6:40 pm - Indian Hollow Canyon

We did pretty well today. Chuck had us up early again with another Chuck-style wake-up call at 5:30 am. I think we were packed up and ready to go by 7.

We were at the Kanab/Jumpup junction at just a few minutes before 9 and we took a rest there for about 30 minutes or so before continuing. We were at the Jumpup/Indian Hollow junction around 11:15 and took our lunch break there.

We were moving again around noon and reached the Obstacle Pool after only about 20 minutes. Chuck tried several attempts at climbing the walls there but it wasn't working. We all ended up just wading through the pool with our packs on and then pushing and hauling them up around the chockstone on the other side. The water was only mid-thigh deep so it wasn't too bad. The bottom of the pool was slimy and slippery though. All-in-all it took almost an hour to get past Obstacle Pool. I put my camera gear into the dry sack before getting into the pool so at least I did not carry it for nothing.

We made good time in Indian Hollow above the pool and stopped for another rest break and also once to load up on water since we did not have a clear picture of the water situation higher up. We found a nice camp around 4 and decided to stay there even though it was a little early.

We have 5 miles as the crow flies to the trailhead where the vehicles are parked, who knows how far that is in terms of actual hiking though, 7-8 miles perhaps. Chuck is going to get us up at 6 tomorrow and we will see what happens.

Jasek will be leaving us tomorrow to go and do some other things before heading back out to the rim. He wants to climb Racetrack Knoll and Fishtail Mesa and the rest of us don't have time for either of those. It is unclear what Bolek is going to do but it sounds like he may be going back out to the rim with us to camp there for a couple of nights and wait for Jasek. I think he has had enough of it for this trip and needs to get some rest. Last night and again tonight he was giving us some of his remaining food to sample to try to reduce his pack weight.

My meal was very good tonight and I also made my Hot Apple Cobbler. It was very good also but way too much work. The desserts are more difficult than just adding water like the entrees and you actually need to cook some of them. I need to remember to read the directions before buying anything I have not tried before. I also burned the bottom of my supposedly non-stick pan cooking up this thing. I can't clean it here and I hope it will clean up when I get back to Flag.

The food bag is almost empty - just enough stuff for tomorrow now. The water will be disappearing gradually as well so the pack is getting light. Yay!