I woke up at 4:45 am to my hiking partner canceling at the last minute. So I quickly threw together a hike for myself to do solo. Lesson for this trip-- do not spend five minutes throwing together a loop cuz this one is a total stinker.

I took the Derrick up to the Promontory Butte Trail. The Derrick is fine but Promontory trail is a total disaster right now. The trail disappears and reappears constantly and I wasted way to much time looking for it. I didn't see any other shoe prints on the trail so it doesn't appear to get much use anymore either-- lots of bear tracks, though. The nice thing on this trail is the views. There's some nice ones.

I eventually made it to the top and had lunch. I then walked the forest road that meets it at the top and headed out to Rim Road 300. I walked about 5 miles on forest road and it was the most boring 5 miles ever. I did scout some nice car camping spots on the edge of the rim, though.

I then headed down Horton Springs Trail which is also a disaster. I made it about a quarter mile and trail disappeared. I spent a little time looking for it but was running short on time since I needed to make it back to Tempe for the Craig Childs signing. With my trustee compass, I said "screw this trail" and bushwacked to the spring. Once I started hearing water, I knew I was home free. I dipped my hat in the spring and then beat feet down Horton Creek back to the TH.

The nice thing today is that I didn't see a single person all day-- how often does that happen at Horton?