23 miles, 9.5 hours

There is no water on the route for about fifty miles so we have to carry all our water for a dry camp tonight and a long day tomorrow. We started out today with 21 liters of water, about 42 pounds.

We continued down Park Wash to Highway 89 and wow, those cars and trucks were flying! Then we crossed and went down into Buckskin Gulch with a fast, packed sand bottom that we were happy to cover quickly. The canyon started off shallow, but the curved and layered red and white walls grew taller as we made our way down. We had only a breeze and warm sunny skies. Finally, today as puffy clouds passed over and shaded us it felt good instead of cold. A nice change from the last few blustery days.

The second half of Buckskin Gulch is a popular trail and we started seeing people. The canyon narrows and we soon found ourselves in a slot canyon with little holes eroded on the walls. There were little white rocks in some of them. We turned out of Buckskin via Wire Pass, an even narrower slot canyon. This is definitely a place to return and spend more time.

We ended the day by crossing into Arizona and setting up camp at a very nice campground on the border. We’re pretty worn out from the extra weight and long miles. Tomorrow we start the Arizona Trail, which we’ll follow all the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

TRAIL NOTES:
There was no water in Buckskin Gulch as mentioned in the book.