I was up early to watch the sunrise over the east rim and the Navajo Reservation and it was absolutely glorious. I stuck around for a little while after sunrise watching the sunlight flood into the inner canyon and taking some more photos. I finally finished packing things up, left the rim around 6:30 and headed for the Saddle Mountain Trail.

I did not find the trail right off and was probably a mile or so west of where it actually began before I finally intercepted it. I under estimated the elevation for the start of it and ended up way too low. It was not difficult walking through the forest though and it was a nice day for a walk so it was no big deal. I was happy when I eventually found it though as I did not want to be going all the way back through the forest.

I did not have breakfast at camp and then kept putting it off while I was searching for the trail. Once I finally found it I stopped for a little break and to have something to eat. It felt good to sit down for while and relax. Luckily the foot problems have abated for the most part, they are still a little sore but no where near as bad as they were a couple of days ago.

I arrived back at the trail junction and the creek a little before 11 and made it back to the parking area at the Saddle Mountain trailhead around 11:30. The creek was flowing a lot clearer than it had been on my way in last week, it still had a slight brownish tinge to it but it was still mostly transparent.

My first stop after getting back to highway 89-A was the Vermillion Cliffs Lodge... for lunch again. I had pretty much a repeat performance of the lunch I had before the start of the trip: burger, fries, onion rings and beer. I did have a different "kind" of burger but it was still a burger. I also threw in a slice carrot cake.