believe him and we proved to be more correct than he. Since we had started late, we were not able to reach the river the first day, and since we had not packed water, we had to find a spring. Ordinarily there would not be any on the Hance Trail, but since it was early spring, we were able to find a good one only a quarter mile from a lovely campsite on a shoulder that sticks out into the canyon. The next. day we hiked down the trail into Red Canyon, where we stopped for a break at the first water, and then reached the river about 10 am. We had expected to find the river clear, as it had been at Lee's Ferry, but found it muddy instead. A raft group was also stopped there prior to running the rapids and told us that indeed the Colorado was clear until the Little Colorado joined it, a factor we had blithely overlooked. So, instead of staying at the river, we left that afternoon on the Tonto Trail for Hance Creek, the fist creek to the south. The Tonto Trail rises from the Colorado at Red Canyon and climbs on top of the Tapeats Limestone. It then contours for miles along the Tonto Plateau, cutting sharply into one side canyon after another. Typically, it wanders one or two miles along the river until encountering a tributary stream, at which point it goes in three miles to cross it where it rises to the top of the Tapeats and then three miles back out to the river, necessitating a six mile hike to gain a quarter mile downstream. The areas on the Tonto are completely without shade so even in the fairly pleasant temperatures of April (near 80) the brilliant sun becomes a bit oppressive. How people manage in August is beyond my comprehension. The Tapeats is relatively impervious to water, forcing the water in the streams to the surface right where the trail crosses them. Most of these streams have cottonwoods to provide shade and some sculpting and a few small waterfalls where the stream cuts through the Tapeats. On Pipe Spring Creek, a quarter mile below the trail the stream falls cleanly a hundred feet, as if poured from a pitcher, The streams are conveniently placed about 4 to 6 miles apart, so our typical daily routine was to hike to one in the morning, spend about two hours there for lunch and exploration, and then hike to the next in the afternoon, arriving in time for a bath in one of the pools and a leisurely dinner. In this manner, we camped at Hance Creek, Grapevine Creek, Lonetree Canyon, and Pipe Springs. It is worth noting that there were only three other people at Pipe Springs, while two miles away the over-c(r)amped picnic campground at Indian Springs was swarming. The weather throughout was lovely, providing clear blue, skies behind the reds and whites of the canyon walls. We saw several herd of burros, about 20 animals in all! and many wildflowers, Just below Red Canyon it is possible to see the remains of Hance's asbestos mine across the river, unworked for almost 80 years. But mostly the viewing is of the vast panoramas of the Grand Canyon. One wanders beneath the gigantic forms like an ant in a monument, in endless parade of multi colored rocks marching off in all directions. Once again I was struck by how much the Grand Canyon is like an inverted mountain range, one which certainly rivals the Sierra in challenge and complexity. If it climbed up instead of down, many of its peaks would be on the DPS list, but somehow we have failed to include even a single point in this great wilderness. After five glorious days, we hiked out to the Village, where temperatures were in the fifties and the wind blew sharply into our faces, quite a contrast to the warm summer days we had experienced below. This trip further confirmed our belief that the Grand Canyon season is from October to April, when the water runs and the air is cool. The problem is to reach the rim and find a way down. But if it can be done, the rewards are well worth the effort.

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