I had two Grand Canyon backpacking trips planned for this trip. The first one I had scheduled was a six day trip over to Clear Creek, for three days over there exploring some of the side canyons. I had done a similar trip back in April, 2007, and was looking to repeat most of that again. I was planning to bring some camera gear with me to hopefully get some nighttime shots of the Milky Way over the south rim.

The second trip was scheduled not far in advance of the trip out and was to be a sort of a warm up hike, the week before the Clear Creek hike. This one was going to be down the Bill Hall Trail to the Esplanande for some Milky Way shots from down there. The plan for that was four days and three nights, with the first night just at the trailhead. I later decided to change the permit so that the first night could be in the Canyon and was planning to camp just below Monument Point and above Bridger's Knoll to try and get some Milky Way shots from there.

The Canyon was much hotter than it should have been for late September and early October and I was already having second thoughts about the Clear Creek trip while I was camped on the Esplanade. When I got back to Flagstaff after the first trip I received an email from the Grand Canyon Backcountry Office warning of "extremely hot temperatures" in the Canyon. Temperatures in the shade at the Colorado River level were forecasted to be over 100F, and temperatures in the sun could be 120F+.

This second trip was going to be a real challenge as it was since I was unable to get a reservation for Bright Angel Campground at the bottom of the Canyon. The first day was going to involve hiking down to the bottom and then two miles up the Clear Creek Trail to Sumner Wash for the first night. I could relax at Phantom Ranch for a few hours before hiking up to Sumner Wash, but how relaxing would it be at 100F in the shade. And, it was not likely to cool off very much by late afternoon and the first section of that trail up to Sumner Wash was going to be in full sun. I already had a bad experience with a similar plan back in May for a trip up to Utah Flats that had been aborted because of the heat and I did not want a repeat of that. Considering that I actually had a warning from the Backcountry Office this time I decided to cancel the Clear Creek trip. I drove up to the Canyon the next day so that I could actually cancel in person and see if there were any other options. If there were any openings at Bright Angel Campground that might have changed my plans. There were not and the ranger there actually congratulated me on the decision to cancel as the hike over to Clear Creek was very exposed and likely to be very hot and Clear Creek itself was not likely to be very comfortable for day hiking. So that was that.

I had to come up with some "Plan B" options for the extra time I now had and finally decided on:

• A trip to southwestern Colorado for a ride on the Durango and Silverton Railway - a bucket list item.
• A side trip to Natural Bridges National Monument in southeastern Utah, for some more Milky Way photography, on the way to Durango.
• A day hike down the Tanner Trail to hopefully retrieve a water cache from last year's aborted Tanner/Beamer backpacking trip.

Trip highlights

• Revisiting the Esplanade.
• Dark and clear skies at night (mostly) for Milky Way photography.
• Great weather.
• Finding water.
• Any time spent in the Canyon is good time.
• Beautiful fall foliage on the north rim.