ET's Info-Stew

11:11: We got up almost 7:00, fixed breakfast, put away my gear and we hit the trail at 8:45. Right away my left achilles tendon hurt bad. About 1/2 mile in, the trail went down to the beach while another, less traveled trail stayed in the hills. Mr. Cleek took the beach and I took the hill. The hill path was very difficult. It had steep sides and was right on the ledge, 50 feet above the beach. I got to beach level, where I should have gone in the first place, about 1/4 mile after the split. Then on the beach, it was 1 1/2 hours till high tide and the waves were coming up really high on the beach. At this point, my heel was feeling better but the outside of my right lower leg was on fire. We had to run sometimes in the sand to get around points before the waves reached them. I needed to stop but I knew I couldn't. This went on for about a mile until we made it to Shipman Creek at 9:40. While I rested, Mr. Cleek went up the creek a little ways. After I felt better, I came in too and got some pictures. The further up I wen, the harder and harder it became to proceed because the steep canyon walls and slippery rocks. There was a point where some trees had fallen that took me 10 minutes to go only 50 feet. Near the top of that I decided to go back down on the other side, which looked easier. At one place I was about 6 feet on a ledge above the river. There was a very steep trail leading back to water level witha tree right next to the bottom. On my way down, I slipped and grabbed on to the tree. I held on as I swung around. I almost fell hard into the creek. At another place was this slippery rock ledge with 1 foot of water beneath. I wanted to sneak my butt on it and scooted across. I lost my grip and fell right into the water. I was so close to not soaking my feet because the rest of the way down to the beach was easy. New we're going to pick up our packs and walk 1 1/4 miles to Buck Creek now that the tide is going down.

13:20: We made it to Buck Creek. There was a group here with goats that were just leaving so we took their spot. It is pretty nice. I just had lunch but I'm still a little hungry. I'm probably going to go up the creek a little ways. I have 24 pictures left to take in 2 days. Tomorrow we're going to Horse Mountain. The next day, our trip will be over and we go home. I don't want my vacation to be over but it would be nice to get a hot shower, sleep in a bed, eat a burger and relax with Jenny.

14:41: Mr. Cleek and I started to go up the creek a little ways. The creek starts off easy but appears to get harder higher up. I took my watershoes and started up. Not 50 yeards from camp, I had an accident. I was sleeping over the creek on some boulders. I saw a way across that looked easy. In the middle was this large boulder that was dry and sturdy. I thought, 'no problem'. I put my left foot on it and as I stepped for the next rock with my right, my left foot slipped from under me and I fell on my right side right in the middle of the creek. Now soaking wet and my hip a little hurt, the only thing I could think of was my camera. I looked down and saw my fanny pack half submerged and jumped right up. I took my camera out of my pack, thankfully it was dry, and handed it to Mr. Cleek. I got to the side and decided I would go back to camp while Mr. Cleek went up. My hip and all my gear is fine. I would like to know how funny it looked from Mr. Cleek's point of view. I just remembered something from last night. Mr. Cleek and I were laying on our stomachs watching the waves. We were talking when all of the sudden we both jumped up in a split second and jumped back in reflex. I had been standing for a second before I realized that we had jumped up from a wave that would have drenched us. It was amazing how fast we went from lying on our stomachs to running back. What reflexes. Also, a group of people had stayed a ways from the creek last nigh. In the morning, one guy went to get some water. When he came by, he said that a bear had gotten into some food. It is kind of rediculous how everytime there is a noise or some animal got into food, it was a bear. It is more likely that a racoon had gotten into the food. But I guess that doesn't sound very impressive.