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Day 3 - Thunder River Trail to Deer Creek Trail to Deer Creek

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Tuesday, April 23, 2011 - 6:30pm : Deer Creek Camp

I was up right around sunrise (6 ish) myself but we were not out of camp until around 8:00.

We were at the brink of the Esplanade rim by about 8:15 since that was very close to camp. We took our time going down through the Supai and Redwall and had a couple of rest breaks. We finally reach the bottom of the Redwall slides around 9:30 or so.

We made very good time going across Surprise Valley and only had one rest break at the very western end before starting the final descent to Deer Creek.

That final descent was probably the roughest part of the day and I don't think anyone had a problem with the Redwall. The trail through the Redwall is in very good shape but that descent at the base of it through the Mauv and upper Tapeats is pretty nasty in places.

We arrived at Deer Spring around 11:30 and took an extended break there for lunch... and lots of photos. It was sort of hard to tell but I think he flow rate is a little less than the last time I was here two years ago. It's odd though because I could not reach the water from the back of the falls this time which seems to me like it is flowing with more force.

We were at Deer Spring until just after 1:00 and then started the final push down to our camp at Deer Creek. The larger site at Deer Creek was taken so we had to take the smaller one which is a little cramped.

After setting up camp today we went down to play around in Deer Creek narrows for a while. John, Max and I got into the water and dunked ourselves under the waterfalls to clean up but the gals were not feeling quite so adventurous. Maybe they will give it a try tomorrow. I know they are enjoying themselves because they are both still smiling a lot. This has been a wonderful first trip into the Canyon for Alysia and everything has just been perfect so far. Pam seems to be smiling a lot too and I know she is enjoying this trip a lot more than Nankoweap last year.

After spending some time in the narrows we headed down to the Colorado River to visit Deer Creek Falls. It was flowing with a lot of force and is probably very close to what it was two tears ago. John and I have seen it before but the others just seem overwhelmed by the amount of water and the force of it coming down.

When Alysia made it to the Colorado River I gave her one of the split twig necklaces, like I have given to Pam and Janice on the past two trips, as a souvenir. I actually picked up the matching earrings for Pam this time because she was such a trooper on that Nankoweap hike.

We were at Deer Creek Falls until almost 5:00 before we started back to camp. We had a nice relaxing dinner and were probably all in bed by 8:00. We saw a nice moonrise over the cliffs to the east. It wasn't quite full tonight but will be tomorrow.


Heading down to Surprise Valley - Thunder River Trail, Grand Canyon

Max, Pam & Alysia, heading down to Deer Creek - Deer Creek Trail, Grand Canyon

Deer Spring - Grand Canyon

Waterfalls, Pam - Deer Creek Narrows, Grand Canyon

Heading for the Colorado River, Alysia & Pam - Deer Creek Narrows, Grand Canyon

Alysia & Pam at the Colorado River - Deer Creek, Grand Canyon

Deer Creek Falls - Deer Creek, Grand Canyon

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