At shortly after 6 am we reached the top of the switchbacks leading down into Clear Creek and were breaking out onto the Tonto Platform. Did I ever tell you how much I love the Tonto! The morning was cool and breezy and beautiful up here. By 6:45 we had crossed the first major drainage which heads down into Clear Creek and by 7:30 we were climbing out of Zoroaster Canyon itself. We were off to a good start. There was a group of 5 or 6 people camped in Zoroaster and it looked like we surprised them being on the trail so early. We waved greetings but did not stop to talk. The sun was up now but some of the side canyons like Zoroaster still offered quite a bit of shade as we worked our way through them.

By 7:45 we had passed below Demaray Point and were now on a virtual bee-line back to the Phantom area. The sun was up full by now and way that it was illuminating the south rim was gorgeous. At 8:15 we crossed the major drainage between Demaray and Bradley Points and at around 8:50 we started to pass below Bradley Point. Shortly after that the trail began descent into the drainage between Bradley Point and Sumner Butte and we began to feel the heat starting to build. It was going to be a hot one but we were almost home free. At around 9:30 we began the descent from the Tonto Platform as the trail began its long meandering contour around and below the Tapeats at the head of Sumner Butte. It was now very warm and we were quite grateful for some small patches of shade that were still to be found along the eastern walls of the side drainages in this area. Soon the suspension bridges were in sight and we knew that we were not far from the Phantom Overlook.

We finally reached the Phantom Overlook at around 10:40. It was very hot down (up?!) here and I managed to find a little patch of shade along a path that lead out to a small overlook, where we could take off our packs and sit comfortably. We rested here for a while, ate an early lunch and applied sunscreen. I had a feeling that the final couple of miles to Bright Angel Campground were going to be brutal. Our little patch of shade was shrinking quickly as the sun began to rise towards the zenith. At just before 11 am we were on the trail again and heading down towards the junction with the North Kaibab Trail.

At 11:15 we were down and the descent had not been as bad as I had expected. It was hot but not unbearably so and the vision of a cold beer from the Phantom Ranch canteen kept me going. It was like the Holy Grail looming ahead in the distance. We skipped the canteen at first and headed straight for the campground, arriving there at about 11:30. We picked a site and setup camp. Then we went back to the canteen to check-in for dinner and breakfast and to get that ice cold brew. It was one of the best beers I ever had. Most of the beer served at the Phantom Ranch canteen is.

After a very brief stay at the beach we headed back to camp and tried to keep out of the sun. It was very hot down there and it would be a while before the sun would fall behind the western cliffs yet. I tried to lay down in the tent for a while and read a little but it was just too hot. We wandered back and forth between our campsite and the creek, which was comfortably cool, until finally we gave up and headed over to Phantom Ranch to wait for dinner. There is a nice grove of cottonwoods just outside the canteen that provides a good deal of shade and there are always people hanging about there that you can talk to.

When dinner finally came I kept quiet about my WWW site as I just wanted to relax and did not feel like becoming the center of attention again. Dinner was good but I don't enjoy the steak dinner nearly as much as the stew dinner. There is probably just as much meat in either but the slab of steak that they give you just seems like way too much when you see it as one piece.

After dinner we went back to camp for a little while and then to the ranger program that was being held at the Phantom Ranch amphitheater that evening. The NPS budget cuts had prevented an actual ranger from giving the talk but the Grand Canyon Association came to the rescue and provided one of their own people to do it for the season. The talk had to do with human history at Phantom Ranch, from prehistoric peoples, through the mining era and up to the swimming pool days in the 1960s, and was quite interesting. Following the program we went to the beer hall for a quick one before turning in for the evening.