The best part of this backpacking adventure was finally meeting RouX. Welcome back! Great guy, can't wait to do more hiking with him!

Beyond that, it was fantastic dragging my 23lb 8-person Coleman tent out to the wilderness where it belongs. And it was also fun to add an extra 10lbs in beer. Especially since Liz and Mike drank it all before sunset.

Sarcasm aside, it was a nice overnight, if not a little bit warm on the hike in Saturday afternoon. Managed to be just as late as Liz, so we met in Camp Verde, which provided some nice company for the hike in. Shortly after we arrived, we were surprised to be visited by Joe and Bruce who were completing a day hike loop in the area. Joe took care of a couple password issues and everything after that was great.

Steve built a nice fire, though it remained shorts weather all night. We all had some good dinner (well, Travis seemed to like his Ramen, though I'm not sure it qualifies as 'good dinner') and tried to observe the meteor shower. I think a few of us saw a meteor or two, but it wasn't anything super impressive.

After a slow-ish morning, we all headed out together back to the trailhead. Nice overnight. Definitely a better hike early or late when the canyon shadows create shade ... at least when it's over 90 like it was this weekend!