7:15 - Base of Redwall ravine

I got up about 10 minutes before my alarm went off - at 420. I packed things up, had some breakfast and was out of camp right at 530. It was 1:45 to get up here and the GPS says I've already gone 2 miles with an elevation gain of 634'.

I am having second breakfast now, my bagel and cream cheese. I've been in shade all of the way up so far and there is a little sun just getting in here now.

The GPS is malfunctioning in here. I saw it was 1.8 miles when I first got here, then 2.06... and now it's up to 2.87... and I have not moved. It keeps going up. No point trying to get a track through here, there just is not enough open sky.

8:40 - Top of Redwall

OMG! I forgot how much work that was. I started up at 745 so it was just under an hour to go maybe a quarter of a mile. Lots of climbing though. Hopefully it will be easier going down. There were only a couple of challenging spots. The crawl through was a pain in the butt trying to push my backpack through first. I must have just had a day pack the other times I did this. I have more with me this time. It us a beautiful day and there is a lovely view of Deva Temple from here. I feel pretty good so far and I am setting the pinyon-juniper grove as my next destination for an extended rest/snack break. Coming up the Redwall was 381'. The GPS says 1.34 miles but I know that is waaaay off.

9:37 - Pinyon-juniper grove

0.57 miles, 303' elevation gain. I am not in the same spot in the pinyon-juniper grove as last time but close. The route coming over was not the same as last time either. I was here at 1000 last time and started about half of an hour later so the time is about the same though. The next challenge is getting up on top of the arm.

11:48 - Top of arm

0.63 miles, 883' elevation gain. Over 1.5 hours to get here. OMG, I have never worked so hard.

The top of Deva is still about a quarter of a mile away and the actual summit another quarter mile beyond that. 7353' - 6500' = 853' more to climb. At least it's less than the last stretch... but a lot steeper.

So it could take another 1.5 hours to get there but hopefully not. I am taking a long rest here. I only drank a little more than half of a quart of water coming up here so I put some electrolyte replacement in a bottle to have with lunch.

2:30 - Top of Deva

O.M.G. !!! This is by far the scariest thing I have ever done. The route up Deva is very steep and not stable at all. A lot of the rocks that look stable just start sliding away beneath your feet as soon as you step on them and then often that rock and many others go careening down the side. The slope must be close to a 45° angle and I have never climbed anything that steep before, let alone under these conditions. At least is it not hot and it's actually quite cool and breezy up here. There is no way I am going to make it back to camp today and I am just hoping I can make it back to the pinyon-juniper grove at least.

I was able to call Robin using my smartphone as I actually have cell service up here. Even 4G service so I posted an Instagram photo from the top of Deva. I actually did one from my lunch spot down on the arm too.

3:50 - About halfway down/back to my lunch spot

I have about 3 hours until dark. I don't want to be wandering around up here with just a headlamp so I will have to hunker down somewhere for the evening.

4:30 - Back on the arm

I am back at my lunch stop on the arm off of Deva. It is very windy here and chilly. Would be too cold for the night. I still have about 2 good hours of daylight left so I should be able to make it to the pinyon-juniper grove.

6:15 - Pinyon-juniper camp

It could end up being a rough night but I talked to Robin from the top of Deva and she checked the weather for me so at least no problems there. I just called her again using the satellite phone (no cell signal here) to let her know I made it here.

Water is my biggest concern. Right now I have a little less than 1.5 quarts left. I only drank 1.5 quarts on this hike but I also had some with breakfast and also chugged one before I left camp. I will probably drink the quart I have while I am here tonight and save half quart remaining to get me back to camp tomorrow morning. The earliest I will probably be able to leave here is 600.

The good news is that I have 3+ quarts of water waiting for me back at camp which is more than enough to get me back to Bright Angel campground. I will probably use one of those for an early lunch a soon as I get back there. Or I may wait and do lunch after I am on my way back. I should be able to be back at camp by 1000 and hopefully be packed up and out of there by 1100. It took me about 8 hours to get over here so if it takes me 8 hours to get back that will be right around 700 tomorrow night and it should not be dark yet. I think I will be hitting the beer hall at Phantom Ranch tomorrow night!

I dropped 3 pills of the electrolyte stuff into the quart of water I have remaining and have been sipping that. I need to make it last the night. My mouth does not feel nearly as dry today as it did yesterday though and that's a good thing.

I wonder how cold it will get here tonight. Robin said the low for Grand Canyon was supposed to be 34. Brrrrr. I do have a warm fleece with a hood, a long sleeve shirt, a wind breaker and gloves with me so I am not totally unprepared. And there is always that space blanket.

I kept toying with the idea of trying to get back to camp but It just did not sound like a good idea. It would take about an hour just to get back to the top of the Redwall and maybe longer in the fading daylight. Trying to go down through there with just my headlamp for light would probably not be a good idea... and there is was no place good to spend the night over there.