I slept very well last night which made up for the prior night. I woke a number of times to change positions but then went right back to sleep. I ended up getting out of the sleeping bag a little after 5:00 and went out to try and take some photos of the moon setting over the cliffs and also of the pre-dawn sky.

After breaking camp and having breakfast and filtering a little more water that had settled overnight we were out on the "trail" a little after 7:00.

The first part of the route was pretty good but then we got to this little cliff that proved to be somewhat of a challenge. Dave made it up with his pack on and then dropped a hand-line to make it easier for the rest of us. After that we had a nice easy stretch along the river to Unkar Creek / delta. I found a pottery shard right on the trail which I photographed and I also took photos of some of the ruins. There was a river party camped just above Unkar that was just leaving as we got there. Chuck noticed that some of the people in the rafts did not have life jackets on and gave them hell over it.

Beyond Unkar there was another iffy section where the cliffs came right down to the rivers edge and I really thought we were going to have to climb up and over to get past them. As we got closer though a little ledge along the river became more obvious and we were able to use that. It was very (VERY) narrow at the beginning and very creepy but got better the further on down we went, and was much easier than climbing over the cliffs would have been.

Beyond that we had a straight shot to Basalt Canyon and got here a little after noon. The first thing we did was take water out of the river to settle and then we sat in the shade to have lunch and rest.

19:06 - Basalt Canyon

Its bed time again - LOL! I will probably spend several hours awake yet, watching the stars come out, waiting for the moon to rise, and just dreaming in general. I am enjoying this trip but come night time when I start to think too much I am also eager for it to be over. In only 5 more days we will be back on the south rim, if everything goes according to plan.