Anyway, by 6 am or so we were finally ready to hit the trail. At 6:20 we reached the start of the Clear Creek trail and immediately started climbing it towards Phantom Overlook. This would be the hardest part of todays hike and I wanted to get it behind us before the sun rose above the cliffs and really started to bake the place. It was warm when we started the climb but had cooled off considerably by the time we reached Phantom Overlook at around 6:55. We took a short rest there in the shade before continuing on. The sun was coming up and the top few switchbacks were already exposed. Luckily we were almost on top of the Tonto and would be up there shortly.

But 7:20 we had finished climbing through the schists and granites and were just below the Tapeats Sandstone. The trail turned and headed east as it contoured below the base of the Tapeats through two side drainages before climbing to the top of the Tonto. At 7:55 we climb up onto the Tonto Platform. It was still cool and breezy in spite of the abundant sunshine. There was still some haze hanging around in the inner-canyon but this would be moving out as the day warmed the rocks and it lifted to be carried away. We took a short rest before continuing on.

I just love the views that you get from the Tonto Platform. It is one of those unique places in the Canyon that people don't seem to take the time to fully appreciate. Everyone is always in such a hurry to get to the river or get back to the rim and very few people actually take the time to wander about on the Tonto Platform ad explore it. It's wonderful just to watch the changing shadows on the cliffs that abound along its course. Each side canyon that you cross has its own interesting little charms and/or pitfalls and a day hike along the Tonto will never leave you bored. This was going to be the second time that I would be making this trip all the way to Clear Creek and the third time for the first few miles as Robin and I had done it as part of a day hike some years earlier.

We made good progress along the Tonto and I fought the temptation to just stop and stare as much as I could. We had really lucked out with the weather though and I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible. We passed just below Bradley Point (center arm of Zoroaster Temple) at around 9 am and then Demaray Point (southeastern arm of Zoroaster Temple) at around 10 am and then started to head north, into Zoroaster Canyon. It was in this section somewhere that we saw a "Pink", a rattlesnake with a pinkish hue to its skill that lives only in the Grand Canyon. This was the third rattlesnake that we have seen in the Grand Canyon and the second "pink". It's strange but the majority (75-80%) of my hiking in the Canyon has been solo, and yet the only time I've ever seen a snake has been with Robin. Go figure. Anyway... we crossed Zoroaster Canyon around 11:00 and stopped for lunch shortly thereafter. I wanted some food in our systems before we hit the descent into the Clear Creek. I remembered it as being positively awful and I was right, it was very rough on the toes.

Once you start to close in on Clear Creek canyon you get some beautiful views looking down into it. I managed to pick out one tent in the camping area far below but the place did not look nearly as crowded as we were told it might be. There was supposed to be one fairly large party here that had apparently cancelled their plans. The place looked peaceful and quiet as I remembered it from a few years back and I could hardly wait to get down there. Shortly after you get that good look at the camping area the trail begins its descent. It does this using only a few long and lazy switchbacks which makes the trail quite a bit exposed to the elements. I have always dreaded having to hike on this last section when it is wet or raining and luckily I would not have to do that during this trip either. The bottom reaches of the trail are the worst as the trail is only 18 or so inches wide and descends very gradually across a slope that is tilted at about a 45 degree angle. At the end of the slope is a cliff of course and there is nothing between the trail and the cliff to stop your fall if you should start. I just love it.

We we finally reached the floor of Clear Creek (which is actually just a tributary of the main creek) I noticed some stuff sacks hanging in one of the trees but there was no person in sight. We arrived at our Clear Creek camp around 1:30. There was lots of gusty wind which made it very difficult to get the tent up, and keep it in one place. This is when I got the idea to just tie the four corner of the tent to some boulders. After the corners were secured I topped off each boulder with another boulder just to make sure. The wind was incredible.

After setting up camp and changing our footwear to Tevas we headed south along the creek. There was another tent a little ways down the creek but there was no one in sight. Their tent had also been secured with boulders so I apparently had the right idea. We continued on down the creek to where East Clear Creek (it doesn't really have a name) comes in from the east. It's the first major tributary canyon south of the camping area and marks the limit of where you are allowed to camp. Here we met the people who belonged to tent we had passed on the way down. They claimed to have been there for about a week and had seen very few people in the meantime. I think they were upset to have their solitude disturbed, I know I would. They said they would be heading out in the morning and hoped that no one else would show up so we could have the place to ourselves for a while. We headed south a little further before turning back to camp.

For dinner we had Kraft Macaroni-and-Cheese and fried Hickory Farms summer sausage. I refused to bring any freeze-dried crap on this trip and wanted something that at least tasted like food. What we brought was a lot heavier to carry but it was well worth it.

After dinner a group of three other people showed up and hung around the creek near our site for a while. Since they came from the general direction of the stuff sacks that I had seen hanging in the tree earlier in the day I assumed that they belonged to them. One of them waved to us and I waved back but we never really had any contact and they shortly vanished into the thin air from which they had originally appeared. We never saw them again.