Zoroaster

MILE 85

The limited number of good camps, and the complexities of exchanging passengers and crew the next morning at Bright Angel, leads to some interesting gamesmanship in this reach of the canyon. We decided to cross the river from Clear Creek and camp at Zoroaster - which sounded much better to some of us than camping at a place called Cremation farther downstream! This is a narrow camp at the base of the cliffs on river left. The Duke was placed in a dramatic cleft in the rock, out of which I expected to see emerge orcs or a giant spider (more Tolkien).

Very early the next morning, two boats took off with Rachel and our six companions who would hike out to the south rim. That would let them begin the hike up from Pipe Creek before the heat got too bad. The rest of us would rejoin those boats below Bright Angel and Phantom Ranch later in the day. The six that hike out will get showers and dinner at the El Tovar.