I was so tired but barely slept at all. When I went to bed there was a frog croaking, and he sounded like he was in my ear. What does he have to croak about? He kept on about something most of the night, and the last time I looked in my watch it was well after midnight.

So when I woke up I was tired but I had hope that today the going would be a little bit easier than yesterday. I packed up my boat and planned on a full day of hiking. I made good time this morning (Averaging  about a mile and a half an hour). The canyon seems to get more interesting the further I went, but the water for some reason started disappearing for long periods of time. I’ve only been carrying a small bit of water because I can grab it whenever I need it, but then I found I was needing it and there wasn’t any.

Lots of big boulder gardens to pick my way around and I still needed to pay attention to every step. I did take one small fall this morning but it was minor.

At lunch I went for a swim in a deep water hole and was surprised to see large fish. I picked my way over the boulders and finally when I got to Toppin Creek it felt like I was making progress. I only have a few more miles to get to Five Bar where i join the main river…and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to float. If not I’m hoping at 3 Forks to be packrafting the rest of the way.

Swimming hole!

Holy boulders.

Just before I made camp, I looked up the cliffside and saw two big horn sheep! So spectacular! The canyon just keeps getting better.