It was another late start and we were not out of camp until almost 8am. This was not necessarily going to be a long day but I knew the first couple of miles had a few tricky spots. We had to get through Seventy-five Mile Canyon and then Papago Canyon. I didn't think Seventy-five Mile Canyon would be a big deal as I had already decided not to do the down-climb to shorten it. It had been over 20 years since I had gone all the way to the back to do the easier descent and I did not remember what that was like. The only time I had been back there was when we did the river trip and I remember the guides having to help people climb up. I also found a YouTube video that showed people lowering packs and sliding down the rocks on their butts. I personally do not give much credence to YouTube videos however.

I was somewhat more concerned about Papago Canyon, particularly down-climbing the rock slide on the west side of Papago. I never seem to have a problem going up that thing and it just does not look that bad from the bottom looking up. But it's always a lot more daunting being at the top and looking down from up there. I know it's mostly an illusion as those steep down-climbs always look a lot worse from the top. On prior trips I have had the advantage of doing the up-climb first and then doing the down-climb on the way back, once in the same day, and that makes it easier. Still I remember being at the top of this thing and saying to myself "I know I came up so there must be a way down."

Seventy-five Mile Canyon was no problem at all. I pointed out the down-climb route as we passed it but did not even stop to consider it and just headed for the back end of the canyon. When we got there I really could not understand the YouTube video I had seen as it seemed perfectly easy to just walk down the rock ledges to the canyon floor. We all did this with our packs on. Walking down Seventy-five Mile Canyon was beautiful especially since there were canyon wrens singing from the cliffs in a couple of spots along the way. I just love looking up at the cliffs from down on the canyon floor.

We rested for a while at the mouth of Seventy-five before continuing on. Getting over the next section of the route to the mouth of Papago Canyon was pretty easy and we took another short break there. Then the real fun began and we started the climb out of Papago. I knew I did this the last time with my pack on but this time it just did not seem possible. I made it most of the way up but there was one section near the top that I could just not make with the pack on. So I took it off, took out the rope and climbed up. Everyone else made it up with packs on to that point as well and I just hauled the packs up that final section.

And then there was the Papago rock slide, the only part of the trip that gave me any real concern. I stopped briefly at the top and just stared at it, knowing it is mostly an illusion. We didn't even talk about it as there was no option at that point unless you wanted to turn tail and head back to the Tanner Trail. I picked my way down and the others followed. The big rocks on the slide are quite stable and are not going anywhere but there are a number of sections where there are smaller rocks and some scree and those are where you need to be careful. We all made it down without incident and it only took about 15 minutes. Luckily the route does not go all the way to the base of the slide and cuts away to the left (west) about midway down. From there it is more or less a gradual descent to the river.

We were at the base of the slide just a little before noon and just about an hour later we were at Hance Rapid at the mouth of Red Canyon. We happened across another river trip there that was camped out just upriver from the rapid. They were all wrapped up in warm clothing and had a fire going. They asked me if we would like something warm to drink and I wisely replied that I would prefer something cold. They broke out the beers and handed one to each of us---our second round of river beers for the trip. It was a good reward for the group after a morning of hard work. We talked with the folks from the river trip as we drank the beers and then headed downriver to the mouth of Red Canyon for lunch.

We decided to have our cooked meals for lunch so we would not have to haul as much water with us up Red Canyon for the night. Shortly after we finished eating we noticed another river trip heading for Hance Rapid and we headed down to the river to walk. The folks from the trip that was camped came down as well. We ended up talking with them some more and also had them take some group photos of us with the rapid as a backdrop.

We ended up spending about 2 hours at the river and it was already almost 3pm by the time we started up Red Canyon. I was hoping to make it to the same campsite that I had used on my last trip but I did not remember exactly where that was. It was either just below the Redwall or somewhere along the way. We looked at one spot where people had obviously camped before but it was on a ridge and very exposed and would not have been fun is the weather got bad again... and the skies were very dark and threatening. Around 530pm I came across a spot that looked perfect and had plenty of room for all of us. I checked the photos after the trip and I am pretty sure it was the same spot I used last time even if it did not look the same to me when we were there.

We setup camp, had our cold meals and then sat around and talked while waiting for night to fall. Jake had some Maker's Mark with him and I also had some of his Captain Morgan so we sipped some of those while we were waiting. The wind started to pick up though and every time a gust came through it just chilled us to the bone. We never made it nightfall on that last night and all crawled into our sleeping bags to stay warm. I got to sleep very easily on that last night though and I am sure the alcohol coursing through my veins helped.