It's raining, more than just the little sprinkle I went through about 30-45 minutes ago. The weather has been all over the chart here in the past day (week?). After the wind last night it cleared and I saw the crescent Moon and Venus again and stars most of the evening. There was more wind in the morning followed by clouds. More wind, clearing. There is blue sky all around but these clouds seem to be coming off of the north rim. I am on my day hike up towards Cheyava Falls and still perhaps three quarters of a mile from there. The rain is letting up but it still looks very dark in the direction I am heading.

14:45 - Cheyava Falls and granaries

I've been here for probably a couple of hours already. I just finished lunch and will start back to camp shortly. I had thought about continuing up this canyon towards the Redwall but I spent too much time trying to get good shots of the granaries. They are actually very nice and I am glad I came up this way if only to seem them. The falls are dry but I knew that already. It's also very brushy around the spring and the "trail" seems to end here so getting through that jungle would take some time.

The later part of the morning has been mostly sunny but still windy and cool. There are lots of clouds pouring off of the north rim but no more dark ones, no more rain.

This is an idyllic location and it is wonderful to be here. I can see why the Anasazi decided to call it home. The only sounds other than the creek (and the wind) are the birds. There seem to be quite a few different varieties up here. There were lots of Canyon Wrens as I was coming up through the Tapeats gorge.

16:00 - Back at camp

I made a couple of short rest stops along the way. It is very windy (again? still?!) back here but the sky is mostly clear. Who knows what's going to happened next? Crap shoot. I am going to leave the rain fly on the tent just in case, it keeps it warmer in there that way anyhow.

I am probably going to wait and make dinner after I call Robin at 6. The food bag is getting pretty light. There is only one freeze-dried dinner in there for tonight; a couple of summer sausages, for lunch and dinner tomorrow; and a can of Pringles and some pita bread to go with these. I also have a couple of bags of trail mix for the next two breakfasts but it will all be gone before I leave here and head back to Phantom. I am not going to carry much water going back either since I will be doing it early, so the pack will be about 20 pounds lighter than it was coming over here.

I have two parties for company tonight; a MF couple and another guy on his own. There is no one in the big site next to me though.

19:30 - Ready for the evening

Dinner was very good tonight. I had barbecued beef over mashed potatoes. It was not as good as the seafood chowder but much better than the chicken pot pie. This was another entree that had two separate items to heat and since mixing them together, like I did with the chicken pot pie, didn't sound that appetizing I decided to use my cooking pot for one. It made for a messier clean up but a much better meal. I mixed up the mashed potatoes in the pot and then poured the barbecued beef mixture over them. Had I done the same with the chicken pot pie I likely would have enjoyed that a lot more.

That's it for hot meals, the stove will only be used now for coffee. Tomorrow's lunch and dinner is sausage with pita bread and Pringles.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is my last day over here already; that the vacation is half over. Monday I head back to Phantom and Tuesday back to the south rim. I am actually looking forward to a beer at Phantom!

Another person came in late this afternoon, a woman on her own, and took the big site next to me. There are four parties over here which I believe is the limit.

Tomorrow I go exploring up East Clear Creek. I just want to go further than I have gone before and explore some of the side canyons and alcoves up there. It is a very pretty little side canyon in it's own right and I've always enjoyed going up there.