

	Monument Creek campsite 10-15-2017 @ 3:36

Richard's bivy at Monument Creek 10-15-2017 @ 3:36	My tent at Monument Creek 10-15-2017 @ 3:36	Our camp at Monument Creek 10-15-2017 @ 3:36

     Tomorrow should be our easiest day as it is only 3.4 miles over to Salt Creek.

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