Well, this has been one hell of a good day. Last night was not so great though. I could not shut my brain down and did not get much sleep at all. I basically just closed and rested my eyes from the time I crawled into my sleeping bag, around 7:00, until well after the moon rose into our canyon, around 1:00 this morning. I did get some sleep between then and about 5:30 when it was time to get up. Part of the problem is it was just too still and quiet; no running water, no crickets, no nothing. I did feel the caress of some very nice, cool Canyon breezes though and those were about the only thing that made the evening bearable.

Today was good though. We were up early, ate breakfast, packed and of camp early, around 7:15. We made a quick stop Hances old camp again since it was on the way out and then headed up the ravine that lead back up to the Tonto Platform. That took about 2 hours and had a couple of short rests along the way and one big one at the top. From there we did some contouring until we got to the drainage that leads up to The Tabernacle, again taking several rests along the way.

The Tabernacle was kick-ass awesome - what a climb! The view from the top was magnificent! The only disappointment was seeing that the Colorado River was still flowing muddy which will make getting clean water for drinking and cooking with a pain in the ass. The view though... the view!

We had lunch on the north side under some overhanging ledges and out of the sun. After lunch and a slightly longer rest break we headed down the river runners trail to where we are now - Rattlesnake Beach. I asked Mike why it was called that and he had no idea and said maybe they had just run out of names.

Right now we are decanting river water in every available container to let the silt settle out so we can then filter off the clean water from the top later.

19:30 - Ready for bed...

I just finished setting up my tent. It feels good to be using it again after 2 nights of sleeping out in the open. Not that sleeping out in the open was bad but I'm just not used to it. Chuck had a little problem with scorpions the other night and I would rather not deal with that kind of thing myself.

It feels good to be camped at the river, to hear the roar of the rapids (riffle, actually) next to the beach, to hear the slap of waves against the river bank. I love camping next to flowing water.

I got some good photos on the way down the route this afternoon and also at the beach. This has just been the best day so far I think.

My foot was still a little sore for most of the day but going uphill seems to bother it the least. When I changed out of my boots and into Tevas at camp the moleskin had come loose and shifted position so I just took it off. I will have to put something else on it tomorrow just to be on the safe side.

I am finally out of hot dogs for dinner and I had Beef Stroganoff for dinner tonight. It was OK but I miss the ease of the hot dogs. After dinner we messed around with filtering water some more and I think I am all set with water for tomorrow.