We left our Esplanade camp around 7:15 this morning and arrived at Deer Spring right around 11:00. It was a nice night on the Esplanade and still a little on the chilly side but not nearly as cold as the car camp. My face was really the only part of me that was cold and even that was not constant. There was no wind to speak of so that really helped. We were all up before the sun to have breakfast and pack up to be on the trail early.

The Redwall was no big deal and since we camped so close and started to early it was all still mostly in shade. We only stopped once on the way down when we finally got into some sunshine and it started to get warm. We didn't stop again until we got to the junction with the Deer Creek Trail but then took a short break there as well. We had another short break in Surprise Valley close to the descent into Deer Creek. The final descent from Surprise Valley to Deer Spring was a little dicey in places---lots of loose rock on steep slopes. We ended up having lunch at Deer Spring in the Throne Room and stayed there quite a while resting up and taking lots of photos. Both John and Janice really seemed to relish in being there after starting to bake in Surprise Valley and then hitting that rough descent. The flow from the spring was the highest I have ever seen it. We stayed there until around 12:45 and then left to look for a campsite down at Deer Creek.

The larger site here at Deer Creek was taken so we ended up with the smaller one, which is not that bad. It has a larger space for John, Janice and I and a smaller one for Mary and Robert. We just dumped our gear here and then headed down to the patio above the narrows to hang out for the remainder of the afternoon.

After playing around in the water for a while and taking lots more photos, John, Janice and I took a hike down to Deer Creek Falls at the Colorado River to check that out. The flow rate down there was very impressive as well and the waterfall was magnificent. There was so much wind and spray coming from the bottom that there was no way to get close to it.

We ended up cooking and eating diner at the patio as well and did not go back to camp until almost sunset.