I waited until dark and then got up last night to try some Milky Way shots between 900 and 945pm. I used an unoccupied campsite next to mine that had a better view of the sky. the sky was nice and dark and the stars wee brilliant. I could easily make out the Milky Way. The planet Jupiter was just rising in the east and that was the brightest object in the sky. The photos look good on the small screen on the camera and I will have to see what I can do with them when I get home.

I was awake a little after 4am this morning and spent about 20 minutes shooting some more before I started to break down my camp. I had oatmeal again for breakfast and two cups of mocha.

I left camp at 630am and reached the junction with the Hermit Tail at 750am. I spent about half of an hour checking out the Hermit Camp ruins and artifacts which was something I did not have time to do last year. I arrived at the Hermit Creek camping area at 930am, got camp setup, filtered some water and sorted out the gear that I needed to bring along for my day hike down to Hermit Rapids. I decided to wear my camp shoes (Croc knock-offs) for the hike down along Hermit Creek to the rapids. I was not sure how much time I would need to spend IN the creek and really didn't now want to end up with a soggy pair of boots at the end of the day since I need to hike back out to the rim tomorrow. I brought my hiking boots along as well in the backpack but as it ended up I never put them on.

I started the hike down to Hermit Rapids at 1020am and was in the creek a lot for the first quarter mile or so until the creek reached the junction with the other trail that comes down from the Tonto Trail and heads directly for the river. There were numerous creek crossings after that as the trail went from one side to the other and a few times it was just easier to walk in the creek than to deal with the trail. The hike through the Tapeats Gorge along the upper portion of the creek was nice and the canyon really opened up once the creek exited that portion.

I arrived at Hermit Rapids at 1140, took a few photos of the rapids and then looked for a good place to have my lunch. Not a lot of choices, the beach at Granite Rapids is a lot more roomy. There is not a nice wide and shady beach at Hermit Rapids like there is at Granite but I did manage to find a spot of hard shade above the rapids towards the east end of the beach. That lasted long enough for me to have my lunch but not much longer. I found a couple of other spots under tamarisk trees along the river but the bank was sloping down too much and they were not very comfortable. I finally gave up around 115pm and started the hike back to camp.

I took a nice long rest break when I got back to a shady spot just as the creek was starting back into the Tapeats Gorge. I ate a Kind bar a got my book out to read for a time, while listening to the babbling of Hermit Creek. Shortly after I started back I met some other hikers who were headed down to Hermit Rapids to spend the night. I also discovered a nice little waterfall that I had somehow missed during the hike down to the river.

I was back at camp a little after 330pm, filtered some more water and relaxed for a little while before dinner. Dinner tonight was another new one, Mexican Style Veggie Bowl (with Rice and Beans), also from AlpineAire. I really enjoyed this one as well. So now I have two additional meals that I can enjoy along with the the mac & cheese. The mac and cheese with hot dogs is still my favorite though. I had the other package of Peanut M&Ms for dessert.