Stephanie and Todd invited me down for their annual fall trip to Deer Creek, AGAIN. And I signed up, again, and surprised them by actually showing up! Other victims were Tom Gendron and John Hart.

Deer Creek is at the bottom. Of the Big Ditch. As in, 5000 feet down, and 5000 feet up to get out. Aaaargh. This is why you wait for fall - so the weather is somewhat reasonable.

After an 8 hour drive, I arrived at the trailhead just as the gang was packing up. We started by going down the Bill Hall Trail to the Esplanade, then over the edge to Surprise Valley, then over a shallow pass to Deer Creek.

The surprising thing about starting the 5000 foot descent into the Canyon, is the uphill slog to get started. Wazzup with that? Here's the trail, ASCENDING through a burnt-over Juniper-Pinon forest.

Staring into the Abyss.

Is there something wrong with starting down a 5000 foot, dry, south-facing hillside at 1 in the afternoon?

Bridger Point from just-getting-started-on-the-first-descent.

After climbing to Monument Point, the trail drops 2000 feet to the Esplanade. An hour of hiking across the Esplanade leads to another 2000 foot descent down the Redwall Limestone to Surprise Valley. I made such good time across the Esplanade, that I caught up with the gang that started an hour earlier - NOT! They were kind enough to wait for me - or perhaps concerned by by pallid face and profuse sweating...

This is the Thunder River Trail, and quite an amazing piece of work it is. Stephanie heading down

John Hart at the base of the Redwall, starting down the steep scree into Surprise Valley. We're going over that pass in the background.