I did not sleep very good but it was better than the first night in the cabin. I felt pretty well rested when I finally got up. I gave up on waiting for daylight and started packing up my gear by flashlight. I didn't even eat breakfast. I left the cabin at 6:10 and headed for the rim. The climb up to Swamp Point was a breeze compared to the Redwall ascent and final climb back up to Muav Saddle the day before and I arrived at Swamp Point at 6:40.

I met a couple of guys who were camped on the rim and who were just packing up to head out. They had a good-sized 4WD pickup truck but it was full of all kinds of gear. The one guy I talked to said that they would love to give me a ride back to the park boundary but he didn't think they had enough room. I knew I could handle the walk and wasn't really looking for a ride so it was no big deal to me. It was early and I felt good and I headed off down the road.

I walked non-stop for about an hour and a half before I decided to take a break and have some breakfast. I figured that I had probably completed about 3 miles of the 8-mile walk back to the car and should be getting close to the halfway point. Just as I was finishing up my fruit I heard the pickup coming up the road from the direction of the rim. The pickup stopped in front of me and one guy rolled down the window and said "Hey, we made some room for you in the back". Well, I didn't really need the ride but I was not about to pass it up. This would easily save me a couple of hours of walking and although my knee wasn't hurting yet I was sure that it would have been at least slightly uncomfortable by the time I reached the car. I thanked them and they got out of the truck to help me and my pack into the back.

I was amazed at how long it still took to get back to the car. Even a 4WD did not just breeze down these roads and it took about 45 minutes to cover the 5 miles to the car. I ate the rest of my breakfast while I was sitting there in the back of the pickup, occasionally being thrown this way and then that as the truck crept along the road. It was still a lot easier than walking.

We reached the car around 9:00 and talked for a while before saying our good-byes. These guys had climbed out of the Canyon yesterday, as well, and we kept trying to figure out how we had missed each other. They had also been led astray for a time by some bad cairns, as I had been, and so we figured that we must have passed each other at one of these times without knowing it. I found it odd that the only other hiking they had done in the Canyon had been on the South Kaibab Trail and couldn't figure what they were doing on the North Bass. They said they had originally tried to get a permit for Thunder River but that it was not available and this itinerary was given to them at the suggestion of the ranger at the north rim Backcountry Office. They did not seem very impressed with this ranger and felt they had been mislead as to the difficulty of the North Bass Trail as well as with some of the other information that they had received.

After they left I proceeded to change into some clean clothes and this felt very good even though I knew I was still pretty grungy underneath. A shower was going to feel really good but that was still several hours away as it was still too early to check-in at the Jacob Lake Inn. I needed to get to a telephone as soon as possible to try and get my travel arrangements changed. I knew attempting the Nankoweap hike, with feet that were already blistered, and a bad knee, was not a good idea so I just decided to cancel the second week of the trip and return home. This would also save me $250-$300 which could be put towards a new digital camera.

As soon as I arrived at Jacob Lake I called Delta Airlines to get my flight changed. It took a while but they had seats available on a flight the next day so I could still stay at Jacob Lake that night. I headed down into Fredonia and Kanab to kill some time until I could check-in at the Jacob Lake Inn. I had a very nice lunch at Nedra's Too in Kanab, something I had been looking forward to for the last several days. I planned on having dinner at the original Nedra's Cafe in Fredonia that evening. After lunch I found a little nature park on the northeast side of town and took a short hike along the trail there. It led up to a very nice overlook that afforded a magnificent panoramic view of the town of Kanab.

After that I returned to Jacob Lake and checked in at the inn. I took a really long shower, packed up my gear for the flight home, called my wife and told her I was still alive and that there would be a change in plans, and finally headed off to watch the sunset and have dinner at Nedra's.