I am in the bed of the wash that leads up to the Brahma/Deva saddle but I am running about 40 minutes behind my plan. I left camp 15 minutes late, at 6:15, so that’s part of it but the route coming over here was also not as direct as I thought (hoped!) it would be---lots of contouring around side drainages that drop into this thing. The next mile or so to the Redwall climb should be fairly straight forward, just follow the creek bed. Deva is already looking a lot closer.

I found the start of the "route" right where I expected it at the top of the final switchbacks on the Clear Creek Trail. Once on top of the saddle there is was pretty easy to pick out the route. There does seem to be a "trail" of sorts in but who knows which portions are human and which are from animals. Somme of the bigger side drainages actually had cairns of sorts. This is a very pretty little canyon with lots of wildflowers and junipers scattered about.

There is actually some rather greenish looking water in potholes here that I could use in an emergency. There is supposed to be a spring yet higher up though.

The wind did finally die down last night but I have no idea when. Most of the night was very quiet with only the creek to listen to. This morning us nice but sitting here in the shade is a little cool and I need to get moving again.

09:50 - Redwall ravine

I am in he ravine that leads up to the start of the Redwall climb, it’s still about a tenth of a mile away according to my GPS. This is taking too long though and I am way behind on my assumptions on how long this would take. At my last stop I was still about 0.15 mile away from where I had "planned" to hit the creek bed. It's taken almost 2 hours to get up here from there and was only supposed to take one. I am taking a short rest, eating a CLIF bar, adding Gookinaid to my water. I hope I can make it up through this Redwall section.

11:45 - Top of Redwall

Deva isn't going to happen. I should be on top by now and there is still about a mile and a half to go from here, probably 2 or 2.5 hours. It is beautiful to be this close to it though. If I continue on to the top there is no way I will make it back to camp tonight. Traveling cross country with a headlamp isn't going to work and I will never find the way from the creek bed back up to the saddle. There is no Moon to speak of and it is going to be dark. I had considered the possibility of spending the night away from camp but that idea doesn't thrill me. I do have some extra clothing with me but the nights have been colder than they should be for this time of year and I am not sure I have enough clothing to be even remotely comfortable. As it is it will be cutting it close getting back to camp. It took me almost 6 hours to get up here so it shouldn't take any longer than 6 to get back.

Getting through the Redwall was a real trip but at least I did that. I almost got turned back a couple of times by seemingly impassable chockstones but found climbable ravines to the sides of a couple of these. Getting through the "hole" was the real challenge. I could get through but I could not get my backpack through no matter how I tried and I wasn't going anywhere without that. The hole is not a straight shot and the backpack kept getting snagged when I tried to push it up ahead and I could not reach back down for it if I went through first. Finally I decided to try pushing it up through the other hole. Even though that one was smaller at least it was clear on the other side I wedged the backpack up into it and was then able to pull it through the rest of the way from above. Going back down is going to be interesting in a few places. I need to eat my lunch and try to regain some energy and then start back down.

14:00 - Bottom of Redwall

I am close to the main creek bed I think. It took a little less time coming down than it did going up. I left the top at 12:20.

I had a hard time finding the "hole" bypass on the way down. I actually missed it completely until I was already below it. I got to a pour off that I did not remember and could not figure out how to get down. Neither the right nor the left sides looked familiar and both looked slightly dangerous. I looked around for the "holes" but did not find them.

Finally I decided I could get down on the left side but not with my pack on. I tossed the pack into a small bush below the climb, along with my hiking poles and started down. The moves had me a little creeped out but I made it. When I got to the bottom and looked back up... there were the holes. It wasn't really a short cut though as I wasted as much time deciding right or left as it would have taken to get back down through the holes. Oh, well.

I've got about a mile down this creek and then another contouring around the side drainages and then over the saddle to get back to the Clear Creek Trail.

There are lots of pretty yellow and black butterflies up here... Tiger Swallowtails perhaps? They are not stopping to rest at all, just flying up the canyon and seemingly heading for the north rim.

15:40 - Back at the spring

I have about 10-15 minutes to go before I have to start the contouring section again. I should be able to make it back to camp by 18:00. *crosses fingers*

19:00 - Camp Sweet Camp

I got back here around 17:45. I took a slightly different route coming back which I think was a little quicker and avoided some of the contouring around one of the drainages.

I still don't see how people do Deva as a day hike from Clear Creek but they must be a lot faster than I am. Oh well, at least I got to get another Redwall route under my belt, right?

As soon as I got back here I cleaned the sand out of the tent. After that it just a little after 18:00 so I called to check in with Robin. It was good to hear her voice. I filled her in on the trip to date. There is not much going on back there except she did see a mouse in the laundry room.

I think it is going to be a very nice night here tonight. There is no wind at all right now and it is much warmer than this time last night. It will definitely cool down by morning but it should be a nice night for sleeping, nothing to listen to but the creek and the crickets. There is a beautiful crescent Moon out there right now dancing above the western sky with the planet Venus.

I don't know what is up for tomorrow yet. I am still going to go up into Obi Canyon but I obviously have no intention of trying for Deva again since that route is longer.