Monday June 5, 16.4mi/26.4km

Deer Creek Campsite (696.3/2360ft) to Showerbath Spring (712.7/2680ft) (AZ)

I woke up to the sound of water and eventually realized that it was not raining… I was camped next to Deer Creek. It’s so unusual to be camping near water on this desert trail.

I packed up and hiked out at 7:15, and Deer Creek quickly turned into a slot Canyon. Cool!

It just kept getting deeper and deeper as I walked along it on a narrow ledge.

Within a few minutes I was getting close to its confluence with the Colorado River, and I could see daylight ahead.

I emerged from the depths of the Deer Creek Canyon and got a nice morning view of the Colorado River.

After making my way down some easy switchbacks, I was at the base of Deer Creek falls.

Judging by the amount of footprints in the sand, I think most rafting groups probably stop here for a view. I had a nice second breakfast break at the waterfalls, and realized that I had just hiked the last official trail on the Hayduke… from here onwards everything was either bushwhacking or roadwalking. Today’s adventure would be 7 miles of boulder hopping along the Colorado River. Let the games begin…

It started off fairly easy, with sandy patches and some game trails to follow.

After a mile, I came across the only rafting group I would see all day. They said once they had finished packing up they would find me somewhere downstream and give me a ride.

For an hour I hiked well above the banks of the Colorado River, on a shelf of Tapeats sandstone.

There was a very good game trail in this section and it was marked with many cairns. Eventually the shelf ended and I made my way back down to the riverbanks. There were boulders and talus everywhere.

I think I had figured out who made some of the game trails. These bighorn sheep!

I still hadn’t seen that rafting group go by, so I waited on this tiny little sandy beach.

Within a few minutes, I realized how hot it was, and then I walked a little further to have lunch and wait under the shade of a big boulder.

About a mile from the end of the riverbank walk, I came across endless fields of talus…it took awhile.

The last half mile before my departure from the Colorado River was a little easier, because I found a series of game trails right along the riverbanks and was able to avoid much of the rocks. With a quarter mile to go, the rafting group finally went by, and offered me a ride.

I said “no thanks” and 5 minutes later I was at the mouth of Kanab Creek.

It was now 3pm, it had taken me 7 hours to hike 7 miles. Talus hiking is sloooow. The next eight miles would prove to be much more enjoyable. I walked up Kanab Creek, in a nice shady gorge. Usually I would hike on the banks but often I would cross it and walk in the shallow clear water.

Big fish!

It was really fun, and it reminded me of the creek-walks that we used to do in middle school, up Salmon Creek or its tributaries. I hiked around a corner and saw this massive wall just covered in ferns and dripping water. A maidenfern spring! Cool.

Pretty soon Kanab canyon became much narrower and almost like a subway tunnel.

That overhanging cliff was dripping onto the sandy ground, making his cool little formations.

Kanab canyon weaved back and forth for 8 miles, and mostly it was easy walking on small stones or sand.

There were half a dozen “boulder chokes” that would seemingly block the canyon and I would have to solve the maze and scramble my way through. Those were fun but also very time consuming. I really enjoyed walking along the shelves of the Tapeats sandstone, it was like a sidewalk.

I arrived to Showerbath spring just after 7pm, and decided to camp there.

It is such a unique spring! It drips from this vegetation covered cliff and really does feel like a shower. So cool!