On the other side of the cliffs the trail descends to the bottom of a good sized drainage and then follows along the beach and through the tammies for a while. It then heads up and along the base of some smaller cliffs and then back out to the beach again. The beach area is very wide along the section and the trail is actually a good distance away from the river itself. The trail crosses numerous drainages along the way. After about an hour after leaving camp I came to a very large drainage which I assume was Comanche Creek. I followed the drainage down to the river to take a look. There was a fairly large set of rapids just below this drainage which set me back a bit as the topo map doesn't show any rapids here. The first set of rapids should have been Lava Canyon Rapids which are just below Palisades Creek. I knew that I hadn't gone that far. After about 15 minutes more on the trail I came to another large drainage, which I would guess was Espejo Creek. After crossing this the trail heads up onto some cliffs that there is apparently no other way around. From the top of the cliffs there is an excellent view of an island or sandbar in the river just to the north. The trail heads into and around a large drainage once on top of the cliffs and parts of the trail are heavily eroded and require some care in navigating. The trail stays atop the cliffs while it follows alongside the island in the river. Towards the islands north end the trail finally finds a break and descends back down to river level. There is a large overhang of rock with a very nice bench beneath it that made for a perfect rest stop. This is just south of a small set of rapids that has formed on the north end and inner side of the island/sandbar and makes for a good location for observing them.

At around 9:45 I finally reached Palisades Creek. On the other side of this the trail starts to climb again. It climbs and climbs and climbs until you are on a small plateau above the river. It took about 1/2 hour to get to the top of the plateau. The trail will follow the river at this level until just before you reach the confluence with the Little Colorado. From the top of the cliffs and looking south there was an awesome view of Palisades Creek, Lava Canyon Rapids and the Colorado River heading off to the south. This section of trail reminded me a lot of the eastern sections of the Tonto Trail. The trail is constantly heading into and out of drainages and it takes forever to make any distance. After crossing the first major drainage the trail heads back out to the cliffs and turns and follows the river at only about 3-4 feet from the edge. Below it was a clear drop all the way to the river. The second drainage was a big one that came and went in three separate sections. When the trail comes out of this it climbs a bit and you end up right at the southern end of Temple Butte on the other side of the river. There were some spectacular views of the clouds clearing on the north rim along this stretch. The trail drops a bit before heading into the third major drainage and then climbs a bit after exiting the fourth.

The trail descends into and climbs out of the fifth major drainage as well and when it comes out you get some awesome north and south views along the river. The sixth drainage was a nasty one. It's a double drainage with a huge spine of rubble running down the middle. The trail goes around to the back side of the spine and then climbs back out along it and descends into the floor of the drainage. The exit then forces you to ascend the wall on the other side. The seventh drainage is similar except that it is reversed. After the eight drainage I was starting to get annoyed. Is there no end! After drainage number nine I was starting to become concerned. It was already 12:20 and I was running out of time. I had set a time limit for myself for getting to the confluence based on the available hours of daylight and I knew how far I could afford to go before I would have to start back.

At 12:45 I gave up. I could see the island in the river that marks the confluence but it was still at least a mile away. After getting there I would still have to contend with the descent to river level and the ascent back up to the plateau before starting the return trip. There wasn't enough time and I wouldn't be doing it on this trip. I sat down and ate my lunch and had a nasty run in with a prickly-pear cactus. After lunch and picking most of the spines out of my arm and jacket I started the trip back. It was just after 1:00 and it would be a race to get back to camp before dark.

On my way back I noticed a very nice shell fossil in one of the drainages that someone had apparently hacked out of the rock but decided not to take with them. It was just sitting there on top of a boulder and screaming to have its picture taken. It was actually nice of someone to leave it there like that though I am sure the park service frowns upon this. Anyway it was nice to be able to pick it up and look it over.

I raced all the way back to camp and just barely made it. At 3:40 I was at the end of the plateau and started the descent to Palisades Creek. This took only 20 minutes to get down and at 4:00 I was crossing the creek bed. At 6:00 I was back at camp and the sun had already set and it was quite dark. About 10 or so minutes after getting back it would have been too dark to be travelling. I took out what I needed to make dinner and cooked and ate in the dark. It was a great day even if it didn't turn out as planned!