Route stats for Day 6: 

We got an early start today, around 6:30, hoping to avoid as much heat as possible.  The hike through the Redwall narrows was gorgeous.  We reached the campsite we used the first night, and our cache, around 9:30.  We filled up our containers (there were still a few gallons of water in the pothole), retrieved our food cache, and continued on.  We reached our water cache (at the junction of Twin Creek and Twin Spring Canyons) around noon.  By this time it was really starting to get hot.  We rested in whatever shade we could find and ate lunch.  After lunch we turned up Twin Creek Canyon.  The rocks in the stream bed made for tedious hiking, and scarce campsites.  We were hoping to find something nice at the mouth of the canyon coming down from Mathis Spring, but found only huge fields of football-sized rocks.  We continued on, edging our way along the left wall (creek right) and finally found a barely adequate place to camp.  It was now 2:30 and we were all pretty tired.  After a long rest in the shade, we ate dinner and went to bed.

Route stats for Day 6: 

Although we didn't have very far to go today, the route is steeper than yesterday, and the creek bed is rockier.  It took us about 3 hours to get back to my car.  Then the 2-1/2 hour drive back to St. George where Dave picked up his car and Ben and I checked into a motel.  Dave drove back to California, and the next day Ben and I drove to Fredonia where we met up with some of our group for our next hike.

Overall it was a very good hike, but if I am ever to do this again, I would like to find an alternate way into the heart of Surprise without the long first and last day slogs.

Dave Picking His Way Across Endless Fields of Rock.