06:45 am - Starting out

I was up at 430 and had everything packed up and ready to go by 515. I had breakfast while waiting for a little more light and left camp at 535. I?ve made good progress so far, a mile I think, perhaps a little more. It is a very rocky stream bed though and the going is slow. It's also very buggy and I hope some of them will disappear as I gain elevation and it gets cooler. Yesterday was a very buggy day as well.

I'm stopped here next to a couple blooming redbud trees and I can hear the bees buzzing around them. There are so few flowers blooming right now that there must be a lot of competition for the few that are. A canyon wren is singing for me as well.

09:00 am - Getting closer

I am mostly through the Muav and the base of the Redwall is very close, just above me. I can see the gorge up ahead. Getting through the Muav was a lot of work and I'm hoping the Redwall will be easier. After the Redwall it's just getting out of the gorge and ascending the Supai cliffs to meet back up with the Nankoweap Trail. From there I am home free... just a walk in the park.

I only had to push my pack ahead of me once in the Mauv. I didn't go up the route that was described though. I was supposed to go up the Muav steps but I saw a little problem, a tricky move, in getting to the lower ones. I opted for a slope on the other side of the canyon thinking I would get across to the steps higher up. Wrong! Once I started up that slope I was committed to slope for the rest of the climb... more steep slope of the slip-sliding away variety... above a "killer" cliff. Yay! Then I ended up too high anyway and had to descend another slope to get back to the creek bed. Double yay!

10:55 am - Closer still

I am above the steep loose climb in the Redwall and the top of the Redwall and even the rim look very close now. I would never want to use this route for a descent into the Canyon. Never! I was never so happy when that last little section was behind me. It's very windy up here and cool land shady and the bugs are gone. I'm giving my feet a rest and finishing off my trail mix. All I keep thinking right now is "burger, fries, beer...".

01:30 pm - Mission accomplished

I'm out! Actually I've been out about a half hour already but I have been trying to find a spot out of the wind to rest. The wind is just as ferocious today as the day I went in. I got to the top of the Marion-Seiber Route at 1230 and it took another half hour from there through the Supai cliffs to the Nankoweap Trail. I was on the rim at 105. I've got a pretty leisurely walk from here to the car but it's still 3 miles so I am resting my feet and snacking, I didn't have lunch planned for today and I am eating my reserve food which I would have used had I been forced to abort Marion-Seiber and go back out Nankoweap. It wasn't much: a third of a can of Pringles, 2 small pita loaves and 4 Clif bars. That's all the food that's left. The Pringles are soon to be history.

Burger, fries and beer in about 3 hours.

05:20 pm - Real food

I am at the Vermillion Cliffs Cafe. I decided against the burger and I am going with the ribs instead. I still get the fries and the beer and corn on the cob and a salad! Fresh greens! Oh, man, this is the best beer ever. They have quite a HUGE selection of beers here and I decided on the Alaskan Amber. Too bad they don't have the summer brew.

I got back to the car around 330 and after unpacking, cleaning up and checking in with Robin I was on the road around 4. Somehow I expected to be getting out around noon and being back at the car and on the road by 2. The best laid plans of mice and men...

10:23 pm - Back in Flagstaff

I am trying to upload photos to the laptop but I doubt I will post any tonight. The hike out was a killer and I am beat. I just want to finish this up and hit the sack. A real bed is going to feel sooooo good.

No major problems on the hike, one small blister which is already mostly healed. Lots of scrapes and scratches from fighting the Canyon's various man-eating vegetation: scrub oak, manzanita, mesquite, catclaw... lots of vegetation fighting on this one. I think I won. I also have some weird bites on my arms, from spiders I think. The dayhike I did on Thursday had me going up a creek which spiders had just strung webs across. I tried to avoid most and had to hack down a few to get past but I know I ended up with some spiders hitchhiking on me.

I completed everything I planned save one, Nankoweap Mesa. I did make it down to the river to catch first light on the granary, I did find the ruins in lower Nankoweap, I did hike all the way up to Kolb Arch, I did make it over to Mystic Falls and also found the ruins over there, and I even managed to find my way out on the Marion-Seiber Route. The last one was a killer and I am very pleased the way things worked out last year and I did not try to go in that way. I know I would not enjoy going down that route.

One of the best things actually happened today after the hike was just about over. I spotted a Kaibab Swallowtail butterfly fluttering around in that drainage that comes down from Saddle Mountain. I have never seen one before and have always wanted to. It was absolutely the perfect ending to an almost perfect trip... a little gift from the Canyon gods.