I got up around 1:00 in the morning and hiked down to an overlook of Thunder River to take some shots under moonlight and I think they came out okay. I can't wait to see them on the laptop when we get back to Flagstaff.

We have had some colder temperatures settle in on us for an hour or so in the wee hours of the morning but they don't last too long and then it starts to warm up again. I slept later than normal this morning and did not get up until just a little before sunrise. I was shocked when I poked my head out of the sleeping bag and it was almost full daylight already.

Everyone was up later and we got a late start, not leaving camp until almost 8:00. The morning was fairly cool though even if it was very sunny and we made good time. We took long breaks at the bottom and top of the Redwall and another one just before we reached the Esplanade, at the top of the lower Supai cliffs. We thought about having lunch there but it was only 10:30 or so and still a little early. We had some snacks and left when we started to loose the shade. We stopped again in some good shade next to our first night's campsite and did have lunch even though it was only a little after 11.

I finished off my bagel with PB&J for breakfast and the smoked salmon and chips for lunch. Most of my food is just about gone except for what I need for tonight and tomorrow.

We got to camp for the night here a little after 1:00 and have just been chilling out here. We recovered our food/water caches when we got back here and they were undisturbed. I packed 4 liters of water from Thunder River and had 2 cached here. I slugged down one of the cached liters this afternoon and drank one on the way up so I still have 4 for tonight and tomorrow. Pam has 2 liters left so if we use what I have for cooking while here we should be okay. We snacked and also had some mixed drinks using flavored waters and Pam's vodka.

We went looking for a rattlesnake for Alysia and found one in almost the exact same spot as two years ago. Two years ago it was in a little ledge just above the drainage and this time it was in the bed of the drainage just a couple of feet away. Not sure if it was the same snake or not but it could be. Alysia was very happy and I think Pam was too since she didn't get to see the one at Nankoweap last year.

After dinner we climbed up on top of the cliffs next to our camp to watch the sunset. While we were waiting for that Pam caught a glimpse of something dashing across the slickrock just a few hundred yards away and pointed it out to me. It was moving damned fast and was not visible for very long but I am pretty sure it was a bighorn. It really didn't look like a deer and appeared to have something attached to its head so it was probably an older male with a large set of horns. Very cool.

The moon isn't coming up until around 8:30 tonight and we actually have a dark sky full of stars for a while before it does. Everyone is tucked away already and I am hoping that we will be up early and can get an early start out of here tomorrow morning. I really would like to get up those switchbacks below the Coconino before the sun hits them.