We awoke on Day 9 with the dull roar of the Deer Creek Waterfall a couple hundred yards away. Seemed like it would be another great day in the canyon. Our first adventure of the day would be just a few miles down the river. The invitation to swim a rapid was tossed out, and I accepted, along with the "active" gang of Susan, Mark, Casey, Pepper, Naomi, Mike Jahn, and Michael. Not that others in the group were inactive, but this group was generally game for swimming the rapids. Susan and I had bowed out on day 2, but here was our chance, Fishtail Rapid. Lots of fun to be in the waves, not terribly different than wind swell out at Sands, but definitely much shorter period.
After that event we paddled a few more miles down the river to Kanab Canyon. I don't remember all the details, but I know you can hike out of the Grand Canyon via Kanab Canyon. This day we packed lunches, and hiked up the canyon with the destination of Whispering Springs. Tommy estimated this would be a 6 hour hike, so not everyone was game for this one. It was a hike mostly through and around the creek for about 2 hours, then we turned up a side canyon for about 15 minutes to get to Whispering Spring.
The drops in the water of the picture above are caused by a rainfall like spring, with a flowing spring on the opposite wall that had water at about 90F. The pool felt great!
This was a beautiful hike, and well worth it. But I paid the price, in that when we finished I was really tired. We camped at Hells Kitchen that night at mile 145. The first night of the trip I didn't have dessert, I really must not have been feeling that great.
Link to Day 10
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