16 Days in The Ditch: Day 11 - Talking Heads to Deer Creek to Football Field Camp

Up early today... damn early. I shovel down breakfast (including no fewer than a dozen pieces of bacon) and pack a lunch in preparation for the hike. Jim's feet are still hurting so he's staying behind. Plus it's likely to be a long stretch in the sun and even though it's October, the prospect of baking in the desiccating Grand Canyon heat isn't something he's interested in. I can't really blame him. If I didn't want to see the view at the top so badly, I'd probably be tempted to blow it off myself. But I do, so...

With great anticipation and a tinge of dread, those of us on 'the death march' hop onto the paddle raft for the quick ride across the river from camp to the trailhead. Tapeats Creek to

Deer Creek with a stop at Thunder River. That's the plan. 2000+ feet of vertical elevation gain in 2 miles to start the day. It's a wee bit uphill. At the top is Thunder River, then across Surprise Valley and down a scree slope to Deer Creek. The crew making the trek includes myself, Bob, Lisa, Rob and Graham, Hoppy, Tom and J.P., Josh, Matt, Mike, Sarah and Kelsey. After a brief stop to organize ourselves, slather on sunblock and find the appropriate shoes, it seems like only minutes pass before we are high above the river and see the rest of the group floating by.

The hike from the very beginning is stunning. I stop after what

feels like every three steps to take more pictures and I still can't capture the view.

And so we climb. Upwards and upwards again, at times crisscrossing the meandering Tapeats Creek. At each crossing there is a delay while folks change shoes from boots to sandals and back again. At one crossing Kelsey offers Rob a piggyback ride. I think (and I believe Rob thinks) she is joking. Then she picks him up and
carries him across on her back, in flip-flops, like it was nothing. I

am so stunned I don't think to take pictures. Kelsey comes back and gives me a ride across too. The woman is STRONG. Graham arrives at the crossing a moment later and hears how Rob got across and immediately suggests that he should lose points in the Surf King contest for getting carried by a woman. Rob counters that he should gain points for having gotten a piggyback ride.

Bob Crossing Tapeats

Thunder River

We wind up an around until in the distance we can see Thunder River. A waterfall that literally gushes out of the Redwall Limestone Cliff. It's one of the few (if not the only) places in the world that a river flows into a creek that flows back into a river. It doesn't seem real. There is shade and a cool fine mist at the base of the falls and if feels great. A small green oasis. We have lunch and relax. After a discussion, the consensus is that refilling a water bottle directly from the falls carries a risk of Giardia. Granted you'd be at home with full access to your porcelain throne by the time trouble hit... but still. I decline.

The path away from Thunder River continues up. We reach a ridge but elation turns to discouragement when we s

ee yet another vertical climb ahead. We do finally crest in Surprise Vally. Surprise! I've no idea why they call it that. Maybe because that first ridge isn't the ridge at all.

Boulder at the Head of Surprise Valley

For ten days on the river, I've been struck by the enormity and details of the canyon walls. You marvel at each spire, cliff and sheet of glistening rock. The canyon from the river seems large and yet intimate and close at the same time. New details emerge, revealed around each corner. Across this hike you get a completely different sense. You see the vastness and the void - the scale of what isn't there. It seems never ending and I can't help but feel very very small.

Suprise Valley

Across the wide open bowl of Surprise Valley it's easy walking but still and hot. Waiting for lagging parts of the convoy to catch up, we stop in the shade of a solitary large boulder and a round of hackeysack breaks out. Mike and Rob actually manage to make repeated contact, a vast improvement from prior beach games. J.P and Tom arrive, gassed from the heat and J.P plops down next to Graham and inadvertently shatters a piece of Graham's camera. Big oops. She is mortified but thankfully it is only a filter and not a lethal blow.

We continue on and the hike glides by with conversation turning towards topics of children, education, politics... Unfortunately, during this time I run out of water with the scree slope descent still in front of us.

At the head of the scree slope, the group once again has spread out and there is little shade to wait for the stragglers. Not comfortable. By the time we head down I am dehydrated and cranky. Thankfully, on the way down, I see a welcome sight. Jim is climbing up to meet us. I ask if he's got any water and perhaps not realizing that I meant RIGHT NOW... he answers "a little" and turns to start back down in the direction from which he'd come. Wait. I want it. He mentions we are close to Dutton Springs which only narrowly stops me from mugging him for his water bottle.

Kelsey In a Tree at Dutton Sprongs

We duck into Dutton Spring to cool off before continuing down the trail toward the Patio at Deer Creek, an area of flat rock ledges and pools above the narrows. I had seen video of a flash flood exploding out of Deer Creek earlier this year and the debris flows that it left behind are plainly evident. On the walk down, Jim tells me that Hank has already busted out his 'special suit'. I know all about it but I keep my mouth shut to avoid ruining the surprise. Upstream of the Patio below a small falls, Hank is lurking like a troll waiting for the rest of the group to arrive so he can show off the lime green Mankini.

Good Lord No! It is every bit as horrifying as you can imagine. Jim recounts the morning groups' reaction to the the mankini's inaugural appearance. Jess reportedly glanced up and laughed, before declaring it was "like a train wreck, it's horrible but you can't stop looking". Ben physically recoiled

in horror. Other hikers (not from our group) in the area didn't really know what to make of it.

Ben at the Patio

Tentmates? Bob, Hank and the Mankini

So as the rest of us sit and enjoy the smooth rock ledges of the Patio, Hank waits. Eventually all of the hikers arrive and he saunters out. I can hardly watch. Big Bob loves it. "That's a nice suit Hank, " he declares in his Texas drawl before posing for a picture and stating that he would tell the boys at home that Hank was his 'tentmate'. Bob is the best. JP, Tom and Sarah are suitably mortified. Lisa, also horrified, finally relents and gives Big Henry a kiss. Endless jokes involving the mankini are soon to follow.

After a good long break to soak feet, swim and relax, the whole group heads back out Deer Creek Narrows towards the River. I can imagine the power and the noise that must have been here when the flash flood roared through. There are a few exposed sections of path with sheer dropoffs to the creek bed below but everyone makes it. At the exit to the narrows is an overlook where everyone congregates for photos before descending to the river and Deer Creek Falls.

The Kayakers Above Deer Creek Falls

Deer Creek Falls are Impressive. Water cascades out of the narrows and into a shallow pool below generating wind that

carries a spray of mist that can be from a long ways away. I took lots of pictures but my favorite picture is the one that Cathy painted. So incredibly beautiful!

Deer Creek Falls By Cathy

Camp is less than a mile downstream and I again make the trip in short sleeves. Tonight we stay at the long flat beach of Football Field Camp on river left. It doesn't look like it would take much of a tide to flood the entire beach but it is an excellent camp for a rematch of Koob. A few beers later and I am pretty well spent. Short of listening to various members howl about chaffing and offering my sarong for evening wear, I don't remember much of the evening. It's been a long day and I am pretty wiped out.