Another day of following the river, ever deeper into the canyon. Wider and narrower parts, rocky trail (and another rattlesnake), Sequoia growths (lots of flies there).

Down at Pate Valley, at the end of the accessable part of the canyon, there are a lot of flat, nice tent sites, and we set up camp there for the night. A few other hikers down here, most of them having climbed down the canyon wall this morning.

That’s what will be our route tomorrow, but going up the wall, back to where we left our car. Not a long day mileage wise, but it will be all uphill, up the canyon wall, with not a lot of tree cover, and no reliable water sources. We decided to start tomorrow’s hike early, and were happy to be in camp by 5 PM (even with unsuccessfully scouting for campsites closer to the final climb, and a bit of backtracking).

In the evening the ranger, who had issued us our permit four days ago, checked in on us at our camp site, being on backcountry duty now. Funny to meet a known face in the middle of nowhere.