The night-time temperature was warmer than I expected and I spent most of the time on top of the sleeping bag. We got up at 6:00, ate some breakfast and start packing up the site. It was a beautiful morning and the sunrise was just as magnificent as the sun set had been on the prior evening. We are out of camp and on the trail at 7:05.

At 7:30 we met an elderly couple hiking the other way. They said they were just out for a day hike and yet they planned to go all the way to Clear Creek and then back to Phantom. I mentioned to them that this was about 20 miles round trip and they did not seem at all bothered by this. They seemed to be in good health and excellant physical condition though so I really was not worried. I took their picture for them and then had them take one for us before we parted.

My feet were really starting to bug me on the downhill sections of the trail and I was not looking forward to the descent from the Tonto to Bright Angel Creek. We got to the Phantom Overlook a little after 8:00, rested there a while and started down the last leg of the trail, to the creek, at 8:40. While we were resting a couple of other guys came down the trail behind us. They apparently had camped just below us in Sumner Wash the night before. I asked them if they had seen the ruins down there and they were disappointed that they had not.

The descent to the creek was slow and a little painful and we got to Phantom Ranch around 9:30. I had some coffee and Robin had some lemonade and shared some snacks. We both cleaned up a little at the hiker rest rooms and then headed over to the bunk house to pick up the rest of our stuff. We were there for about 15 or 20 minutes while we repacked our backpacks to fit everything in. We started up to Indian Garden around 10:45. All of the downhill was behind us now and my feet did not feel that bad.

We got to river resthouse around 11:30. We relaxed and ate our lunch and rested there until 12:30 and then we headed out again. We got to the bottom of the Devil's Corkscrew at 1:00 and reached top at 1:25. We rested again for a while near the mouth of the Tapeats Gorge, the final leg of the trail to Indian Garden. We got to Indian Garden around 2:30 and I was surprised to see that most of the campsites were still unoccupied and that we pretty much had our pick of sites.

We picked a good one, close to water as well as the restrooms, and setup the campsite and got cleaned up. I took a sponge bath and also washed my hair and then put up the rain-fly from the tent as curtain so that Robin could take a sponge bath as well. After talking a while we headed out to Plateasu Point to watch the sunset. While out there we met a nice couple from the Washington, DC area who were camped next to us in the campground. We never got their names. She had the camera and was obviously into photography so we talk a little.

It was a beautiful sunset followed by beautiful moonrise. We headed back to camp but it started to get very dark before we got there. The Moon is obscured behind the cliffs as we head deeper into the side canton. We are having problems seeing the trail when we get into the trees of the campground and Robin gets her feet soaked while trying to cross the creek. I made it across still dry. Our neighbors showed up with flashlights and lead us back to camp.

We cooked dinner by flashlights - turkey, corn and mashed potatoes - a pre-Thanksgiving feast. Too bad that I forgot the stuffing mix. It was very good anyway and most of it manages to stay warm before we finish it. We finished dinner, cleaned up and got into the tent around 8:00. I read a for while, and then tried to sleep but could not so I read some more. I finally manage to fall asleep sometime after 11:00. We both awoke to the sound of a rock-fall during night - not sure what time - maybe 2:00 or so. It was very loud and I was sure that it was close by.