10:00 am - Escalante Beach

I slept really well, woke up a couple of times but went right back to sleep. I woke up just before midnight to the Moon rising over the cliffs and lighting up the beach. I tried to get some shots with time exposures.

I awoke at 4 but stayed in bed until 5. I did not get out of camp until 7:20. Heating water for breakfast took forever as it was very windy right before sunrise and I had nothing to use as a windbreak except myself.

Climbing the rock fall was hard and I am not sure I want to down climb it. I am thinking of exiting via Tanner even though it is closed. One of the guys I met coming up the trail yesterday claimed to be Park Service and he and his group came in on the Tanner after the slide and says there is a marked route to get around it.

I had to lower my pack at a couple of spots on the other side of Papago Wall. The rope sucks.

I made it to the mouth of Seventy-five Mile Canyon at 9. I did the climb in that and had to haul up my pack in a couple of places. I am not sure I would go down that way but then lowering the pack is a lot easier than hauling it up.

I am just west of Escalante Creek now, on the beach, having a snack and resting a bit. I am going to suck down another liter of water and then refill the bottles for the trip up to Tanner.

12:30 pm - Lunch stop

Well, so much for making it to the Unkar Overlook for lunch. But at least I can see it from here. I am just the other side of the ridge that comes up from Escalante Creek and it took about 2 hours to get here---pretty much all up hill. It should be pretty much all down hill from here now though. I can see Tanner Rapid way off in the distance beyond Unkar and it looks so far away. I can't even see Palisades Creek yet and probably won't until I get to Tanner. I should still have about 5 or so hours of daylight though. If it starts to get dark I just camp where ever I am.

03:05 pm - Hilltop ruin

I have given up any hope of making it to Palisades today. I will be lucky to make it to Tanner. I can see Tanner well no anyway and it doesn't look that far. I can't believe it took 2 hours from my lunch stop to get here.

So the trip is totally screwed up at this point. I will get to Palisades tomorrow and there is no way I am giving up on the Little Colorado day hike so I will stay there 2 nights. I will do the day hike to the Little Colorado on Tuesday instead of tomorrow. I can't possibly go back on the Escalante and out New Hance in only 2 days so I am going to take my chances with the rock fall and go out on the Tanner.

07:15 pm - Camp Sweet Camp

I did not even make it to Tanner proper and am camped slightly west of the main camping area. I don't know how I thought I would even make the Palisades use area let alone Palisades Creek. I got to this camp around 5:30 and it was pretty much dark by 6:30. I finished filtering my last bottle of water in the dark. The camp was setup in record time.

I think I am just going to try day hiking to the Little Colorado from here tomorrow, sticking more or less with the original plan just a different base camp. I know I can make it to Escalante Creek from here on Tuesday since that is about 3 hours less time than what I did today.

If I make it at all I won't have much time at the Little Colorado but hopefully I will at least get there. I tried this once in December 1994 and did not make it all the way but the days are a lot shorter in December. Hopefully I will have enough light to pull this off but I will bring my head lamp just in case.

I met a guy who knew me on the trail coming over here today, just a mile or so west of here. We have exchanged some e-mails recently and he was with a party that came in via Salt Canyon and was going out on the New Hance.

This was a long day and I am so tired. Tomorrow could be even longer.