Damn, does it feel good to be here! Today was another wicked long and tiring day. I did not sleep well at all last night and that probably didn't help matters. The campsite was not as lumpy as the night before but it was still not level and because we were so high up it got quite chilly. My face was cold most of the night.

We were up a little earlier than normal and I made coffee and ate breakfast while still in my sleeping bag. I put on sweatshirt on to keep my upper body warm. We were out of camp just after 7:00.

The climb down to Sixty-Mile Canyon was easy and the climb up to the saddle overlooking Awatubi Canyon was strenuous but not nearly so bad as the saddle we climbed late yesterday afternoon. The climb down to Awatubi Canyon and then up to the saddle overlooking Malagosa Canyon was even easier. But, thats when the easy stuff ended.

Originally we were supposed to go down to Malagosa and then over another saddle to Kwagunt Canyon but there was a last minute change in the plan. What we ended up doing was a very long contour along the cliffs that rimmed Malagosa Canyon back up into the headwall of the canyon. My foot, which had been doing fine up to that point, was all of a sudden all screwed up again. When we broke for lunch I checked the moleskin and it had come off so I let my foot (and socks) dry out real good and then reapplied some more. After lunch the foot felt a little better but still not 100%.

After the long contour we descended along the ridge between Malagosa and Kwagunt Canyons and the views from up there were absolutely spectacular. I cant wait to see the photos on a big screen. Both valleys are very wide but Kwagunt is incredible - its monstrous in size and we could not even see the whole thing. The descent along the ride was a lot easier on the foot but it still bothered me whenever I would hit certain angles with it. At least it did not seem to be getting any worse. Towards the bottom portion of the ridge we looked around for some artifacts from one of the horsethief camps but we didn't find anything. The final descent to Kwagunt was tough on me and I was starting to get very tired. I was very happy to finally see the creek and fresh, flowing water once again. It rejuvenated me almost instantaneously.

The first order of business was washing clothes and taking a sponge bath myself. I put on clean clothes afterwards and I feel really good right now and just about ready for bed. The Pocket PC still has a pretty good charge on the first battery and I think I may even listen to some music tonight - R. Carlos Nakai, of course.

Dave and Chuck are talking about climbing Nankoweap Mesa tomorrow and I would love to do that. I don't know though. It might be a better idea to just head down to the river and relax for the day and wait for the river party to show up. It would be nice to have a relaxing day just hanging out at the river. Only two more days and we should be back on the south rim. I am very much looking forward to it. Its been an awesome trip but I am just about ready for it to be over. I still find it hard to believe that we have walked all the way from Grand Canyon Village to Phantom Ranch to here! Awesome!